MV Dirona travel digest for Whitsundays 2014

Position: -21°39.25'S, 151°5.62'E

Several dozen bottlenose dolphins chased our bow as we crossed from the Swain Reefs to the Percy Islands.

Position: -21°40.36'S, 150°17.36'E

We anchored for the night off the sand dunes in Whites Bay at the southeast corner of Middle Percy Island. But when the winds picked up and switched from northeast to east, large waves began rolling into the anchorage, so we shifted to the west side of the island.

Position: -21°41.32'S, 150°16.79'E

The current runs strongly through the Percy Islands--we were doing 11.6kts as we rounded the bend. Our maximum speed in calm water is about 9.5kts.

Position: -21°39.56'S, 150°14.40'E

The popular anchorage at Middle Percy Island is in West Bay. Quite a few boats were already there, so we chose an anchorage all to ourselves a few hundred yards south that seemed equally well-protected. A light northerly swell reached the anchorage, but we had a great evening watching the sunset over the Pine Islets from the cockpit and slept well.

Position: -20°51.55'S, 149°35.95'E

We ran the 60 miles from the Percy Islands to Scawfell Island with 20-kts southeasterly winds and 4-6' seas behind us and tucked into Refuge Bay on Scawfell Island for the night. Some swell reached around the corner and into the anchorage, but it wasn't much.

Position: -20°40.33'S, 149°9.19'E

We considered anchoring at Minne Hall Bay at the southwest end of Goldsmith Island, but the anchorage is tight and another boat already was there. Roylen Bay looked more appealing and we were able to anchor much closer to shore than we'd expected. We liked the anchorage so much we spent two nights there.

Position: -20°40.26'S, 149°9.22'E

We were hoping to find a track ashore up into the hills above the anchorage, but a campsite and bathroom were the only infrastructure. We saw this spider just off the beach while looking around. The combination of its surprisingly large size and Australia's preponderance for poisonous creatures made the thought of bushwhacking even less appealing.

Position: -20°40.18'S, 149°9.23'E

We had lunch beach-side with a view to the anchorage.

Position: -20°40.13'S, 149°9.07'E

The satellite TV service we're using in Australia broadcasts three NFL games a week. This week included our home team, the Seattle Seahawks, in a Superbowl rematch against Denver.

Position: -20°32.53'S, 149°6.49'E

We considered anchoring off the northwest side of Thomas Island, but even in somewhat settled weather significant swell was rolling in from the northwest. Too bad, as it was a pretty spot tucked in behind Young Tom's Island.

Position: -20°30.34'S, 149°2.51'E

This is the view looking south from the narrow neck at Burning Point. The neck covers at high water, at the mangroves behind Jennifer, separating the point from Shaw Island.

Position: -20°30.65'S, 149°3.01'E

At high tide, a small channel led behind a sandbar into a small passage edged with mangroves. The channel was dry when we passed by later at a lower tide.

Position: -20°30.40'S, 149°3.13'E

We had lunch on the rocks at the south end of the bay with a sweeping view north across the anchorage. Dirona is the small black speck in the distance, slightly right of center in the picture. Conditions have settled down considerably since we arrived at Shaw Island, and the wind is barely blowing 10 knots now.

Position: -20°30.40'S, 149°3.13'E

The anchorage was full of turtles--we saw them constantly. This one was slowly swimming through the shallows below our lunch spot.

Position: -20°30.23'S, 149°2.60'E

Spitfire's patented fishing technique is to wait on the swim platform until a jumping fish lands in front of him. James seems to have adopted the same approach and in the picture is reeling in his first catch that landed in the dinghy.

Position: -20°28.55'S, 149°2.22'E

Tiny Seaforth Island has a nice beach on either side of its northern end, with a track between them.

Position: -20°27.52'S, 149°2.42'E

Most of Lindeman Island is a national park, with a large resort at the south end that currently is closed for renovations. The large dock there still is available for landing for park access. We didn't use it, and instead carried the tender ashore at the launch ramp and secured it to an adjacent tree. For hikes from the small tender, we land in the shallows wearing sandals and change into hiking boots ashore.

