Shute Harbour to Airlie Beach

Islands around Shute Harbour

What will today bring?  We stayed anchored the night in Sandy Bay, South Molle Island, opposite Shute Harbour, which is 2km to the east of us, Daydream Island 500m to the north of us, Long Island 1 km to the south of us.  So we are in a fantastic spot. 

Over to have a look at Shute Harbour this morning in the tinny and the water just perfect, the sky not a cloud to be seen and the sun shining at about 26 degrees, just lovely. 

Us at Shute Harbour

Shute Harbour is the commercial fishery side of Airlie, so nothing special really.  This is where the majority of the tourist boats head out from to the reefs, Whitehaven, Hamilton Island and the other islands.  There were a few other boats moored in private moorings and the area they were in was just lovely.  We pulled the tinny up onto the small beach area and had a quick walk around.  Walked up to a look out over the harbour and it was very pretty, then headed down again and back for a motor around.

Andrew on The Beak

Andrew looking in an old shak at The Beak

We found another little inlet called The Beak, which had clear water and a number of old run down shacks on the beach.  Obviously this was a popular spot once.  We wonder what happened, as they are now all derelict… 

Whale Breaching

Whale Breaching

As we motor out we see a couple of whales swimming by Day Dream Island and see one of them breach a number of times.  It’s magic and unbelievable to see such a huge mammal lift its entire body out of the water.  What a splash when it lands back in the sea again.  We were in the tinny watching these whales and it was surreal, being about 40 meters away from it.   During the rest of the day, we noticed that a number of whales were swimming around the area, we were not sure if it was the same one’s or different, but nice to look around and see them all afternoon.

Andrew snorkelling with whale in background

Fossil coral on the beach

Over to Sandy Bay beach, for a snorkel around the rocks, not a lot to see down there, but as Andrew was snorkeling the whales were flapping their tails in the distance.  This beach is full of dead coral.  We had to wear shoes as it’s hard to walk on and there is so much of it washed up on the shore.  There are also a number of coral fossils.  We go for a walk around the bay and see the water a bit rougher in one spot and then right next to it so calm.  This is caused by the current and wind going in opposite directions around the island.  There are warnings in the navigation books about these as in some places they are so strong that they can turn a small yacht around.

Rough water into calm water

Getting ready to go spear fishing

Very Happy Andrew about to go snorkelling

Andrew then gets his pony bottle, regulator, goggles, flippers and spear gun and does a bit of spear fishing whilst Christie stayed on the boat.  Andrew was trying to catch a black fish about 2 feet long, but unfortunately jagged an angelfish instead.  He brought his catch back to the boat, but with a bit of a hole in the tail where it was spiked on his spear gun, he let it go and the fish seemed to swim off alive and well.  It was so pretty with yellow and black stripes, couldn’t bear to kill it.

Funnel Bay

After Andrew swimming around for an hour, we then decide its time to pull the anchor up and head over to Airlie for the next couple of nights.  The wind is suppose to be blowing up to 15-20 knots over the weekend and there is a marina at Airlie Beach, but we decide a little inlet called Funnel Bay seems like a good spot for us to get out of the wind.  We don’t really want to be paying marina fees unless it’s a real must.  So anchored up 3km from Airlie Beach itself and we head over to have a look in the tinny.  As soon as we head out of the inlet Mingo is anchored in the water seems to get rougher and we are wave hopping the whole way to the marina.  We pull up and have a good look around, walk into the main street of Airlie.  Very busy here today, so am sure the weekend it is going to be packed.  We have a quick walk around the Lagoon and its all very nice and a great setting.  We plan on spending the whole day here tomorrow so don’t stay for long. 

Chris looking at the views.

Back to Mingo and the swell seems to have picked up and we are rocking everywhere. So we pull the second anchor out and anchor it out the back so we are facing the swell, this helps a lot and we are now sitting stiller.

Sunset over Airlie.

We see a dolphin swimming out the back and a lovely sun set over Airlie and the sky is red, it really is a beautiful night – “Red sky at night Shepherds delight”.  Lets hope tomorrow is.

Tomorrow is not the winds are fairly high and the swell annoying now.  We look at the BOM weather forecast and it looks as though the winds are going to be between 15-25 all week.  We decide to motor Mingo to another mooring spot but first of all we head to Abell Point, Airlie beach marina to fill up with fuel.  We noticed a sign yesterday whilst we were walking around that we had to call ahead before we entered the marina so it was a good thing we did as this marina allocates specific times and fuel pumps you are allowed to use.  So we are just outside the marina and its 1015 hours and we call to the marina who tell us we can come in at 1100 hours.  We don’t really want to motor around for 45 minutes as we are wasting the last bit of fuel we have in the tanks, so find a little spot outside the marina and drop anchor until 1100.  Into to fill up with fuel, water and gas bottle regassed then we head outside the marina again. 

Looking into Airlie Beach

The weather is not the best at the moment so we look for spot to anchor in the small craft Mooring area amongst the other 400 odd boats that are there.  This is an area where there are permanent mooring spots, meaning that there is a large piece of concrete on the sea bottom attached to a rope with two buoys.  People pay a small fee for these than to stay in the marina.  Other boats are allowed to anchor amongst these moorings but have to be careful not to drop anchor on someone’s concrete block and also need to make sure that your boat doesn’t swing to much on its anchor and hit a boat that is attached to a permanent mooring.  The majority of boats here seem to be permanent but there are a number just anchored.  We find a little spot amongst two catamarans we have seem around since leaving Scarbourgh called Zoo and Tax Z vasion.

Outside Airlie Beach

Once anchored we head in the tinny over to the Whitsunday Yacht club to have a shower.  Funnily enough the marina will not let you use their showers even for a fee. This is a first… 

Once showered we go and spend most of the afternoon around Airlie.  We walk down the boardwalk along the northern tip of Airlie into the main street.  It is a nice walk as it’s along the waterfront in a nice area.  We then head around the Lagoon which is in the centre of town and a great swimming spot, bit like a smaller version of Brisbane’s Southbank pool, a nice setting on the water too.  Then time for some lunch, so we walk down the main street and pick up something to eat before heading back down to the waterfront to eat it in front of a nice view.

After wandering around we head back to Mingo for a couple of hours and then decide to treat our selves tonight to a nice dinner out.  So at about 6pm we head back into Airlie and have dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  Was very nice.  Then headed along the main street and could hear the live music from all the clubs and pubs.  Airlie is not very big to get around.  I guess if you hired a car for a day you could see the outskirts too, but it’s a bit limited when you are on foot.  This area obviously caters for the backpackers mainly and there are a number of trips that can be taken out to the reefs or the islands, or seaplane trips over the same spots. 

View towards Airlie with yachts sailing in the distance - "Beautiful"