Perfect Conditions in Whitsundays

Hamilton Island Marina in the Whitsundays is a good place to pass some windy days. We spent July 31 and Aug 1 nights there, gave the boat a well deserved bath.  We got together with Oso Blanco both evenings as we will be parting ways when we leave the marina. It is possible that we may never be together again on our boats. One night was a mud crab night, a great treat here. We bought some fresh and cooked them ourselves. What a feast! They are very much like our red rock crabs from the west coast, a very hard stony shell with most of the meat in the claws.

 

After all of the crappy weather we have had, now we are experiencing Australia's finest. We've been out of Hamilton Island marina for three days now anchored securely at Stonehaven on Hook Island in the Whitsunday Group. With such favorable conditions, putting the whaler into the water was a piece of cake. We've been re-diving our previous sites here. Each time we go under, we find something new and wonderful. On top of our new finds, we can clearly hear the humpbacks calling, they must be close. Diving is an amazing hobby. The visibility is still not so great, though sunlight overhead helps a lot. The currents have fooled us a couple of times, being stronger than we anticipated underwater, but we just adjust our dive to suit. At 68 to 70 degrees in the water, it is cold and we need every bit of sunshine to warm us up between dives. This is the end of our diving in Australia now and we are greedy to see (and hear) as much as we can.

 

Our anchor winch gave us a bit of concern when we were letting the anchor down. It just quit letting the chain out. Hummmm, wonder if we'll get it back up???? With a bright sunny afternoon at our backs, Glen and I dismantled the winch (mostly Glen, I just pass the tools) to find that the "cones", which are supposed to be free moving, were completely void of grease and stuck together. With grease everywhere, we finished the project, happy to find that there were no left over parts and started everything up to give it a test run. Yeah!! She works!

 

Today, under another sunshiny sky, we are continuing our way south. It is so hard to leave a beautiful area when you have beautiful conditions, but we are still 500 miles from Sanctuary Cove and need to be there by the end of August. It is also good to travel in beautiful conditions, no wind, no waves, no mess, no stress!