Northern Whitsunday Islands

Motoring past Stanley Point on way to Butterfly Bay

Andrew motoring Mingo through the Whitsundays

 Thursday 6^th September, Yay the winds are lighter today so we turn out of Macona Inlet and head further north, along the western side of Hook Island.  The sea is flat this morning and even though overcast it’s still a nice day to be motoring around. 

Mingo attached to public mooring

Stonehaven Anchorage

We are heading towards Hayman Island and anchor at a little spot called Stonehaven Anchorage.  At some of these spots around the Whitsundays there are public moorings that can be used. This is to save people dropping anchor around the coral reefs and destroying all the reefs.  These moorings are coloured buoys that are attached to huge ropes and to a piece of cement at the bottom of the sea.  The colour codes determine what size boat the mooring will hold.  We find a green mooring and Christie is out the front with the gaff whilst Andrew slowly motors towards the buoy.  Christie then hooks the rope around the buoy and pulls it up through our anchor hole on the bow of the boat and attaches the rope to Mingo.  So we don’t have to put the anchor down today.  This is the first time we have used one of these public moorings and they are a really good idea.

Chris on One Foot Island

One Foot Island

We hop into the tinny and head over first to an island we see in the distance that is all sand, its called One Foot Island and has brilliant snorkeling along the reef by the island.  There are a number of people on it but it is a beautiful setting.   We didn’t put any of the snorkeling gear into the tinny so didn’t end up swimming here.  After a short walk on the beach we motored over to Hayman Island. 

Hayman Island

Hayman is the most northerly resort island of the Whitsundays and is quite exclusive.  Hayman resort was built by the owner of Ansett airlines and is one of the few resorts left that is up and running.  It is in a perfect spot for views as looks over to Hook island, saying that though Hayman does not have any protection from strong winds making a no go for anchoring except to the western side.  There is also reef that surrounds the southern side of the island and is very shallow.  There is a man made boat harbour at Hayman but if you want to use the harbour you are not allowed to sleep on your boat overnight but have to pay for a room in the resort.

Sea plane

Chris around Hayman Island

We motor into the harbour to have a look and watch as a seaplane takes of in front of us.  Then head over a large span of crystal clear water with a number of turtles swimming by.  We pull the tinny up onto a little beach away from Hayman resort and walking up the beach a hundred meters or so a security guard asks us to leave.  So much for having a look around the island.  We find if odd how some of these resorts that are up and running don’t allow visitors.  What if we had wanted to spend money in the bar or restaurant or wanted to look at the rooms to make a future booking… There are so many resorts closed down around the Whitsundays that you’d think any extra money would be a must for them.  Oh well….

Chris at Butterfly Bay

Back to Mingo and we then head over to the north of Hook Island.  The weather has cleared up beautifully and the day is sunny and warm at 27 degrees.  We find an area called Butterfly Bay, which also has public moorings but only 9.  We are lucky, as we pull up so do another three boats and we get one of the free one’s, now all the moorings are occupied.

Mingo is safely tide up again and time for us to have an explore around Butterfly Bay.  What an amazing spot, this would have to be one of the nicest we have been to.  I think so far Percy Island is our favourite, then Thomas Island and Butterfly Bay come a close second.  There is extensive reef in this bay so looks like great swimming and snorkeling. 

Us at Butterfly Bay

We head over to the little beach which is small but lovely and we are the only people on it at the moment so have a walk in the sand and a clamber amongst the rocks then go for a swim in the once again crystal clear water, its so refreshing and its getting warmer the further north we are.

Chris motoring around in the tinny 

Andrew by a rock formation at Maureens cove

Back to Mingo and we sit out the back looking at the view and enjoying the tranquility of where we are.  Then after lunch we jump into the tinny and Christie motors us around, Andrew jumps overboard the tinny and as Andrew snorkels throughout the reef, Christie is not far behind in the tinny.  The fish and coral here are in abundance, the coral alive and the size of some of the fish huge.  This is another marine protected area so unfortunate no fishing.  

Andrew on rocks around Maureens Cove

 We then head around to Maureen’s Cove and pulled the tinny onto the rocks, the tide is going out so we can clamber up the rocks and have a walk around.  It’s amazing seeing all the formations that are formed again in these rocks.  The colours even of the rocks are beautiful. We love heading into these places and spending hours just taking our time to look around.

Little Sea snails

We notice these these small little black things in the rocks, on closer looking we see that they are a black sea snail and there are hundreds of them.

Sunset from Butterfly Bay