Whitsunday sailing

We have just spent a fabulous week sailing in the Whitsundays with the Jamiesons.  We hired a Lagoon 421 which is a 4 berth, 4 bathroom catamaran.  The layout worked perfectly for the 2 families with 2 eating areas and lots of lounging area at the front of the boat.  We were lucky with the weather and apart from one breezier day it was champagne sailing all the time.  We even managed to goose wing for a couple of hours one day and almost reached 8 knots.  

Our overnight itinerary was as follows:
- Abel point marina
- Brush hen beach
- Whitehaven beach
- Cid Harbour
- Hamilton Island marina
- Butterfly bay
- Luncheon bay
- Abel point marina

Butterfly bay and Luncheon bay were our favourite spots as they were best for snorkelling and we saw thousands of beautiful fish.  

A week before we were due to leave there were 2 shark attacks in the Whitsundays in a place called Cid Harbour (where we spent night 4).  The last shark attack was 7 years ago and they had not been on our radar at all.  Whilst we were there the police were regularly patrolling Cid Harbour and handed every boat the leaflet below.  The shark attacks definitely changed our behaviour so there was no jumping off the boat for hours on end and untangling a fishing line from the starboard prop became a major operation with everyone standing around with paddles to fend off any unwanted visitors!  

"Mistaken interactions" are definitely to be avoided!

It had been a while since we'd spent time with the Jamieson family and there's always a slight concern that as the children get older the connections won't be the same but we needn't have worried. Tess and Maggie were tight as ever, I think Tess taught Maggie a few teenage tricks, and Tom and Ryan, though very different personalities, are both equally chilled and got on brilliantly.  

It's easy to get blasé about the beautiful surroundings and colours when you're there and it's only since I've been back and downloaded the photos that I realise how incredible the colours were.  

Our first group lunch - sustenance before the huge provisioning shop

Happy skipper

Cruising along

Watching for dolphins

Spot Ryan and Tom on the rocks

You can see the damage to the trees which was caused by Cyclone Debbie 18 months ago

Tom and Jules

How to surf when there's no surf

The grownups were having pre-dinner drinks when shouts from the front of the boat told us that Tom had hooked a huge fish. Julia is hanging on to Tom to stop him from being pulled overboard, Jules and Michael are trying to help reel the fish in.  

Sadly the fish got away - I love the expressions on Maggie and Tom's faces. 

A rare family shot - we took about 50 to get this one *insert eye roll emoji*

Whilst we were sailing I worked out that the last week-long sailing holiday we went on was with John and Rae, 20 years ago, in Greece.  In fact, Rae was the same age as Jules and I are now!  Here are 2 photos that I found to compare.  The black and white one of John is one of our all time favourites and was taken on a black and white disposable camera.  Jules and I still argue over who actually took the photo.......

 Time has been kinder to Jules or perhaps it's the white hair!

There's something about the stance and the sticking up hair that reminds me of the John photo below

Michael and Jules

A rare close-up of Tess - our brown-eyed girl

Maggie got into the habit of making the kids "Mojitos" every night

I think Tom asked us to take this for his Instagram account #workingit

Photos of these 2 together are rare these days - love this one

Tom was desperate to catch a mud crab in the mangroves.  We bought one on Hamilton Island just in case he didn't manage it.