The Shaggers Rendevous - What a Hoot!

Our next destination was the Shaggers Rendezvous at Gloucester Passage, just north of Airlie Beach.  

We joined Shaggers based on recommendations from fellow cruisers who lauded the association for the fun and camaraderie. 

What we discovered was a wonderful group of cruisers dedicated to helping raise funds and awareness for Prostate Cancer.  

 
The Shaggers Rendezvous is the Parrot Head Pirate Party on Shaggers Island and attended by hundreds of well meaning fun loving Shaggers.  

  It is a three day weekend event filled with all manner of frivolity and mischief culminating on the final evening buffet bash where pirate garb is the dress code and the crowning of the Pirate King and Queen is the ultimate prize.  We enjoyed 3 days of non stop fun, raising almost $100,000 for Prostate Cancer.  We had a ball and are glad to be associated with these fun loving fine folk and heartily recommend participation if given the opportunity. 

Middle Percy Island - The Whitsundays, Hamilton and Airlie Race Week, The Great Barrier Reef

We were excited to be sailing this next leg...The Whitsundays...The Great Barrier Reef were just over the horizon.  We continued north with stops along the way in Pearl Bay, Island Head Creek, & Hunters Island.

We enjoyed a full Lunar eclipse at Middle Percy Island and happily added a Canadian flag to the many accoutrements hanging in the Middle Percy Island Yacht Club.  We continued on to Scawfell Island, Brampton Island, Thomas Island, Hamilton Island which is akin to St Barts in the Carib...the home of the Rich and Famous.  We had finally arrived in the Whitsunday Island chain.  This is the sailing Mecca/playground for Australian sailors and the southern boundary of the Great Barrier Reef. 

The winds were light and fluky and despite flying the chute as often as we could more often than not the wind was on the nose and passage making more and more included the use of the iron Genny (engine). 

Despite all we had heard of the Whitsundays and the Great Barrier Reef and its reputation as a sailing and swimmers paradise, what we experienced was poor sailing conditions, a badly damaged reef with bleached out hard coral and almost no soft corals.  The lack of underwater marine life was very disappointing.  And to top it all off, almost all the anchorages were open to the never ending sea swell, causing the anchorages to be rolly and often quite uncomfortable.  On balance, given all we had heard and our resultant expectations, we were disappointed.  The people, on the other hand were awesome!  The island hikes were good providing excellent vistas from each island to the next.  The anchorages were mostly too deep to anchor and to help preserve what little coral there was moorings balls were provided. The highlight of our time in the Whitsundays was the Hamilton Island Race week, which is really a display of incredible wealth as yachties from around the world fly into this private island and hop aboard their crewed mega-yachts for a week of wave bashing and elegant parties, and for the rest of us, the Airlie Race Week.  Our friends Wes and Stine were crewing on a local go fast boat.  It was fun to cheer them on and participate in the nightly festivities.