Position: -20°26.72'S, 149°2.62'E

Lindeman Island has excellent walking tracks, but most were closed due to lack of funding. The only one open was the one that mattered though--to Mount Oldfield. At one point along the track, we walked through hundreds of these beautiful butterflies.

Position: -20°26.83'S, 149°2.84'E

The 360-degree view from the top of Mount Oldfield is amazing. At the left side of the panorama is the view to our previous anchorage at Shaw Island, with Dirona just visible to the right of the trees off Lindeman Island. Close in on the right is Seaforth Island, then Cape Conway on the mainland in the distance. The large island just right of center is Pentecost Island, directly north of Lindeman Island. At the right side of the panorama is Maher Island and the north end of Shaw Island.

Position: -20°27.47'S, 149°2.45'E

One other track was partially open, this one leading to a viewpoint above the resort and Seaforth Island.

Position: -20°27.49'S, 149°2.93'E

Our davit stopped working this morning. We found a blown 130A fuse and the motor is in direct short. James took it apart and found that the armature had overheated and thrown a part of one of the windings. This wire jammed in brushes causing a direct short. The short melted the insulation off the field windings putting them into direct short as well. We went to the spare and found it had been wetted during the knockdown a couple of weeks back. James worked on it and tried to clean it up, but couldn't even get it apart with a puller. It’s rusted solid from being filled with gelled saltwater for more a week--it must have rusted fast. This is the first time we have destroyed a part in storage on Dirona. Most of the gear is stored sealed in bags and then in plastic containers. This wasn't well stored and it didn't make it. We attempted to get the other one operational with the shrapnel removed but the overheat from the shorted brushes appears to have melted windings and they are now shorted as well. Fortunately the exact motor is commonly used in Australia for hydraulic systems, and we should be able to get a replacement within a week. In the interim, we can use the micro-tender.

Position: -20°17.55'S, 149°3.88'E

As we approached the famous Whitehaven Beach, we passed through Solway Passage where there were overfalls and whirlpools from the large tides in the area.

Position: -20°17.46'S, 149°3.57'E

As expected, many boats were at Whitehaven Bay when we arrived--all those little red dots are vessels. Some were temporary charter boats bringing tourists out for a day trip, but many stayed the night.

Position: -20°17.67'S, 149°3.31'E

Whitehaven Beach is immensely popular and it's easy to see why. The incredibly soft-sand beach stretches all around the bay, with multi-hued blue waters offshore.

Position: -20°17.79'S, 149°3.23'E

We walked the 1.2km Solway Circuit from the beach. The track leads to a high point with sweeping views. This is looking east across Whitehaven Bay to Haslewood Island.

Position: -20°17.79'S, 149°3.23'E

This is the view south from the Solway Circuit lookout, with Moon Island in the foreground and Pentecost, Lindeman and Shaw Islands in the distance.

Position: -20°17.03'S, 149°2.41'E

Visitors don't just arrive at Whitehaven Beach by boat--floatplanes are a popular means of transport. They taxi in and anchor just offshore to unload their passengers.

Position: -20°16.73'S, 149°2.21'E

And helicopter arrivals also were common--they sure kicked up some sand when they landed. Whitehaven Beach is busier than many airports.

Position: -20°14.75'S, 149°1.23'E

Tongue Bay has a short track leading to a lookout with an amazing beach view. At the left of the picture is Lookout Beach at Tongue Point, Whitehaven Beach is in the middle distance, and Hill Inlet is on the right. At high tide, a channel leads into Hill Inlet--several boats were anchored inside.

Position: -20°14.58'S, 149°1.50'E

The track also led down to beautiful Lookout Beach. Like Whitehaven Beach, the sand was incredibly soft and squeeked as we walked on it.

Position: -20°15.42'S, 148°56.98'E

We anchored in Cid Harbour to climb 437m Whitsunday Peak. This is the view to the anchorage from Sawmill Beach, where the track begins. We landed on a rising tide--by the time we'd returned from our hike, most of the beach was underwater.

