Story - Shakedown Take it Easy

The winter of 2004 saw the Snells heading north on their first proper cruise in several years. This was not to be a snatched pocket of time squeezed between commitments but a real leisurely stroll with time to smell the roses. Destinations took second place to finding a bit of peace. And find it we did, right where we left it all those years ago, and still just as good as it always was. There is no nicer gift to give yourself than time to breathe, and nothing nicer than sharing it with friends.

So what were the highlights of the trip? Shall I make a list?
Easy builders on the way- we visited owners and builders all the way up the coast, which was great fun for us. Some we had met and some new ones. We had lots of people look at the boat, or stop by for a chat (one guy turned up on a jet ski).

Re enactment of the honeymoon cruise. Exactly 20 years ago, Peters little brother got married in Wyndham in WA. We sailed our boat (a Trimaran in those days) around to go to the wedding. We had plenty of time in those days. After the wedding we sailed back to Townsville and brother and new wife joined us there and sailed down to Mooloolaba with us for their honeymoon. This turned into 6 weeks of hilarity and became part of the Snell family history, related to offspring at family gatherings (suitably embroidered of course). 2004 was the 20th anniversary of the trip, so the brother was dragged from his cold, dank office in Canberra to the warm Whitsundays to relive it all. Boats have a way of making you examine your existence, and during this time the brother was led to reflect that perhaps devoting his life to power distribution may have been a mistake, and that he should have gone to clown school instead. I personally think they couldn't teach him much.

My sister visits- an old hand at boating holidays with the rels, my sister joined us for a week in Hill Inlet. We hiked, swam, read books and chewed the fat. We had the good company of a few other cats and perfect weather to admire what has to be one of the loveliest places on earth.

Beaver to the reef- an old friend of ours flies float planes out to the reef from Hamilton Island. One of the absolute highlights of the trip was having the beaver land behind the boat in Gulnare Inlet, taxi up to our back step so we could step aboard and take us out to Hook and Hardy reef for a spot of diving and a submarine tour of the area. We had the place to ourselves early in the morning and it was quite magical to see it all from the air. Living like a rock star-oh yeah!

The Gods smiled on the Snellys from day 1, giving us a romping SW wind to hurtle us up the coast and across the Wide Bay Bar in flat seas. The weather was perfect all season, or so it seemed to us. The mackerel invited themselves to dinner and we were glad to have their company. The boat tried hard to impress us and succeeded very well. The smiles split our faces- we were away-out and about on a school night- how good was that.

New places- we have sailed the coast many times but it has so much to offer that there is always somewhere new. We went into Yellowpatch this time. We had anchored at Cape Capricorn before, but never under the big sandhill. So this time we did, and spent a lovely couple of days. We also visited Lady Musgrave for the first time. This had become a bit of a joke with us, as every year we had sailed past the weather had been lousy and we bypassed it. So this time we were determined to succeed. We took old sailing buddies with us. They had also sailed the coast for years and never been, so it became our mission. Finally we had success and had to have proof to silence the hecklers.