The Voyage

Spectacles

Andy and Melissa are sailing around the world on their 48-foot sailboat, Spectacle.

The Position

Bali, Indonesia

The Pictures

The Voyage of Spectacle

The Quick Passage to Hamilton Island

The good news is that the insurance rider is ready to go to the tune of AUS$250.  The other good news is that the Hamilton Island Marina has availability for us.  The other good news is that the latest weather advisory just expired so the delay is officially over.  Luckily we had fun neighbors over the weekend so we spent some time with them up at the pub.  They left Mackay today headed for Papua New Guinea.

Our 6-hour trip to Hamilton Island was pretty uneventful except for an amazing whale sighting – probably the best we’ve ever had with countless full breaches, full fluke, fin slaps, the whole kit and caboodle.  Absolutely amazing. 

The marina is located on the west side of the island in a channel about 1-mile wide flanked by Dent Island to the west.  As we passed Lindeman Island and Pentecost Island to starboard, some strong and strange swirling currents bounced us around a bit as we approached the channel between Hamilton and Dent Islands, but it quickly subsided.  We announced our arrival, and the marina warned us to stay at least 300 meters away from the edge of the airport runway which seemed like really good advice. 

Instead of just telling us our slip assignment, the marina sends out a guy in a dinghy to “welcome” us and “escort” us to the slip.  I guess that’s considered really good service or something, but our escort was late and we were annoyed.  We loitered in the turning basin waiting for someone to show up while stressing about low-tide and other boat traffic.  Why can’t they just give us the slip number so we can get out of the way?  The guy finally showed up and said he was waylaid by a migrating whale.  Okay, whatever.  The tide was way low, and we were surprised that we didn’t have some bumps along the bottom along the way.  The neighbors came out to help with lines, and invited us over for some beers and conviviality which was fun.  We went out for mediocre Italian and retired early in anticipation of exploring the island tomorrow.