Little Dragon crew go bareboating in Whitsundays

Little Dragon is a bit small to take round the Whitsundays so Pat and I decided to charter a bareboat from Whitsunday Rent a Yacht for 10 days and invite a couple of Little Dragon's regular crew to join us - Nicky and Noela. The photo is of Amalie, a Jeanneau 37.





My sister Pat was skipper and she had her work cut out as apart from the first and last days it consistently blew around 20 knots and at one time even up to 26 knots. Luckily we practised putting in a reef on day 1. On day 2 we needed to reef and we spent the rest of the trip putting in 1 reef, then 2 reefs and sometimes shaking them out again.





Although it was windy we managed to find sheltered anchorages almost every night: Langford Reef (first night when it was calm), Butterfly Bay, Cid Island, Nara Inlet, Tongue Bay and Hamilton Island (where we spent 1 night in the marina and took on more water and fresh food).


As a bunch of ocean swimmers we were determined to get some good snorkelling. Langford Reef and Manta Ray Bay were excellent, but the western anchorage at Butterfly Bay was our favourite.






Another highlight for me was visiting the Aboriginal cultural site at Nara Inlet. Last time I visited it had been shockingly vandalised. Now it was been superbly restored and it has very moving interpretative displays - an absolute must see.

Pat was keen to hone her navigation skills and Noela proved a keen trainee.







Thanks for everything Nicky and Noela.