Whitehaven to Cid Harbour (unexpectedly)
It's getting close to when we need to push northwards to reach Magnetic Island. Before we do so I want to visit Hamilton Island to do a quick reprovision, and also to get out of a bit of a forecast storm. I've booked a marina berth there for tonight, and we plan on taking a walk up to its highest point, Passage Peak, tomorrow before heading off.
First thing though is to enjoy Whitehaven some more today. In a similar vein to my last visit we took the walk over to Chance Bay to stretch our legs a little. On the way back we came across a large python sitting across the track, enjoying the sun. I resisted the strong urge to give it a pat, and instead encouraged it to move off the track before we proceeded.
We spent the rest of the morning quietly relaxing on the boat before having one last swim off this wonderful beach. I had a final opportunity to fly the drone here, after the wasted effort of last time. One thing worth noting in the video is a seaplane that got itself stranded on the sand on a falling tide. A couple of dinghies full of guys couldn't move it, so it was high and dry until the next tide, after dark tonight. We just couldn't understand what the pilot was doing to get himself into that situation.
We left the anchorage well after 2pm, with plenty of time (so I thought) to get into the Hammo marina. However, when I checked on our approach a little after 4pm we were told it closed its operations at 3.30 and that we wouldn't be able to get in. This struck us as being crazy, and disappointing given our carefully laid plans. In the event we had plenty of time to get to Cid Harbour which would be quite snug regardless of what the weather did. I managed to drop the anchor directly over the same point I had used last time (I record each anchoring position on my chart plotter) so I was very comfortable that the location was good. Our hiking plans were also altered - rather than Passage Peak tomorrow morning we'd do Whitsunday Peak, which is almost twice the height.
The sunset was another stunner, but then Cid Harbour seems to be able to turn them on with incredible regularity.
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| The different stages of Cid Harbour's sunset - helped by bushfire back burning on the mainland |
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