Island Hopping

Up to a slight fog again this morning and looking overcast.  We have been spoilt with the good weather since we left a month ago, so when the days are not sunny, we really do feel hard done by.     We motor out of Brampton Island to 5 knot winds, perfect for our 20km trip to Goldsmith Island.  We pass through  Finger and Thumb Islands, Allonby Island and  head between Linne Island and Tinsmith on our right with today's destination of Goldsmith Island on our left.  We head around to the western side of the island and anchor in just out of the reef at Minne Hall Bay.  The weather has cleared up since we got here, so the sun is shining again and you can see the reef so clearly as we motor in – Perfect.

Goldsmith Island

Christie looking through the marine telescope

Anchored up and time to blow up the little inflatable dingy.  Christie is then in the dingy with her snorkel and goggles and the marine telescope whilst Andrew jumps over board with the Sea Dolphin and his goggle and snorkel.  Andrew had now tied the boat to his wrist and with flippers on the dolphin pulls him along under water snorkeling and Christie along on top of the water snorkeling – This is the way to do it.

Andrew snorkeling

The visibility wasn’t brilliant, but we could still see the coral and a few small colourful fish below, Christie also caught a glimpse of a turtle swimming below.  We spend a good hour out here snorkeling and enjoy the sights.

2 Butterflies hanging in tree.

We then spend the rest of the day puddling about the boat, with Andrew putting  up some solar lamps on the duck board.  Out in the tinny for a short trip around the island to have a look, and see another 3 boats in the next inlet.  We had a lure out the back and managed to hook 2 fish, but they both got away as Christie was pulling them in.  We think hooking and them getting away is worse than not even catching one, arrrgh.    As it was getting dark, the new lamps out the back came on and with them came an abundance of little fish, there were hundreds swimming around.  So out come the rods and Andrew manages to pull in three Moses Perch.  We ended up letting them go as two were small and we were about to sit down to dinner anyway.  Always a nice way to end a day.  We turn the mobile on to find a message from the Mackay Coast Guard, wondering where we are.  We hear the message came through at 1730 hours and it was now 2100 hours, oh shit, hope they haven’t started sending a search party out to find us.  Mackay Coast Guard close at 1800 hours, so we find a mobile to ring and give them a call, only to be told that they made the mistake and realised yes we had logged off with them.

No rush at getting up this morning, Saturday 25th August, we lay in bed until about 0800 hours, then did our usual routine of taking the 15 horsepower Yamaha motor off the tinny and putting it in the back of the boat.  Its pretty heavy so does take the two of us to lift it.  We then pull the tinny up at the duck board and tie it on.  This is daily ritual at every place we want to have a look around.  We cant get Mingo onto the Plain with the tinny on the back and also if the weather does turn bad and we get bad swell, we are likely to loose the tinny and motor, so we pull her in each day before we head off.  It’s a bit of a pain but we have it down pat now and it only really takes us 15 minutes.    All drawer locks in place, and bits and bobs put away.  Not that we should have anything to worry about as its like glass on the water today, but still better to be safe than to come downstairs after a trip and find glasses broken and drawers and their contents scattered.  Yeap its happened once, and once was enough.  The sliding doors are locked into place, the battery is turned back to all, Christie is out the front pulling up the banger rope whilst Andrew pulls the anchor up. Goodbye Goldsmith Island.

Whale feeding its baby

Motoring out to see a whale not to far in front of us, feeding  a baby whale.  Its lovely to see. They just lie in the water and don’t seem to perturbed by us being there.  We then head over to Thomas Island, through Dead Dog Islet (oh the names of some of these islands, we wonder how they are made up).  Its like the names of boats we have come across along the way, some are great.  To name just a few “Tax Evasion”, “ZOO”,  “Going nowhere fast”(bit of a coincidence with this boat, as it had broken down as we were coming into one port), “My little Hooker”, "Fluffy Duffy", etc.  They give us a good laugh but even better when you hear them over the radio, logging on and of with the coast guard.

Thomas Island reef

Fish in the coral at Thomas Island

Chris ready for a swim

So we head into Thomas Island, absolute pristine clear water with reef approx 3 meters on either side of us and we are in 3 meters of water.  We put the anchor down and could see the chain lying on the bottom of the water.  Its gorgeous here, with a small beach.  The sun is shining and the weather has warmed up a lot today so its time for a swim.  Snorkels to the ready and Andrew jumps in and goes for a snorkel around the reef, then comes back for the dolphin and spear.  Christie is in the dinghy looking down into the coral and fish below, ready for a swim.  Its so clear and so close when you are lying belly down in the dingy looking through the marine snorkel.  It’s a great way to see the fish below as they don’t seem bothered by the dingy being there.  The colourful fish and coral below is great and even a small stingray hiding itself under the sand below is not disturbed.   We spend a good couple of hours out in the water and love every minute of it.  Andrew didn’t manage to find a fish big enough to spear so came back empty handed.

Andrew snorkeling with the sea dolphin

Chris on front of Mingo

Now time to dry off on the front of the boat, so we pull out the sun mattresses and a bite to eat and lie on the front of Mingo relaxing the afternoon away.  Its apparently not a good anchorage spot for overnight stays here as the swell comes in making it uncomfortable.  We would like to spend the night here, but decide we will head over to Shaw Island instead.

Stingray under the sand whilst snorkeling

Pull the anchor up and begin to head out, when Mingo starts coughing and spluttering. Damn it.  We have still been having problems with what we think is a small amount of water in the fuel and usually when we swap the tanks over she doesn’t start straight away and we usually have to drain the fuel filter to clean it out a couple of times before she goes.  Its not a hard job just smelly and more of a hassle as we have to pull the cover from the motor and then unscrew the filter and empty the contents then refill.  Unfortunately this time Mingo is still not happy and wont start, almighty clunks coming from the motor when we try.  We wonder what the other two sail boats that are now not far from us are wondering whats going on.  So this time Andrew changes both the fuel filters, this is a bit of a painful job as one of them is in the tightest of spots.  All done and we go back up to the fly bridge and “Yes” she starts first go.  We happily motor out of Thomas Island.

Andrew relaxing and watching our "Fleet"

We have chewed up a bit of fuel now since leaving Mackay, so finally manage to get Mingo onto the plain and we get to Shaw Island in about an hour.  Nice easy trip and calm waters.  Most the islands in the Whitsundays are 20km or less apart, so there is now not a lot of long distance motoring until we leave for Townsville.  Its great being able to do this island hopping so easily and means we get to see a lot of the islands.  We motor in through the southern end of Shaw island, not realising Shaw is so long and greatly positioned on the east side of Lindeman island.  There are a lot of other boats in Neck bay where we had planned on anchoring for the night so decided to head the extra 5 minutes to Lindeman Island and anchor at Plantation Bay.  Its to the SE of the island and is a nice little spot not far from the old Lindeman Island resort.  Another resort that did not make it and was closed down in January 2012.  Another wasted venture for someone.  Christie did a little research and found out the island has been bought again for 12 million dollars and there is talk of a new resort in the future.   Lets wait and see on this one.

We didn’t get to Lindeman until 1600 hours today, so decided we would wait until the morning to do some exploring. Time really is our essence at the moment.

As we are sitting inside during the evening, we hear splashing outside like someone is throwing pebbles into the water.  Andrew grabs the torch and we have a look to the side of the boat and as we shine the torch we watch thousands of bait fish jumping out of the water, it looks like they are running on the top of it.  Its quite loud and quite fascinating to watch.  They obviously don’t like the light as we shine it further in and out and there are thousands more running on water like they are creating a wave of themselves – funny little creatures.