Mary and Steve’s Visit

Some friends of ours flew from Canada to visit us on Toboggan. Mary and Steve flew initially to Brisbane and then took a small plane from there to Hamilton Island in the WhitSunday Islands.
Stephen and I obtained a short-term berth at Hamilton Island Marina so that we could pick them up at the airport. While I rented a golf cart to drive the one kilometer to meet them, Stephen took advantage of Toboggan being at a dock for the first time since October to hook up to the water and hose her down. It is amazing how much salt builds up on everything and a good bath is required once in a while.
When I arrived back with Mary and Steve, we had a quick lunch at the dock then headed off to Sawmill Bay to anchor for the night. We had a lovely sail through beautiful blue waters. After a couple of hours, we arrived and dropped the anchor, launched the dinghy and went for a hike along a trail that led to dugong beach.
The next day, we went for a snorkel off Ross Islet in Cid Harbour. The weather had been a bit rough for a couple days so the visibility wasn’t that great but still we saw some fabulous coral. After lunch, we headed off to Nara Inlet on Hook Island. We anchored off a small beach and took the dinghy to shore. We hiked a short distance to a cave where we found Aboriginal Paintings. We arrived back at the boat in time for happy hour and soon we had three uninvited guests. Cockatoos. They were shy at first and stayed up in the rigging but we coaxed them down with a stale bagel. They hung around for quite a while until the bagels ran out . Later, around dusk, Hundreds of cockatoos gathered in the trees along the shore. It was quite a site to see.
The next morning, we were awakened to the squawking of Cockatoos. Apparently they had returned bright and early for breakfast. I guess they liked those bagels. Later, we had a lovely 3 hour sail to Butterfly Bay at the top of the island. We picked up one of the mooring balls placed in the bay to protect the reef from anchors. We took the dinghy to Maureen’s Cove where we had a fabulous snorkel. The highlights were huge parrot fish, a giant blue clam, and a wide variety of gorgeous coral. It was so good, we went back a second time after lunch.
We decided to stay on the mooring ball overnight. Some high winds had been forecasted for the evening and Butterfly Bay is nice and sheltered. However, sometimes nature just doesn’t want to co-operate. We had a REALLY bad night. The wind alternated between gusts up to 40 knots with driving rain, to no wind during which time Toboggan kept banging up against the mooring ball. Then the wind blew us so that we were perpendicular to the swell and we were rolling and pitching as if we were at sea. Pots and pans went flying in the galley. The canned goods in the cupboard banged against the doors. None of us got much sleep that night but Mary and Steve appreciated the opportunity to experience one of the top 5 worst nights we have had at anchor in the last 18 months. It’s all part of the cruising experience.
The next morning, we headed south to Macona Inlet. We took the dinghy to the beach where we saw hundreds of sand dollars, little star fish and crabs.
After another day of sailing and beach combing, it was time to return to Hamilton Island for Steve and Mary to catch their plane. The 5 days had flown by in a blink and we were sad to see them go. After we dropped them at the tiny airport, we drove our rented golf cart to the top of the island where we enjoyed the spectacular view of the surrounding islands.