Across the Whitsundays in a week

Going up the coast towards Townsville we decided to start with short day trips and no overnights as the weather has been very mild and enjoyable. We’ve been travelling our way north from Mackay and along the Whitsundays, stopping everyday early afternoon in a different island to enjoy time at anchor. 

Since leaving Mackay, every day we've seen hundreds of butterflies, they are everywhere but most amazingly they seem to be migrating from the coast towards the islands. I wasn't expecting butterflies flying for so many miles over the sea, rather than birds this time we were visited by beautiful colorful butterflies all along the way.

Around the Whitsundays with butterflies

On our first stop, Thomas Is. we found Mark and Shannon from Axis Mundi who have travel plans similar to ours for this year. We hope to meet them in Lizard Island, sometime in September if we manage to get there by then.  

From Thomas we went to Whitehaven Beach and next day to Langford Island where we spent the night in one of the moorings, with a private aquarium just for ourselves, with the fish having a go at our yummy fingers, luckily the kind of fish without teeth. 

Oscar and our own private aquarium

From Langford we had a lovely sail in a strait west direction back to mainland in Cape Gloucester, the very northern tip of the Whitsundays, where we are now, spending several days before continue up the coast towards Townsville.

Cape Gloucester is where Montes Restaurant and Resort is located, famous among locals for their seafood. Just across is Gloucester Island and the little Shag Islet, home to the "EXCLUSIVELY – NON EXCLUSIVE" Shag Islet Cruising Yacht Club. Check their site for news, events and pictures of the most amazing yearly yacht rendevouz (Click here: SICYC) where hundreds of boats congregate for several days of festivities all for a good cause to raise money for prostate cancer. But this time of the year here, there are only a handful of boats.  All around this place is magnificent.

Yes, another beautiful sunset at anchor

Gloucester Island is an uninhabited island with a National Park and camping available on two locations on the beach, Bona Bay and East Side Bay. Today we were saddened to see bush fires burning in the hills and wondered if people in the camping grounds could have accidentally started the fires which are going freely up the mountain where there seems to be no way for anybody to reach.

Beautiful Gloucester Island is burning: