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Email - Ian - iqcarpenter@gmail.com                Janet - tenajm@iafrica.com

This is dated in the future to ensure static info appears first, so do not chirp!

Please can someone switch off the wind!!! It has been blowing hard for the past two days and is set to continue for a few days more. Enough!! We took refuge in Nara Inlet on Friday night to get out of the swell and had a lovely peaceful evening. Then back to Airlie last night to join friends for supper at the club and the infernal wind and swell are hounding us. It must blow when we want it to and at the right speed!Tomorrow we are checking into the marina so that the new boom can be brought on board. Will have to make the most of marina time doing chores such as washing, printing stuff out from the computer (power usage remains an issue despite the new solar panels), etc.

World financial markets are scary and fascinating. Not having the TV/radio on constantly helps as it keeps you removed from the minute to minute freefall in indices, prices, and misery... We are going to have to work on becoming yet more subsistence orientated. Maybe resort to eating seaweed. Going to look in the cupboard to see what is available for lunch.

We are motoring back to Airlie Beach having spent the most wonderful two days at Bait Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef. Adam and Rachel on Cabellero had been there before and were going again, so we tagged along. Night one we spent at Blue Pearl Bay on Hyman Island, where we had our deepest anchorage ever at 20m. This meant we had to put out 80m of chain, which left us with no more to go. Anyway, the night was peaceful and the snorkling okay. Cabellero and Rebel set off at 06.00 the next morning for Bait Reef, some 18nm north east in the middle of the ocean... The maritime people have put down five public moorings there and both of us were lucky enough to get one. Despite buoys having two hour time limits on them, with no other boats around, we stayed for two nights. Adam and Ian towed the dunghies with ropes around their waists and we drifted along on top of the Stepping Stone bommies. The variety of coral and reef fish was fantastic and sadly my photos do not do justice to what we saw. (Glasses are needed to operate the camera... I must take a magnifying glass next time!) Adam is a dive instructor but has only ever snorkled on the Great Barrier Reef as there is just so much to see that way. By the look of the boats steaming towards Bait Reef early this morning it looked as if it was going to get much busier, and before we had thrown off the mooring line someone had come over by dinghy to ask if we were leaving. The minute we dropped the line they pounced on it! It has been a hot windless day with the sea like a mirror, meaning we had to motor the entire way back to Airlie Beach. Tomorrow we are going to look at our new boom  and hopefully by Friday it will be fitted and Rebel will look normal again.

Our plans to head for Nara Inlet have been scuppered due to rain. Rather sit here in the rain than somewhere else. So life on board will be reading in a dampish environment tho our cockpit gives us good preotection from the weather and fresh air at the same time - something not many yachts have.

Last night we went with Chris and Gilli to the Whitsunday Sailing Club to take advantage of the Wed evening roast where you pile your plate as high as possible and generally eat for a week. While we thought we had loaded our plates as high as possible, on looking around we saw we had been beaten handsomely by many others! Luckily the photo I took did not come out! Always dangerous offering a yachtie a bargain. True to cruising lifestyle we were all yawning by 20.00 and in bed by 21.00! Some life. There is always something to do and the days seem to fly by, leaving you ready for bed embarrisingly early. At least we save power by going to bed early!

Monday morning and it is finally calm. We have had four days of howling 25-30 knot winds. Fortunately our anchor held beautifully. Getting ashore in the dinghy was like riding a tractor in a swamp and made for wet clothes but with the water and air warm it was not a problem. We used the time to talk to Westwind, provision, fix various things, read and sleep. What a life!! Today looks to be a beautiful hot and windless day, which will give us a chance to practise hoisting the spinnaker. When we wanted to try this the other day we found it had been torn in its life before us but the sailmaker here fixed it for a nomimal fee - all the more reason to like Airlie Beach!

Since leaving Airlie Beach last Friday we have had an idyllic five days cruising around part of the Whit Sundays, having anchored in Nara and Macona Inlets, Cid Harbour, and Tongue Bay. The weather was perfect for taking it easy tho now the wind has picked up so we made our way back to Airlie Beach where we will hunker down for a few days and get some chores behind us (always something to be done!). The wind gave us 6 knots of speed today despite no mainsail....

