Day 203 - Wednesday 19 July - Tall Ships, snorkeling and whales

Day 203

Wednesday

19 July 2017

Airlie Beach – Hook Island

More alarms but for good reason as we had a full day ahead of us on the tall ship “Derwent Hunter”. Once over the shock of being up at 6.15am, we organised ourselves and then made our way for the bus stop outside the caravan park where the courtesy bus collected us at 7.15am. We did a tour around various resorts and backpackers collecting other members of our group before being deposited at Abell Point Marina and boarding our vessel with the other 37 guests.

The usual safety briefing was held, as the boat set sail out of the marina and made way to Hook Island. From the boat, we had a great view of Airlie Beach as it awoke at the start of a new day. The water was so flat and there was very little wind, just perfect.

We had two hours of sailing ahead of us, as we motored towards Hook Island. We were told about the snorkelling and the history of the boat. Built in 1945 for a rich grazier in Hobart, she has had a colourful life with many owners. She was the backdrop for the TV series “The Rovers” in the 1970’s.  They believe she was used for smuggling guns to the Philippines at one point. She was in Fremantle for the America’s Cup and then Sydney for the Bicentennial reverse Sydney to Hobart, before finding life as a tour boat here in Airlie Beach 25 years ago. As it turns out she was also owned by the father in law of one of my mates from 1989 - 1994, when the current owner Warren Ladd bought her. I had an interesting text conversation between my mate, Scott, and Pete the captain as they messaged Warren and John, the previous owner. Small world.

We arrived at our snorkelling destination at 10.30am. We had already been given our gear as we sailed along and were dressed in wet suits, ready to head overboard. Piling into dinghies, we were ferried just off the boat and over the side we ventured ready to explore the underwater world and boy were we impressed. This spot at Stonehaven Bay was the best we have experienced on this trip. The coral was colourful, was all sorts of interesting shapes and textures and there was a myriad of small fish to chase around.

We arrived at our snorkelling destination at 10.30am. We had already been given our gear as we sailed along and were dressed in wet suits, ready to head overboard. Piling into dinghies, we were ferried just off the boat and over the side we ventured ready to explore the underwater world and boy were we impressed. This spot at Stonehaven Bay was the best we have experienced on this trip. The coral was colourful, was all sorts of interesting shapes and textures and there was a myriad of small fish to chase around.

We spent about 45min in the water before being called to the dinghy and returning to the boat. We moved on about 10min to another spot in Stonehaven Bay and were ferried back in the dinghy before dropping back in the water once again. The spring tide was in, meaning the reef was quite exposed to the surface and was only becoming more so as the afternoon wore on. This was great for us, as we had a lot of light at the surface that provided great visibility. I really enjoyed swimming around the various bombies and watching the fish dart here and there.

Paul called out shark, which had me swimming in the other direction. He’d seen a white tip reef shark of about a meter. Unfortunately the camera he was using ran out of battery so he didn’t get it on film and my one was soon full.

I was now shivering uncontrollably, so we returned to the dingy where I made a very graceful entrance into the boat and we returned to the main ship to change out of the wet suit, hand back the gear and find a place to hang out in the sun to warm up.

A terrific smorgasbord lunch was set out that we gleefully hoed into, as the snorkelling had helped us work up an appetite. With plates piled high we found a perch and devoured the salads and cold meats.

When lunch was complete we began our journey back towards Airlie. It was a very relaxed sail, in fact even through the sails were hoisted there was no wind to carry us forward, so we remained under power.

I lay back making sure to make the most of the sunshine. We enjoyed some drinks, though I had to drink my choice of wine straight from the piccolo bottle, so classy!

About an hour from Airlie the call of Whales went up and I scrambled for the camera and a good spot to watch them from. There were two and they were happy to wave at us. We weren’t particularly close and we weren’t the only boat to notice them with a number of ocean rafters making there way to a safe viewing distance. However, with a flick of the tail the dived away and we didn’t see them return.

We continued our sail, making it back to Airlie for 4pm and by 20 past we were safely back at the marina and gathering our things together. We had had a great day out with a great crew, Pete – captain and his two deck hands Amy and Katy. Paul had also made friends with a few blokes who were all keen bikers, so while I was sunning myself, he was talking bikes.

The bus was waiting to return us to our park. We were the last couple to be dropped home, so we really got to see the sights as we meandered and climbed the hills dropping the others home.

I was glad to get in and unpack and then have a shower to clean off the salt water. It was fortuitous that the park was having a spit roast and music night, so we set up our chairs to listen to the tunes while the chef finished up the cooking, which smelt divine. Paul spoke to a couple of mates from work, which only made him upset, hearing about the rubbish that is happening and the fights they are having with admin. I had to remind him it wasn’t his battle this year.

These Curlew were just hanging around our van, they making the most annoying high pitch squeal.

We had the yummy roast beef and pork meat along with a good selection of vegetables. It was so nice to have roast meat, something I haven’t had during this trip.

Once dinner was done, we didn’t hang around for the next music set, opting to return to the van so I could go through the huge number of photos from today.  It took me a while, but I finally managed and then it was time to head to bed so I didn’t have to keep struggling to keep my eyes open.