Thomas Island 20:32.58S 149:06.50E Wednesday 25th August
Fai Tira blog Wednesday
25th August Thomas Island
20:32.58S 149:06.50E This
is our fourth day of cruising in the Whitsundays. They continue to surprise and
make us smile with pleasure, and the previous dearth of wildlife has now more than
been made up for with the varied plethora we’ve encountered since leaving
the mainland and Mackay. The
islands are almost magical, feeling in many ways like a combination of those of
the Mediterranean and the spectacular ones now far behind us in French
Polynesia. Some
of the surprise, for me, has been the number and close proximity of them. Look
in almost any direction and overlapping silhouettes of green, blue and mauve
land masses emerge. fading into the distance and almost pleading to be
explored. Our
stop at Brampton Island provided the first taste of these delightful
surroundings, at the same time giving me the opportunity of tightening up a few
screwy things in an attempt to cure a slight diesel leak, causing the hot
engine surfaces to smoke and give rise to a slight feeling of concern. It also
provided our first, really close Hump- Back Whale sighting. It
was about 2.30am. Sleep, for some reason, had been a struggle, and I was woken
from a shallow slumber by a dig in the ribs and Pete’s whispered voice
announcing the presence of whales. He’d been up answering the call of
nature and there they were, not much more than 50 yards from us, their graceful
gliding movements accompanied by the haunting sounds of venting in the still
silent night, hardly disturbing the reflective mirrored surface of the
water.....Fantastic. All
three of us, in various states of undress, then spent the next half hour or so
in muffled conversation, peering through the night vision monocular. We
set sail for Thomas Island, with engine behaving, burbling along quite merrily
and now cured of its anti-social smoking habit. Soon we hoisted the genoa and
before long gave the iron donkey a well earned rest and sailed in blissful
silence, making 5 ½ - 6 knots. There
were more sightings of Humpbacks and we travelled the 15 or so miles quickly,
gliding past beautifully shaped, coloured and textured waterside rock
formations as we drifted into an almost deserted anchorage at about 2pm. There
was just time to unwind and relax before I made a trip up the mast to attend to
the sulking anemometer that had refused to work since before our arrival in
Mackay. So up I scampered, or was it plodded, and after a few kind words and
gentle caresses, off she went merrily whizzing around again. By
the time I’d descended we’d been joined by the delightful Fiona and
her affable husband Warren. They were a Kiwi couple on the smart steel boat
Roxanne anchored close by, and they extended an invitation for us to join them
later for drinks. However, before then we had a beach to explore. So, with the
dinghy launched minus the engine, we rowed ashore to a narrow strip of sand
flanked on all sides by spectacular rocks and dense greenery. Our Kiwi
neighbours had described a rudimentary path to the opposite side of the island
and, with the sun now rapidly setting, we set out. Warren
had indicated that the way was marked, and before long we found the signs.
Flip-flops, plastic bottles, or other discarded colourful bits of jetsam
hanging from often obscured, branches that led into a densely wooded interior
along a barely discernible path. We
didn’t actually make it to the other side: with the failing light and
distinct shortage of guiding flip-flops all getting the better of us, we
retraced our steps and paddled back to take up our invitation on Roxanne. The
number of interesting people we keep bumping into is quite amazing, and we
spent the early part of the evening, after a tour of their very smart and well
laid out green hulled boat, in relaxed and genial conversation, with the
owners, Ron and Suzie, recounting some of their last three years sailing. |