Wind  SE Variable 10 knts  18 nautical miles

Woke up to a beautiful calm sunny morning with turtles popping their heads out beneath the majestic rock formations of Peter Head. It was lovely to be the only boat in the anchorage.

After very tasty fish breakfast, cooked by our resident seafood chef, Des, Molly , Morgan and I went ashore in the dinghy.

We motored slowly over interesting coral bommies which homed colourful fish and turtles. It was fascinating to be looking down on turtles swimming along, instead of just seeing their heads on the surface. It was easy to dinghy into the beach as the coral gave way to sand with water so clear you could see the bottom from a long way out.

Morgan found plenty of fish to chase and  and there were no oysters which was a plus as her paws are just starting to heal.

At the back of the beach the sand gave way to a lovely stand of palms interspersed with large rainforest trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you walked into the trees everything went silent , it has been likened to walking through a cathedral. It was quite a change from the noises on the water.

 

 

Along the high tide mark we could see tracks in the sand of Unadorned wallabies and Sand goannas.

The wallabies are apparently found in small pockets in Queensland and the Whitsunday Island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We departed Peter Bay and motored south to Whitehaven Beach, one of Australia’s iconic beaches. What a change since we were last here. Tongue Bay the next bay north had 20 boats and a large charter vessel anchored in it. The lookout platforms on the saddle overlooking Hill Inlet were full of people. It reminded me of the lookouts on the Great Ocean Road.

The sandbar extending into Hill Inlet was covered in people soaking up the sun and swimming. We dropped anchor not far from Lagoon Rock close to the shore in about 3 metres of clear water.

Whitehaven is an incredible expanse of pure white silica sand that stretches for five kilometres. It is very popular with tourists and yachties. Charter, bareboat and private yachts were anchored all the way along as well as a seaplane and three helicopters.

We walked along the beach to look at the palm trees which have been recently inserted into the sand at the base of the beach for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean Movie (no 4).

The production company have organised with maritime Qld to set up an exclusion zone for 4 days from this Saturday to next Wednesday in a 1 nautical mile square into the ocean including the beach. Only authorised boats are allowed into the site.

The set was partly set up with live coconut palms adorned with plastic coconuts. I wonder if Jack Sparrow has fake nuts too.

There was a row of portable dunnies, presumably for the production crew and cast that Molly felt she had to christen in the hope that it was Jack sparrows .

Back to O’vive for a swim then chilli, garlic calamari pasta and off to Shaw Island for the nightly anchoring.

We motored on down through Solway Passage where the tide can race through at 5 knots. The whirlpools and overfalls were interesting to watch and although it looked good for fish we didn’t catch any on either lure.

We hauled up the main and unfurled the jib and motored sailed down to the same anchorage at Shaw Island where John and Des rushed off in the dinghy for an unsuccessful fishing expedition.

Back on O’vive after dark John caught a small reef shark which he filleted for breakfast.

The cricket is back on so we watched the second Ashes test after dinner.