Calypso's Journal: Hamilton Island, Whitsundays

Well, it's either feast or famine. After days of too much wind, we were reduced to nothing or, if there was a tiny bit, it was either straight on the nose or right up our backsides. There are 360° for the wind to choose to come from but.... if we're going Northwest, guess where it's coming from? If we're heading Southwest, guess where it's coming from? No prizes for this competition!

We have an SSB radio net which we listen to each morning while on passage and we'd hear others further north or south with just the right amount of wind from just the right direction which can be more than somewhat frustrating when we're having to motor.

Our next stop was in the Whitsundays to spend a few of days at Hamilton Island in the hopes of having a couple of things repaired. And yes, you guessed it, beautiful winds just when we weren't going anywhere!

Upon arrival, Paul immediately set out to find someone who could do some stainless steel welding. No one on the island apparently but there was a chap living on a boat just up on the next island who could do the job. We needed to have a leaking joint in our water maker sorted out as well the leak in the main fuel tank. The latter involves removing the entire tank from its under-the-sole-boards position which is definitely not a five minute job – are they ever?

We were able to get the water maker pipe welded but the fuel tank proved to be another problem. We think the boat must have been built around it and cannot see any way of getting the damned thing out to have it tested. In the end, we filled it full of water, put it under a little bit of pressure and sat waiting to see what would happen. It seems to have a very slow leak of about 10 litres a day but that adds up and we certainly can't afford to lose that not to mention what it would be doing to the environment if it were pumped out of the bilge. When all else fails, bury your head in the sand and pretend the problem's not there – Paul's isolated the tank and we'll wait until we have a better safety margin of time. Right now, we need to keep going.

Next our dinghy engine let us down so we were stuck out in the bay for two days while Paul worked on it however, Engineer von Wiese mastered the task and we were finally able to get in to stroll around, make use of the islands fabulous free showers and do three weeks worth of laundry.

View from our Anchorage

Hamilton is a very popular tourist destination so it sports all the usual paraphernalia one would expect with such a spot; resort, restaurants, pubs, discotheques, souvenir shops, charter boats, water sports, etc etc. (none of which we can afford). And, unfortunately, some rather out-of-character high-rise apartment blocks.

The island is full of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos – those gorgeous parrots we have only ever seen in cages before. There were dozens of them everywhere, cheeky little (well, not so little) sods trying to steal everyone's food. I'd seen some in trees at a great distance but, this time they were right at hand. Loved it!

If anyone else is as old as I am and grew up reading Enid Blyton's Adventure Series with the four kids and Kiki the parrot, you'll know why I so loved seeing these chaps all around me.