Hook, Line and Sinker. Reefs, that is

This will be a short post but with a some cool pictures.  We sailed to a few islands south of the Whitsundays and then spent a few days on Hamilton Island, home of a really nice resort and really cool looking yacht club with the bow and stern of Wild Oats XI mounted on the wall.

Multiple times the winner of line honors in the grueling Sydney Hobart race.

Hamilton Island also had dozens of cockatoo who were quite bold and brazen; I saw one hop down on a table and take a big piece of fish from some woman


We hiked a few places as we cruised around and had a beach cookout on Whitehaven Beach, home of the finest, whitest, purest silica sand in the world. It does not get hot regardless of how intense the sun.

Beach landing parties from some of the 12 Oyster yachts in the background. 

Seaplane fly people out to the beach from the mainland.

Tongue point at the north end of Whitehaven Beach had fantastic views.

View after a lengthy hike to the top of Whitsunday peak.

Some of the wildlife we encountered, but not Close.

Two different islands we explored had resorts that had closed after the 2012 cyclone. This was some of the damage. We had to crawl over this to get to a somewhat overgrown hiking trail.

We snorkeled Butterfly Bay and then took advantage of a great weather window to sail 20 miles out to the Great Barrier Reef and spent four nights anchored by several reefs. We snorkeled everyday, saw beautiful sunsets, whales, and enjoyed great company with the other two boats that joined us.

One of many...

This whale just hung out on the surface for several minutes 

Carol whale watching

You'd never think this is 20+ miles out in the ocean

Whitewater rapids from water gushing out of an enclosed reef at low tide.

Giant clam 

Closeup of brain coral

Love this pic of Carol snorkeling 

Not a wetsuit, but a stinger suit.  Keeps you from getting stung or scraped if you bump into coral which you shouldn't.