This week of sailing, we spent a few more days at Airlie Beach and went sailing to South Molle Island.
Airlie Beach
The first few days of this weeks sailing saw little of the aforementioned. However, with great anchor holding and shore facilities, we weren’t complaining.
While waiting it out in Airlie Beach for Haylea to arrive, I was able to make the most of the mainland anchorage before sailing out to the islands. This provided opportunities for morning runs and lap swims in the Airlie Lagoon, which is a fresh-water lap pool by the shore.
Living on a boat also means that you’ll never miss a sunrise or sunset. This week, we were fortunate enough to witness some absolute beauties roll through.
Sailing to South Molle Island
After completing work for the week, we were again ready for island-life. We decided to begin the trip by sailing to South Molle Island, a beautiful island that we were lucky to have all to ourselves for a few days.
For those sailing to South Molle Island, the North end, known as Bauer Bay, offers the best anchorage in developed South East trade winds.
The East side of the bay has several buoys, which used to be used for visitors to the resort. However, anchoring just beside them is a good choice for protection and good holding.
South Molle Island Abandoned Resort
The main anchorage location on South Molle Island sits just outside a once bustling beachside resort.
Unfortunately, this resort was completely destroyed during a cyclone in 2016. I’m sure that the new owners weren’t too happy about this, especially considering they had just purchased it for $25 million a few months earlier.
READ MORE: Exploring South Molle Island, Whitsundays
Hiking and Bushwalk Tracks on South Molle Island
It seems that not many make the choice of sailing to South Molle Island, which means you’ll probably get the entire island to yourself if you decide to stop.
There are several walking tracks that are maintained by the QLD National Parks. I’m not sure how regularly they do this, but after hiking most of the open tracks, it’s clear they must do it quite often.
There are several island hikes and viewpoints to explore, the best of which is Spion Kop on the North-East corner. The hike takes roughly an hour and a half from Bauer Bay beach, with winding grassy hills and spectacular views over both the Whitsunday Islands and Daydream Island.
South Molle Island Sunsets
Having a whole island to ourselves was too good to pass up. So we decided to spend the rest of the week relaxing and exploring the island.
True to the Whitsunday fame, the islands offered some incredible sunrise and sunsets which I was able to capture with the drone.
Returning to Airlie
After sailing to South Molle Island and exploring, we returned back to Airlie to work and provision for a few days.
Up the mast
Due to a stubborn wind-indicator, I had to scale up the forward mast a total of four times in a single week.
It did offer some pretty decent views of Airlie Beach.
After soldering on a new battery, playing with channel settings and replugging a misplaced wire, we learned the valuable lesson of testing something before mounting it on the masthead.
Onto Hamilton Island
The plans for next week are to pick up Haylea, who will be flying into Hamilton Island and joining us on our trip to the Daintree.
We’ll also be heading to Whitsunday Island and checking out the world’s number one rated beach.
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