If Christine had been asked to make a list 10 years earlier on where she would like to spend her 60th birthday, a night sail on a moonless night through the ghostly forms of the Whitsunday mountains would have definitely been at the bottom of the list!! It was not planned that way but there was a hold up at the Mackay boatyard getting FA back into the water. so we were consequently 4 hours behind schedule. This meant missing the full advantage of the tide and as we had planned to meet up with visitors to the boat in Airlie on Friday 21st , we made the decision to keep going into the night. We had the most beautiful sail (spotted a whale on the way) until sunset but then the breeze died away completely and at about 9pm the tide turned. It proved a very long trip, something like a 13 hours, and in retrospect we should have anchored at Burning Point and caught a few hours sleep, waited for the tide and saved a few hours of motoring. Because of the darkness of the night we donned safety jackets, epirbs and had all the nav gear including radar.. We tried listening to the test cricket on the radio, but that proved very uninspiring. Once your eyes adjust to the darkness it is amazing how much light a sky sprayed with thousands of stars can give. It is very beautiful. At midnight Peter wished me a happy 60th but we were too exhausted to celebrate in any real style and a big hug and kiss under that ‘moonless star filled sky’ was it. The anchor finally went down at Funnel Bay at 1.30am. But what a great experience. Thanks to safe reliable Family Affair with my number one skipper. How surprised I am to admit that I don’t think I would hav
e preferred things any other way and the experience would have actually been top of the list!!The rest of the day was very enjoyable, a trip to the hairdresser, welcoming our visitors on board and then all out to a beautiful meal at the Clipper restaurant, Coral Sea Resort. …..and of course lots of phone calls and SMS’s from family and friends
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