Brampton Island, Whitsundays

Anchored at Brampton Island
Whitsunday Islands, Queensland
Australia
20'47.99S/149'15.8E

Greetings from Brampton Island. We left Keswick Island Tuesday am with the 4 meter (12 feet) high tide. These tides around here are nuts! Anyways, we were hoping to sail and get a nice push with the tide/current. But it was another 15 mile motor trip.

It was on this trip that Tom decided it is now official. The alternator is sick. Some of you may remember we thought we had this fixed. But now it's not even putting a charge to the batteries. We are hoping to see a "sparky" (Australian slang for an electrician) in Airlie Beach.

After dropping the hook, deploying the dingy, and having some lunch, we eventually took a dingy ride over to the resort. Between the two islands of Brampton and Carlisle is a Marine National Park Zone which usually is filled with lots of fish. At low tide you can walk the sand between the two islands. Also, during the low tide, a small pool of water is left in front of the resort. A resort guest told us some great snorkeling can be had here.

One really cool thing about this anchorage is there are lots of really large sea turtles swimming around. They are quite elusive. As soon as they see us point a camera at them, they take a deep breath and dive under water.

For Wednesday I had big plans for Tom and I. We will wake up early, walk the circuit trail on the island, and then snorkel at low tide at the resort. By 9:30 we were on the island and looking for the trail head. We found the trail sign and up and around we went. It was a nice shaded trail with millions of butterflies, secluded beaches, and great views of the coral reefs surrounding the island. It took us two hours to complete the 10km walk. So then we went back to the boat for some lunch and relaxation.

At low tide we headed over to the resort and did the snorkel. We weren't too impressed. It was a good chance to try out our underwater camera case. But the water was murky because a bunch of tourist's from the resort were stirring up the bottom with their flippers.

Today is Thursday and we are picking up anchor and heading 25 miles for Lindeman Island, It is said to have 20km of excellent walking trails and some better snorkeling.

Heard from another charter boat last night during their nightly check-in on VHF channel 81. He was anchored at Whitehaven Beach, which has been voted "Best Beach in the World" by travel magazines. He stated "This is closest thing to heaven I will ever experience." Needless to say, we can't wait to head north to experience this beach for ourselves.

Until then,
Amy and Tom