Again with the Whitsundays

At Blue Pearl Bay we spied the sun and courted the voracious batfish with their favoured meal of delicately flavoured arborio rice. At last, the Whitsundays were beginning to show us their true colours and some snorkelling was likely in the upcoming days with the water clearing after the turbulence of the recent winds. All was well. Which is when a gentle wind change, much like that early in Pirates of the Carribean, wafted across the bay and heralded trouble brewing in the air. Months on the sea had tuned the senses of the Captain to these subtle shifts in the atmosphere and sure enough, on the falling of dusk, a no good pirate ship drifted into Blue Pearl Bay and secured itself to another mooring buoy. There was something unusual about this boat indeed: it came with the lines of a clipper but with a fully enclosed transparent marquee erected on the deck. The immediate blaring of some sort of Ibiza house music mix heralded its intentions and these intentions were unmistakable: a backpacker's dance party until the wee hours of the morning.

`The sun departs for the Winter Solstice at Stonehaven

Windy Week of Whitsuntide

The entire week after Whit Sunday (seventh Sunday after Easter) is known as Whitsuntide or Whit week. At this point if I was the Captain, I would be able to insert some hilariously self referential "Whit" play on words - but it's beyond a First Mate. 

Submarine vision (Second Mate)

Pleasure sailing on WhitSaturday

We left you with the drama of the outboard motor being submerged by a bullet at the uncivilised hour of 4am at Shaw Island, but our stoic Captain immediately rinsed it with fresh water, and the outboard so far seems none the worse.

From Shaw Island, it was a short hop past yet another abandoned resort (Lindeman Island) and up the Dent Passage to Hamilton Island. Yachtspeople up and down the coast grumble about the cost of Hamilton Island marina, however none can deny its absolute fabulousness.

Hamilton Island glam

Brampton Island

On June 2nd, after a week spent with the captain muttering and cursing in the bowels of the boat in Mackay, we raised the sails and headed back out to wage battle with the shoals and bulk carriers. After a punishing schedule of boat repairs, the captain was really looking like he needed a holiday on a nice tropical island.

Insert tropical island picture here

Middle Percy to Mackay

What with the endless tasks on a working sailing vessel it is difficult to find time to put pen to paper and update this journal. The First Mate sagely advised that the Captain should spend less time with the pen and paper and more time with a computer keyboard. It is this sort of insubordination that has seen many a mutiny and grounding of vessels.

We have learned previously of the catch of many fish at South Percy and our arrival at Middle Percy. The First Mate failed to mention that one of the crew reacted poorly after eating the BBQ fish. In fact, quite a serious allergic type reaction appeared that had us reviewing our distance from medical support. Arjuna carries a medical kit to rival that of many a hospital but in this case we lacked the sort of syringe full of potion that that one might stab into an ailing crew member's chest. The Captain prepared a traditional homeopathic remedy by dipping the bones of the offending fish into water and then diluting the solution 10000 times. By the time this was available however, the Second Mate had made some progress towards recovery. All in all, the episode simply provided further evidence that the Captain tends to catch either a) no fish, b) small fish or c) poisonous or dangerous fish.

West Bay, Middle Percy. The Gathering of the Fleet