CLIENT: General Public Sail & Walk
VOYAGE NUMBER: 20240806
FROM: Airlie Beach To: Airlie Beach
DATE: 8 August 2024
POSITION: Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Is
REPORT: Blue Watch
This morning, we woke up to rain on the roof at Cid Harbour, with hot pancakes and turtle visits, to improve the mood – Thomas (your friendly author) tried vegemite toast for the first time. We raised the sails around 8:30 and enjoy an hour of fair-weather sailing, prior to rounding the top of Whitsunday Island. Wind speeds was 15-20knots with gusts up to 25knots which required all crew to wear PFD’s and hold on tightly whilst navigating around the vessel, working off our pancake breakfast.
We saw a few whales, one breaching; another pausing, potentially calving, enroute. We pulled into Whitehaven Beach around 3pm, where another turtle welcomed us, and the crowds were finishing up. The most physically, challenging sailing day thus far.
Down the southern end of the beach a number of folks snorkelled out to the reef, we saw parrotfish, goatfish, barracuda, rabbitfish butterfly fish, angel fish and many beautiful corals. Others walked up to see the vistas from the lookout. After a great day at the reef, we had fish for dinner and skipper Gary told us stories about the GBRMP.