On Monday we climbed up Whit Sunday Island's highest peak for the most wonderful 360 view of the area. Will post a photo as soon as I have worked out how to exceed my photo 'allowance' on this blog site. Yesterday we anchored off Border Island for a few hours to go snorkling, and were rewarded with good coral and reef fish.

Our new boom has been ordered so we are free to leave town for a few days. We will sail boomless to Whitehaven Beach and Border Island for the weekend together with Chris and Gilli on Westwind. The weather forecasts look good and it is finally suntanning weather. The new boom will probably take at least two weeks before delivery, so we are goign to be in the area over that period. Not a bad place to be stuck.  The whole town is yachtie friendly, which makes a change!!

Airlie Beach is a gateway to the Whitsundays with lots of traffic - yachts to motorboats to helicopters (for the rich) and airplanes. So it is a busy place, added to which is a huge new marina building project. We are anchored in the bay just outside the Whitsunday Sailing Club, essentially a dinghy sailing club but with facilities for visiting yachts for a very small fee. It is wonderful to be able to tie your dinghy up on the club pontoon and go ashore for water, a shower, washing, internet, etc. A short walk takes you into the tourist part of town where there is one travel agent after the next. We are likely to be based here for a few weeks as we have the boom fixed/replaced.

Chris and Gilli on Westwind are anchored 50m from us, so it is very social and Chris is a mine of information on how to do things. Hopefully we will get the quote on the boom today and decide whether to replace it or patch it.

It has suddenly turned warm and time to put away the jumpers, slippers, blankets, etc and get out the suntan lotion. Within a few days we plan to sail across to the Whitsundays and explore the islands while we wait for the boom. The weather for it is perfect with light winds.

Hello again from Airlie Beach this time. Not sure where to start as lots has happened. The good stuff: while making our way over this morning from Shaw Island we spotted turtles mating alongside, and then a little later a white whale calf and mother. The calf seemed to be so happy, sticking his tail straight up and waving it around. 

En route from Great Keppel Island we overnighted in Island Head Creek and it lived up to its reputation of total isolation. There was only one smallish fishing boat where we anchored and no-one for miles. Next night was at Middle Percy which is known for the A frame hut on shore where passing yachts leave momentos. Then onto Scawfell Island and last night Shaw Island, by which stage we had finally arrived in the Whitsundays.

Now for the bad news: on passage from Island Head Creek to Middle Percy while going downwind, an unplanned gybe snapped our boom. Luckily it was broad daylight, we were not hurt and the lazy jacks held the boom up and prevented it from doing any damage to the pilot house or topsides. Despite the 28 knots of wind we managed to get the sail tied down and boom stowed without causing further damage. Now to get it fixed or replaced.... As Mom says "What next?' Guess we can expect a lot of chirps about this one.

Hullo from Great Keppel Island. The water is turquoise and the breeze gentle. We are anchored a 100m off the beach and went on a long walk this morning looking for the lighthouse. However, once we had conquered the hill and saw it was another 4km away, we gave up and turned back. Patricia and Alan Lucas joined us for supper last night (Ian's yellow fin tuna cooked with spinach and coconut milk) and tonight we are going ashore to barbeque with some other yachties. Some cruisers go no further north than this as it is so beautiful with enough space for everyone. Pleanty of good snorkling spots and many little bays. Will post a couple of photos later.

We are nicely tucked up in Keppel Marina in Yeppoon. I am afraid I am a weather coward as on hearing winds of 30 knots plus were expected, I wanted to be in a marina... and even here under the lee of a headland the wind is gusting over 35 knots! Last night we dropped anchor off Hummocky Island and with all the rocking and rolling had little sleep, especially me as as with each wind gust I sat bolt upright waiting for the end of the world! The morning dawned grey and drizzly and over the 22 nautical miles to Yeppoon, the wind was 25-30 knots from behind. Despite having only the genoa up we were doing 6-7 knots and got in ahead of really ugly wind. The forecasts for the next few days are not great, so we will stay here and replenish food and all else. Off for happy hour at the local yacht club.