Start Loc: Happy Bay, Long Island (20o 19.75'S, 148o 50.80'E)
Narrative: Not being allowed to take up our berth in the marina before 12:00pm meant that we could not leave too early, so it was another lazy start. We ended up weighing anchor at 9:50am and setting sail for Airlie Beach. The winds were SE at 10kts. We ran NW wing on wing with a full head sail and one reef in the main just to make sure it didn't disrupt the air flow to the head sail too much. This had us sailing at a lazy 4kts, but we also had a favourable outgoing tide.
We saw another whale south east of South Molle Island, but this one had a different behaviour to the others we have seen and I think it may have been a Minke rather than a Humpback. We have now seen lots of whales and I am convinced of my theory that rising sea levels are simply due to increased whale numbers - it's a simple matter of displacement!
Seas and swell were less than a metre, and the kids were below in school with Heather, so I enjoyed an easy sail alone in the cockpit watching the islands glide past. It was a terrible way to spend a Wednesday morning (recall something about a bad day on the water?).
The entrance to the marina was busy with all the boats coming and going, but we entered without incident (we didn't offend the larger commercial vessels and the smaller charter boats stayed out of our way) and were secure in our berth by 12:10pm. The berth was a bit tight with barely a metre between us and the yacht next to us, which made it interesting as we had a breeze blowing us toward that yacht and a "small" crew that have not quite mastered throwing the mooring lines.
The marina is bloody expensive at $87 per night, but there is a distinct lack of competition. Strange then that they are in receivership! We need to spend two nights here due to all the maintenance and parts we need to arrange as well as the usual grocery shopping, so we will head back out on Friday morning to continue our Whitsunday trek.
End Loc: Abel Point Marina, Airlie Beach (20o 15.85'S, 148o 42.72'E)
Distance run: 12nm (cumulative: 849nm)
Engine hours: 0 hr, 42 min (cumulative: 94 hr 35 min)