Airlie Beach

Thursday 25th June 2015

Our plan was to sail to Airlie Beach this morning, but we were in no great hurry. After discussion with Mark and Janet, they have decided to spend another night at Shaw Island, and we decide we will head off to Airlie Beach ahead of the next strong winds that are forecast for the next several days.

We pulled up around anchor at 9.30 am, set our mainsail and headed out into probably the best sailing conditions we have had so far. It was blowing around 9 knots , from the SW, and on dead flat water with about half a knot of favourable current, we were doing 7 knots plus. This lasted until we got to Dent Island, and the wind started to drop out.

Leaving Shaw Island well behind in the background

We sailed through the Molle Channel on the shortest route to Airlie,  past the Molle Islands and the top end of Long Island.

Daydream Island in the foreground

The final outcome was  that we sailed about half of the way, and motored the other half,  a journey that took 4.5 hrs.

Abell Point Marina has come a long way in the past 5 years. The service ethic is unbelievable, and we end up in a super yacht berth, which makes Mica look pretty small.

Having settled all of the administrative issues and had a good look around on foot, including a walk into town, we head back to the marina to catch up with Smithy from Wilparina and his other Akuna Bay mates.

We were planning to have a game of golf tomorrow at Laguna Quays, but have found out that the complex has been bought out by Chinese investors and is being redeveloped before re-opening. This is becoming a bit of a common theme as we head up the coast and the same seems to apply to Brampton and Lindeman Island resorts.

We will check out the golfing alternatives in the morning, but have no enthusiasm to go back and play the Proserpine Course we played 5 years ago.

Once we had our look around we ended up on Wilparina for some pre dinner drinks, followed by dinner at the Sorrento Restaurant at the marina, that offered good value Italian food. The seafood risotto, and Spanner crab and prawn linguini proved the most popular dishes.