A six month voyage of discovery!
The owners of Pendana, a Nordhavn 62 decided to embark on a
six month, 2,500nm round trip from Sydney, Australia up to the beautiful
Whitsunday Islands which is often referred to as the third best cruising
grounds in the world, after the Bahamas and Mediterranean.
Departing Sydney, Australia, Pendana departed carrying
enough fuel and spares to see her make landfall in Hawaii if the need should
arise. As a nasty cold front was closing in on Sydney her departure was not with
clear blue skies overhead but rather dark, ominous clouds forming out to sea
just to the south east of Sydney Heads. Realising they would be able to sneak
ahead of the large cloud front and take advantage of the following seas she
headed out, for what everyone aboard hoped to be, an adventure of a lifetime!
On board for the journey were Pendana’s owners James and
Claire Ellingford, their two children Abi and Bianca aged 13yrs and 9yrs
together with regular crew member and general all round nice guy, Captain Mark
James. James Ellingford has always maintained that any run over twenty four
hours requires three crew as being tired on watch is not a smart thing to do
while at sea. With the appropriate crew you have the freedom of running a four
hour on, eight hour off watch cycle which allows for all to remain well rested
and alert for whatever situation may arise. Mistakes happen when people are
tired.
Pendana’s first day at sea saw her humming along doing a
steady 9.3kts, consuming a very respectable 18 litres of fuel an hour in what
were far more reasonable conditions than had been forecasted. She faced 14kt
winds, two meter following seas with a generous eleven second period.
Pendana departing in less than ideal conditions.
As some would know June is the whale migration season where
the whales from the Southern Ocean migrate north to warmer waters north along
the east coast of Australia. By complete chance once Pendana was clear of the
heads a very large barnacled hump back whale surfaced within about eight feet
from Pendana’s starboard side amidships as if wishing us well on our journey
north.
The first leg of our Pendana’s trip north from Sydney is to
Lady Musgrave Island which is a large coral cay with, I might add, an
alarmingly narrow entrance. From Lady Musgrave, Pendana will then head further
north to the Percy Group of Islands on advice from a fellow mariner who said that
Middle Percy is hands down the best of the Whitsundays! Following from the
Percy Group Pendana will head further north to explore the more traditional
islands of Hayman, Hamilton, Hook, Shaw and as many of the seventy islands in
the Whitsunday group as possible.
The Whitsundays are comprised of 74 islands within a 40
nautical mile radius on Australia’s northeast coast, with Hamilton Island being
the largest of the six islands that are inhabited. These tropical islands offer
deserted, fine sand beaches, lush bushland, and remarkable flora, fauna and sea
life. The Great Barrier Reef which is literally on the Whitsundays doorstep is,
in fact, one of the world’s seven natural wonders stretching over 2,300
kilometres and covering some 350,000 square kilometres (nearly the size of
Germany) consisting of a myriad of lagoons, atolls, sand cays and coral
outcrops that simply must be experienced to be able to be fully appreciated.
After a little over three days at sea Pendana had arrived at
Lady Musgrave Island and all any of us on board could say was, WOW! The
lagoon’s amazing colours and beauty are world class. Boasting an abundance of
coral, fish and turtles the lagoons water is very similar to that in the
Bahamas or Nice, in the South of France. Crystal clear deep turquoise blue
water that is simply incredible. For snorkelling enthusiasts Lady Musgrave
Island is one of the most rewarding destinations in the Great Barrier Reef,
with a diverse variety of fish and coral species creating the perfect
underwater setting for those lucky enough to get to enjoy it!
The entrance into Lady Musgrove was narrow but well-marked
with two starboard makers, one port marker and an isolated danger marker once
inside. Any error in going through the entrance would be met with catastrophic
consequences as the coral walls drop for metres below the surface of the water.
.jpg)
Once we’d had enough of Lady Musgrave Island we departed and
headed further north to Middle Percy Island where we arrived early morning.
Middle Percy, without any doubt, was in a word, sensational and certainly a
must-stop for all who find themselves in this area! First charted by Matthew
Flinders, and named after the Duke of Northumberland, Middle Percy is the
quintessential tropical island. Palm trees (complete with coconuts) white sand,
crystal clear blue water, butterflies, starfish, seals and dolphins to boot.
Middle Percy was the last remaining leasehold island off the
Queensland coast. However, this is no longer the case with a Queensland
government department now managing the island and ensuring it is kept in its
pristine state. The island is still bound to a tradition of providing fresh
water and supplies to passing seafarers. Past leaseholders have always helped
mariners in trouble and assisted with emergency repairs over the many years and
as such seafarers feel a real sense of home when stepping ashore.
Middle Percy also holds the tradition where seafarers young
and old leave memorabilia from their boats under an old rustic A-Frame set just
back from the beach. It is absolutely incredible to look at the variety of
items left over the years by visitors to Middle Percy, everything from messages
in bottles, oars, clothing, barometers, flags, life buoys, engravings on wood,
and more, abound with vessel and crew names and years of those lucky enough to
have spent time on this lovely island.
 | ||
Pendana’s owners prepare to leave behind a life ring.
|
.JPG)
Spending more time than we should in paradise, which was
Middle Percy Island we decided it was time to make the short, 160nm run north
to Cid Harbour which was by all accounts a very safe, well protected anchorage
on the west side of Whitsunday Island.
 |
| Cid Harbour |
One thing that has struck all of us is how un-Australian the
Whitsundays actually appear to be; we would all swear that when motoring around
the islands that the appearance of them is more akin to cruising in Canada than
Australia and while one would expect to see the islands littered with various
species of gum trees (indigenous Australian tree) nothing could be further from
the truth. Norfolk Pines are the order of the day! Islands with sheer cliff
faces, steep hillsides slanting acutely down into the blue/green waters,
covered in rich, dark green Norfolk Pines right down to the absolute edge
making the whole experience rather surreal. We all thought that one wouldn’t be
surprised to see a Canadian brown bear leaping from the land in search of lunch
but alas, not to be. I must say that it is an incredibly beautiful part of the
world and some of those attractions lie in its complete difference to the
mainland.
After spending time exploring in and around Cid Harbour we
decided to move Pendana to the very beautiful Whitehaven Beach so that we could
drop anchor, have lunch and then go for a swim in the afternoon.
Whitehaven Beach is on the east side of Whitsunday Island
and with confidence building after successfully navigating the narrow entrance
of Lady Musgrave, we decided to travel through the narrow passage between Hook
and Whitsunday Islands which is also the most convenient route to take paying
particular attention to the effect of tides and current.
In this part of the world tides flood (incoming) to the
south and ebb (out-going) to the north and can create strong currents up to
9kts in some parts so after checking with my new best friend, the Queensland
tide table book, we were confident that our arrival in the passage between
islands would be at almost slack tide making the effects of current null and
void. With Claire at the helm it was clear that while the current was not a
problem there were certainly times when Pendana would yaw off course due to the
current’s residual effects but as always, Pendana handled it with ease
correcting as she went.
 |
| Passage between Hook and Whitsunday Island. |
This is part 1 of James Ellingford's account of his family's wonderful voyage to Paradise. Part 2 will follow shortly.
No comments:
Post a Comment