Position: -20°15.46'S, 148°56.98'E

At Sawmill Beach is a cairn commemorating the bi-centenary of Captain Cook's visit to the area in 1770. We've seen quite a few commemorations to Captain Cook in our travels--the first was at Bligh Island on Vancouver Island's West Coast, and the more recent before this was in Dusky Sound, Fiordland. Having explored only a fraction of the area explored by Cook, and doing it in a comfortable boat, makes us respect even more the magnitude of Cook's explorations.

Position: -20°16.01'S, 148°57.28'E

The track to Whitsunday Peak was steep, but well-maintained and reasonably easy going. And the view definitely was worth the effort. This is looking southwest to Hamilton Island and the mainland.

Position: -20°16.01'S, 148°57.28'E

This is the view north from Whitsunday Peak across the anchorage at Cid Harbour. The small beach at the bottom center of the picture is Sawmill Beach, where we landed the dinghy. Cid Island is in the foreground on the left, with South Molle Island and the mainland in the distance beyond. Dugong Inlet is right of Sawmill Beach, with Hook Island farther north.

Position: -20°16.01'S, 148°57.28'E

We had our picnic lunch overlooking the anchorage. Dirona is the top leftmost of the anchored boats.

Position: -20°15.15'S, 148°57.12'E

We've seen several Lace Monitors when walking about in the Whitsundays. They can grow up to 2m long from head to tail--this one was about 1.5m long. They're not considered dangerous, and generally avoid people. But they are impressively large and can't help but get your attention.

Position: -20°15.12'S, 148°57.18'E

After the hike up Whitsunday Peak, we followed the trail to Dugong Beach. The campsite there appeared fully-booked with semi-permanent campers.

Position: -20°19.33'S, 148°56.83'E

Nordhavn 76 Voyager III was anchored off Fitzalan Beach when we passed.

Position: -20°20.47'S, 148°57.74'E

Hamilton Island is packed with condos. The tall buildings rising above the circular beach reminded us a bit of Waikiki Beach.

Position: -20°22.15'S, 148°57.60'E

Driftwood Bay looked like a nice anchorage, and we considered stopping there, but the Hamilton Island airport runway juts into the bay. The runway and associated construction were pretty unappealing-looking, and you couldn't really get them out of sight.

Position: -20°19.61'S, 148°50.69'E

We anchored for the night in the calm and sheltered cove off the resort at Long Island. The resort dock across the bay was busy--we probably saw a half-dozen landings the time we were there. In the picture, two commercial cats are docking at the same time to transfer passengers.

Position: -20°15.43'S, 148°49.99'E

We considered anchoring in Oyster Bay on the east side of South Molle Island, but couldn't find a spot we liked and instead went to Bauer Bay. We had plenty of room there and in these calm conditions, no swell entered the anchorage.

Position: -20°15.59'S, 148°49.94'E

South Molle Island has walking tracks with several excellent viewpoints. We'd set off a little late to do the best ones--to Mt Jeffreys in the center of the island and Spion Kop at the northeast tip--but could easily reach Lamond Hill above our anchorage. This is the view looking back down into Bauer Bay from the track.

Position: -20°15.94'S, 148°50.12'E

One of the tracks led to this seemingly precariously balanced rock, with a view south and west.

Position: -20°15.70'S, 148°50.21'E

Koala Adventure Resort rings Bauer Bay, with a golf course behind. We'd walked down to have a drink at the resort bar, but everything was closed. So we had a "bring-your-own" on the jetty overlooking the anchorage.

Position: -20°15.90'S, 148°42.73'E

We stopped for a couple of days at Abell Point Marina in Airlie Beach to pickup our davit motor and do some provisioning. The facility is clean, modern and very well-maintained. The town town of Airlie Beach is close by, and is a fun place to visit with lots of restaurants.

Position: -20°15.90'S, 148°42.73'E

We ordered two davit motors earlier this week, one as a spare. They had arrived at Airlie Beach a few hours before we did and the new one dropped in without a problem.

Position: -20°15.90'S, 148°42.73'E

On installation of the new motor for the davit, we found why the motor had overheated and thrown a winding. The relay that engaged the motor had a internal failure and it shorted on. With the relay stuck on, the motor ran continuously, eventually overheated and then threw an armature winding. The loose armature winding got stuck in the brush assembly and caused a direct short, which melted the field windings and took out the 130-amp fuse. At that point there wasn't much to save. So an inexpensive relay ended up taking out the motor and then the fuse. We had a spare relay in stock so the crane is now back to tip top condition

Position: -20°15.90'S, 148°42.73'E

We were doing fine with the micro-tender, but it's great to have that davit back working.

