Where's Georgia

I've added a new map to the bottom of the blog page that shows where we are and if you zoom out our old tracks (courtesy of Farkwark.com). Let me know if you have problems using it.


Coming up from the Gold Coast was a trip. First night out, coming up the Fraser Island coast was really cold. The 30+kts of wind didn't help at all. The second night we both looked a bit like the Michelin man after dressing for night watch. It's winter down here. We had 30+kts pretty much everyday for the next week of hops north. We are finally up in the Whitsundays islands with some nice weather. The Whitsundays is the charter boat capital of Australia. It has a reputation for being crazy crowded in the anchorages, but so far it has not been for us.

Maybe this is why??? This sign is in the first anchorage that most of the charter boats go to after they leave Airlie Beach on the mainland, Cid Harbour. Its a crappy cellphone picture, the jest of it is don't swim here because of the sharks. They decided to add these signs after 4 different shark attacks here at the end of last year, including fatalities. Tiger sharks appear to be the predator. We didn't see anyone swimming at Cid, but there are people all in the water at the other stops just a stones throw away. Chris and I keep coming up with reasons that we'll go snorkeling tomorrow, not today.

Of course if the sharks don't get you, the killer jelly fish will. They rent and sell stringer suits in Airlie Beach. Basically head to toe Lycra  body socks. If you talk to the locals about sharks, they tell you its not that big a deal, but you better watch out for the Salties (saltwater crocodile). If you start by asking about the Salties they say they are not that bad but you better watch out for the sharks. Just to make the location more comfy are the deadly poisonous snakes that you see while walking on the island tracks.  Oh, the locals say the snakes are more afraid of you than you are of them.

We are off the Double Cone Island tomorrow to hunt for cone shells (hopefully not live, as they too have deadly poisonous harpoon) and then continuing on up the Queensland coast.

Paul