WEDNESDAY 4th AUGUST 2010Another beautifull day, but very cool and very breezy. It was the 1st time in a long time that the skipper had to put on a pair of " long johns" in the bunk, brrrrrrr brrrrrr brrrrr
07.00hrs, Skipper got out and into the blog and all the outstanding emails, The skippers friend ,Sr Ita has sent a number of emails recently reassuring us of her continued support in prayer every day, We think this is just above and beyond normal friendship.. we love you Sr.Ita.
09.00hrs Aileen and Naill went ashore. Aileen needed to sort out her phone and Naill gave her some moral support, as solicitors do ! Skipper returned the buggy to the office and bought some fishing bait on his way back to the boat. Naill did the same, ( great minds think alike or are we just two plonkers that did not communicate properly?)
10.50 hrs We slipped our lines and motored out of the harbour , past the beautifull new Yacht Club, a stunning piece of modern architecture decorating the entrance to the marina, ( a copy of this would fit very nicely into Crosshaven ) We set sail for " Whitsunday Island " itself, just about 12 miles to Whitehaven Bay, where we are heading, gosh the whole scene around here is magnificant. The lush green hills, the manicured gardens and golf courses, the beautifull white parrots, the crisp modern architecture, the torquise water, and super yachts, what else would you want, except ( just a few million or a very big lucky bag ).
The wind was 20knots ESE as we passed through the sound on the northern end of Hamilton Island, The sea was choppy, but the colour was that lovely torquise or as skipper says .......... a real crisp green with plenty of white horses keeping us company.
13.30hrs , We arrived at " Whitehaven Bay " and dropped anchor. this place was well sheltered and the beach looked sparkling white. However, we decided to have a light lunch and chill out for a while, which we did... The place was very busy, About 15 yachts and catamarans, some large commercial motorboats, a sea plane, and a helicoptor, but then the beach was about 2 miles long, so it was thinly populated.
Ohhh, this is just the answer to all Sr, Ita's prayers, what a spot. The colour of the water,,, this just blew us away....... and we saw a few turtles just for good measure.
Later, we all went ashore in the rib, no problems here and Aileen did not go headlong into the sea, as she has done before on numerous occasions. The sand was something else. It was so fine , that it felt as if we were walking on icing sugar, It was certainly the finest sand we ever saw in our lives.
Naill and skipper went for a forest walk , while the dolls took a stroll along the beach. The boys did a lot of talking with all the different birds, especially the lovely all white parrots, just the sort of bird that everyone wants to bring home for the dining room...........except they crap everywhere, even on you if you stand there long enough...... bleedin lovely but very smelly.
17.30hrs. We returned to " A lady" where Mary and the skipper went for a refreshing swim off the back of the boat, gosh its been a long time since we had a swim off the boat, and it was just great. a small bit chilly, but excellent stuff.....
Naill and skipper opened up the generator and had a look to see what was the matter as it would not start,, ( useless thing ) but we might as well have been looking into an elephants mouth for all we knew.... eventually we gave up and replaced all the casings. " Lets have a glass of wine " at least we know what we are dealing with here, a great idea, and readily accepted by all.
Dinner in Heven tonight is " rack of lamb" with brockily , sugar snap pea's, creamed potatoes, followed by a selection of Aileens ice creams. When we were fully stuffed like turkey's, we sat down and watched a DVD called " Master & Commander " ohhhhh a brilliant film, and a fitting end to a good day.....
Thats it for now,
Signed :- Stephen Hyde ( Skipper )