Wind 15 – 20 knts Sunny
As it was Sunday we thought breakfast on Hamilton Island would be a change, so we upped anchor and headed round Lindeman for the 13 nautical mile sail to Hamilton.
Spoke to the marina there and they informed us the berthing fee short term was $31 per hour so we were looking upwards of $60 before we had breakfast. We decided to pick up a public mooring off Dent Island and dinghy across to Hamo.
The sail across to Dent Passage was brisk although the winds only seemed to reach about 15 knts. It was back to civilisation as we entered Dent Passage as jet skis zoomed past us and Qantas, Virgin and Jetstar roared low overhead in preparation for landing on the popular airstrip.
We hauled up a rather large mooring buoy, good for 40 metre yachts , so much easier than anchoring , then spruced ourselves up to go ashore.
As we entered the marina we were told by the concierge in a boat we could not bring a dog ashore without a permit. We enquired about tying the dinghy up and she informed us it would be an $18 per hour charge for the dinghy. Stuff that said John, and more! That was just a rip off, $18 for the morning would have been acceptable. Obviously Hamo prefers to discourage grotty yotties especially ones with grotty dogs.
A disenheartend Morgan , John and I went back to O’vive and enjoyed lunch with a very pleasant outlook over Dent Island, then headed for Cid Harbour.
We anchored up the northern end of Cid in Dugong Bay near Daniels Beach in about 2 metres of water two hours past low tide in calm conditions. The bottom was mud so if we touched bottom at the next low tide we would not do any damage. The scenery was beautiful with Whitsunday Peak dominating the harbour like anchorage of Hoop Pines and rainforest down to the water’s edge.
Took Morgan ashore for a walk on pretty Daniels Beach and found plenty of large oysters on the shore. John headed back to O’vive to get oyster knives and containers while Morgan and I explored. She chased several large fish in the shallows and tore up the course sand with her usual antics.
We gathered several dozen large juicy oysters
and headed back to O’vive for happy hour and oyster Kilpatrick then roast chicken for main.
A spot of cast netting after dinner off the back of the boat gave us a dozen small herring for future bait supplies.
