Get lost with Russ and Margy: Airlie Beach and Whitsundays Day 1

For about 6 months Russ has been selling the idea of hiring a yacht on the Whitsundays to see if we like it enough to learn to sail and maybe buy a second hand yacht. Spending a couple of days with Judo and Jim convinced us both that we enjoyed being on the water and that sailing was a lot to learn but a lovely thing to do. I didn’t think we’d be able to arrange anything last minute but after about 8 hours of talking to rental companies we decided that we would do it and went home via woollies to get everything organised. We were pleased that we were able to do most of our 4 hour briefing the day before we set sail, then just another couple of hours while they fitted a small temporary replacement GPS. Sam’s briefing was excellent and included some info about where we could go for our first night.

He took us through a mooring and anchoring, then waved goodbye and we were on our own – yikes! We gingerly set off slowly and I checked maps every 2 minutes for rocks and things to avoid and we tried to remember all the warnings about navigation that Sam had told us. We got through Hook Passage safely and motored towards Tongue Bay which we found easily. We were relieved when someone moved from a mooring and motored towards it positively. Our first mooring went well although my first attempt didn’t work and I had to tell Russ to back away from it so I could have another. Second time was good and Russ helped me lift it up and we got all the right ropes in the right places. Another first was lowing the dinghy and releasing it from the various ropes and chains and getting in it without falling in the water. We had a nice snorkel and then putted (it’s a 6 horse power motor) round the headland to see the rightly famous Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet which is featured in all the Whitsundays promotion.

Abel Point Marina