Fitzroy Island to the Whitsundays - A little leap down the coast...

At 2030 on the 12th of October we departed Fitzroy Island for somewhere further south. The conditions had improved, but we still had to motorsail all night into southeasterly winds. By the sunrise we were approximately 15 nautical miles east of Dunk Island with light easterly winds.

We decided to continue down the edge of the reef and see if we could make it to the Whitsundays before the predicted strong southeasterly winds arrived. If the wind looked like it was about to kick in early we had the option of stopping on the outer reef or pulling into Magnetic Island before nightfall.

The conditions remained perfect for the day and we landed several fish, however, we only kept the Spanish Mackerel. Eric and Ryan supervised the fish filleting operation and helped clean up after the task was complete.

The wind picked up a little overnight as it started to swing back to the southeast, but by dawn we were off Gloucester Island. We pushed on to Langford Island and picked up a mooring around 1030 on the 14th of October before hitting the water for an early snorkel.

The 260 nautical mile trip down was fast and we missed some of the coast we had wanted to explore, but we made up sufficient time to allow family to visit us in the Whitsundays. Life is about trade-offs and everyone was happy to be moving again!

Cairns - Time to move onward...

The southeast winds eventually eased and a small favourable weather window appeared to open so we departed Cairns at 0500 on the 12th of October.

The grey overcast conditions gave way to a blue sky around Fitzory Island, but with the blue sky came 15-20 knots of wind from the southeast - the direction we wanted to travel.

With a confused and uncomfortable sea state we decided to stop and explore. Fitzory Island was a great place to spend a day with a number of nice walks and even a little coral.

After an early dinner we headed to bed in preparation for the journey ahead...