Joes Beach to Crayfish Beach
The following morning we were happy to make a getaway from the March flies leaving Joe's Beach close to the top of the tide. The SE made it an easy sail, drift, shove and occasional paddle up the western side of Whitsunday Island. We caught and overran boat wash without even trying.
While Ray thought he saw a Dugong as we left Cid Harbour, aquatic
wildlife was seldom seen.
The Hook Island underwater observatory soon came up on our left.
Created as a private venture in 1969 it now looks like a cyclone away from demolition. It was a bit like some of the tourist boats - striking at a distance but the brochure's glamour fades with proximity. We had heard that the resort on Hook Island is not
quite what you might expect of a resort so we called in for a gander. It was alive with sunburn, but who knows they may have all been day trippers. This place seems like a mecca for the one day wonder experience with people swept away before they look too closely, or have to use the toilet.
The tide dropped quickly as it continued to rip out so we did not
tally, the last thing we needed was a beaching. Heading north Mark and I went in closer to have a look at Hooks Island's rocky eastern coastline. Not many places to land, and although there was little wind, a surprising amount of clapotis. So much that we thought better of looking at more of the same and headed directly for the next point. I do not remember much about this leg of the paddle aside laughing when Mark commented that it made the
washing machine off Peel look like the rinse cycle. It was confused, quite large but the Raider felt stable and we we moving well under full sails with the ebb tide. Off the next point it morphed into standing chop and it was easy to loose sight of each other. There would have been no more than 10 knots of wind and it
made me keen to go offshore further before heading around the final point and into Crayfish Beach.
Rounding into Crayfish Beach we paddled by the one and only turtle we saw. There were kayaks at the camp site and another group of paddlers on the beach across the bay. Landing on fine sand a couple of hours before the high the wheels came into their
own. We were greeted and welcomed by four men who were camping with their four 13 year old sons as a celebration of their friendship and a coming of age for the boys. They were most hospitable and cleared one of the two tables for us - really very
decent of them as they had booked the site and it was our itenerary that was in tatters. Mark and I went for a snorkel to find an impressive array of staghorn and many small fish.
Certainly none that were platter size and probably with good reason - we were yet to reach the green zone. The loo had gone down market a bit, it was missing the roof and door.
These guys were pretty green and the crows were having a field day having made off with a whole burito and almost scored a packet of vita wheats. The night tides were huge and they almost gave their boats to King Neptune. I guess that would be one reason why a GPS tracker is attached to the deck bungy.
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