Position: -20°16.01'S, 148°43.04'E

The man-made Airlie Beach Lagoon is just off the waterfront in town. It's hugely popular with families and groups of all ages.

Position: -20°16.17'S, 148°43.14'E

We'd thought that football coach and commentator John Madden had invented Turducken--a deboned chicken stuffed in a deboned duck stuffed in a deboned turkey--but apparently he just popularized it. And you actually can buy it at the Woolworths in town.

Position: -20°15.94'S, 148°42.97'E

Airlie Beach has been hit hard by cyclones in the past. This wreck may be a casualty of one. A sunken sailboat, only it's mast exposed, is farther out in the bay.

Position: -20°16.21'S, 148°42.29'E

An excellent bicycle and pedestrian boardwalk runs from town Airlie Beach lagoon, through Abell Point Marina and out to Cannonvale Beach.

Position: -20°16.44'S, 148°41.94'E

Another boat aground--this one off Cannonvale Beach.

Position: -20°16.16'S, 148°42.45'E

This Cockatiel was perched with another on a condo rail and accepting treats from the occupant.

Position: -19°45.97'S, 149°10.66'E

At anchor in Hook Reef. The weather should be calm for a few days, so we'll spend some time in the Whitsunday area's outer reefs. Like the Swain Reefs, there's no land here. At low tide some reef is exposed and at high tide it all covers.

Position: -19°44.74'S, 149°10.96'E

Cruise Whitsundays Reefworld pontoon, moored in the channel between Hook and Hardy reefs. The outer reef experience is popular: the two big cats moored on either side arrived in the area shortly after we did and one radioed the pontoon reporting 168 passengers on board.

Position: -19°44.63'S, 149°10.94'E

Dozens of snorklers were in the water, taking in the reef life near the pontoon, and another viewing option is this semi-submersible tour boat.

Position: -19°44.56'S, 149°10.88'E

Helicopters arrived at Reefworld throughout the day--enough to require two helicopter pads. And floatplanes were arriving as well, although these landed farther away to explore the reef rather than bringing people directly to Reefworld.

Position: -19°45.97'S, 149°10.66'E

Many of the marinas we've stopped at are exposed to swell, or wash from other boats. Large fenders are essential to avoid boat damage, but take a lot of space to store. We use Aere inflatables--we have 2 24"x42", 6 18"x29" and 4 12"x72". At dock, we usually put a 24x42 near the pilothouse and 3 18x29s farther aft. We really like the fenders, especially the big one forward, but they haven't lasted well--we've been battling seam leaks since Hawaii. We've tried injecting PVC glue into the leaks, which worked for a while, but eventually failed. We also tried Slime for repairing automative tire leaks, but nothing has worked. We made one last fix attempt of applying patches to the many leaks, but had only moderate success. Time to shop for a different brand. We saw some ProStock Marine inflatable fenders on a superyacht docked at Abell Point Marina that looked promising--they weld rather than glue the seams. The ProStock fender material didn't look as rugged as the Aere fenders, but if they hold air that might rank them ahead.

Position: -19°32.14'S, 148°55.94'E

Fairey Reef has a number of good dive sites--we made a first dive at Henry's Bommie, just northwest of the reef entrance. The coral life on and around the bommie was exceptional. Hard coral encrusted the reef, and we passed by a huge field of blue-tipped white staghorn coral several feet high that reminded us somewhat of a petrified forest. The only downside to the dive was the current--it was quite strong around the south end. The tides may be somewhat more extreme than usual, with a full moon and a large tidal exchange.

