Year 2 –5 May 2025 – Whitsunday Island-Border Island
It rained again in the night and it was quite rolly and I got up a couple of times to check we were ok. We decided to have a good, cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs on toast which is always a good start. We then relaxed and had a coffee and decided to get the dinghy down and go ashore. This bay is clearly on the tourist trail as we saw two racing type yachts come in with lots of people on them. They then took their occupants ashore like the boats which came here the day before.
We arrived on the beach as a large group arrived. Beyond the beach is a walkway and steps which takes you up and on to a series of viewing platforms which look out over Whitehaven beach and across to Hazelewood Island and Chalkie’s beach and what is called Hill inlet. The picture of the day is a view of this inlet which was stunning. We had not noticed this behind us as we sailed up the east side of Whitsunday Island to Tongue Bay where we are now. There were three viewing platforms and I spoke to one of the groups from one of the racing yachts. She said they do a 3-day two-night trip around some of the Whitsunday Islands. They must make good money as there are about 20 on each boat.
We took some pictures and admired the views and then walked back down and then took the track to Betty’s Beach on the east side which looked the same way as the viewpoints. This was a vast area of pristine sand and some of the purest sand in Australia and reminded me of the sand in Barbuda. We had to walk about half a mile across this sand to the water and there were pools of water and mangroves. There was the odd large tree trunk stranded on the shore, washed up at some point and you wondered how it got here and thank God we did not meet it in the water. The best thing about all of this was that there appeared to be no pollution or plastics at all. It was lovely even though the odd rain shower came when we were there. It felt so good to be out and walking and in such a nice environment and we saw some lovely large healthy sea eagles soaring and patrolling and looking for food.
We walked through the woods back to the beach on the west side of the bay where we had left our dinghy. We saw at the water’s edge some black tip reef sharks swimming in the shallows. Although they were small it was a reminder that sharks are around. We got back on the dinghy and headed back to Stormbird. We put the dinghy back on the davits and prepared to leave.
Border Island is a Marine National Park Green Zone and the reef here has been protected for some time (since 1930’s) and is in very good condition. It’s an undeveloped and uninhabited island and, unlike many of the other islands, the commercial boats don’t tend to come here. Border Island in the Whitsundays is called that because it marks the boundary between two different areas or properties. It's a common naming convention for islands that serve as a demarcation point, often for administrative or geographic purposes. In this case, it likely signifies the transition between different land ownership or management zones within the Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsunday Islands are 74 continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, 900 kilometres (560 miles) north of Brisbane. The northernmost of the islands are off the coast by the town of Bowen, while the southernmost islands are off the coast by Proserpine. The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the commercial centre is Hamilton Island. The traditional owners of the area are the Ngaro people and the Gia people, whose Juru people has the only legally recognised native title in the Whitsunday Region.
We slipped the mooring and headed out of the bay and due to the wind direction decided to go Southeast of Border Island and round to Cateran Bay on the North side which should give us shelter from the Southeast wind. The wind was a bit less today and we just put up the Staysail again and sailed about 5 kts and we were seeing winds between 14 -25 kts. We were not in a rush and I had the generator on and we were making water. The swell was a lot less but still there and we sailed well and in control. We fished but alas caught nothing again.
We sailed up to Border Island and then bared away heading up to the North of the Island. The rain caught us at the top and the wind came with it. We gybed and then headed toward Cateran but with our rain jackets on. We took down the sail and motored into the bay. It was deserted and as we arrived we saw another rental yacht coming in. We got a buoy each on the sheltered side of the bay. It was a reasonable sized bay with steep sides and curved and had a beach at the end. We had some lunch and I then got on with some planning and others rested and read.
We saw a square-rigged boat come in and anchor called the Solway Lass and it was another tourist boat 3 days and two nights. They went snorkelling on the east side of the bay and then went to the beach. As the afternoon went on it got darker and we decided not to go ourselves today but to go tomorrow morning. We had a sundowner even though there was no sunset and had bangers and mash for supper.
We always have a good chat and discussion at dinner which is interesting and stimulating. As part of my planning, we now have two days of lesser wind like today and the two days of gusts up to 36 kts!! It is unusual weather we are having here. Despite this we are seeing lots and enjoying out time here. We look forward to snorkelling tomorrow.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. I am looking for crew from Reunion to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com