Whitehaven to Hamilton Island
The wind came up from the south overnight, reaching
up to around 15 knots in Whitehaven. There
were only a few boats remaining here overnight, which says something about
boating culture up here. I was quite
happy with our approach of coming in here late yesterday and picking up just
the tail end of the sloppy conditions. I
had lots of chain out so I wasn’t going to drag or do any damage to
the boat or its ground tackle. It wasn’t
a still night but it was most acceptable.
I’d rather have been here than be exposed to the fresh southerly wind
and seas on one of the south facing anchorages overnight, as many other boats chose
to be (probably getting stronger winds and certainly much bigger seas than we
got).
I wanted to be ready for a potentially early start
for Hammo today, so we stowed the dinghy on deck last night. Unfortunately that meant no rowing today. Instead we enjoyed a slow start to the day,
which is also good.
I brought out the photo album from my 1980s bareboating
trips to try to compare the old Whitehaven with today. Two things struck me. Firstly, I’m convinced the beach is now a
shadow of what it was, and that massive amounts of sand erosion still persist
from Cyclone Debbie. Secondly, that
Whitehaven Beach is a world class tourist location with world class numbers of
tourists to go with it. My photos from
1987 show just a tiny handful of boats anchored off the beach, and only a few
people on it. Now, boats pack the
anchorage, and day trippers are shipped out in their hundreds by jet cat from
Hammo and Airlie, and by seaplane and helicopter from Qualia and Hayman. The beach still has a special, magical
quality to it early in the morning or at sunset, when the wind and seas are calm
and all is silent, but at other times it’s tragic to see what we’ve done to its
beauty.
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| Paradise? |
The sail across to Hamilton Island was in 15-20
knot winds and some lumpy seas. Having the headsail up made
the trip pretty comfortable, and conditions
moderated significantly once we got into Dent Passage and entered the
Harbour. The most interesting thing to
note here was a large bareboat that had run itself onto one of the reefs in
Fitzalan Passage. The winds would have
made this a fatal mistake, but I understand the fault was entirely with the
charterer in hitting the reef in the first place.
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| This is a reminder to never be complacent when navigating a yacht |
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| Our marina berth was right next to the Hammo Yacht Club - here's a crude night shot of the club from the cockpit |
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