Position: -19°32.14'S, 148°55.94'E

The water temperature in these more northern waters is up to 82F--warm enough for our 3mm wetsuits. Diving in the wetsuits is so much easier than the drysuits. Besides the drysuit’s bulkiness and hassle of donning, the undergarments get us very hot when out of the water in warm weather, and require a lot of weight to counteract their buoyancy. With the drysuits, James carries 24lbs of weight and Jennifer carries 17lbs. With the 3mm wetsuits, James carries 6lbs and Jennifer carries 2lbs. We've been looking at getting some 5mm wetsuits, and we're pretty convinced now that is the way to go.

Position: -19°32.14'S, 148°55.94'E

At the south end of the bommie we found a long narrow channel leading towards a cave. The cave entrance itself was a little narrow to proceed into safely, but the swim through the channel was interesting.

Position: -19°32.54'S, 148°56.32'E

Conditions were reasonably calm when we entered Fairey Reef yesterday, and entry was straightforward. We could see the bottom on 50', and the minimum depth on entry was 35'. Today dawned even calmer than yesterday, with barely a hint of wind.

Position: -19°32.54'S, 148°56.32'E

One of the galley sockets overheated due to a loose connection, melting the socket and the wire between the top and bottom socket. We replaced it with a spare. This is a reminder that there is some risk of fire in any electrical connection that isn't tight and clean.

Position: -19°32.60'S, 148°56.01'E

For a second dive at Fairey Reef, we dove Little Fairey Inlet. The seascape was dramatic and the coral life fantastic. The current also was memorable: we started the dive swimming south into the inlet against a strong current, thinking we'd drift back with it. But as we proceeded, the current changed directions and we ended up swimming against a several-knot current to return to the dinghy.

Position: -19°31.64'S, 148°57.66'E

The current we encountered when diving the last couple of days was evident as we passed between Fairey and Seagull reefs. We were running far below full throttle and still doing 10.6 knots against a 15-20kt wind in a 9.5-knot boat.

Position: -19°45.24'S, 149°21.65'E

Little Black Reef has two lagoons--one in the north side and one along the south. Tim Green of Rous Explorer recommended the northern one, and it likely would have better wind protection, so that's where we went. The entry channel and anchorage were deeper than most of the other reefs we've been to, with minimum depths between 60' and 70'. The reef also is much smaller--each side is only a few hundred feet from the anchorage--it felt much more snug. But like all the other reefs, Dirona was pretty much the only thing above water at high tide. This rock did show up on the reef edge at lower tides though.

Position: -19°45.22'S, 149°21.86'E

We had a great dive on the reef at the south side of the entry channel. With little-to-no current, the dive was easy and relaxing and the coral life was excellent.

Position: -19°45.22'S, 149°21.86'E

We dove to 84' on the wall along the outer reef. The seascape along the way was dramatic, particularly the several coral-encrusted spires up and down the water column.

Position: -19°47.24'S, 149°31.11'E

The currents in the area are surprisingly strong--we were running 11.4 knots at less than full throttle as we approached Circular Cay.

Position: -19°43.25'S, 149°32.09'E

We entered the anchorage at Circular Cay at just past high tide, and encountered little current. We considered anchoring south of the entry, but decided the northern area looked nicer. This is the view looking west across Circular Cay to the anchorage at low tide. If the cay ever is exposed, it's only in extreme low tides.

Position: -19°43.58'S, 149°31.60'E

We did a dingy tour of the area a couple of hours after low tide, looking for potential dive sites. The currents outside the reef were running at several knots, and even well inside the reef large upwellings were forming. We found a bommie away from the current that we planned to dive, but when we set out an hour or so before high tide, the current had subsided and we instead could dive the bommies closer to the boat. From the surface, the coral life didn't look amazing, but underwater was quite impressive. We found more soft corals than in any past dive of the area: huge leathers, fields of pulsing xenia, and many kinds of feather stars. The fish life was excellent too. We saw Emperor and Six-Banded Angelfish among the many varieties of reef fish, plus several Trevally and Barracuda.

Position: -19°43.58'S, 149°31.60'E

We're always happy to see a nudibranch--our boat's namesake. The name is derived from Dirona Albolineata, or the Alabaster Nudibranch, an invertebrate indigenous to the Puget Sound that we often saw when scuba diving. Over 3,000 Nudibranch species live throughout the world's oceans--their fantastic forms and psychedelic colors make them among our favorite sea creatures.