For our final post of the Southern Whitsundays Series, we take you to Lindeman Island. We anchored at Gap Bay on the northern side of the island for two nights.

Gap Bay has the distinction of being the least comfortable anchorage we stayed at! It was pleasant and scenic during the day, but at night, we bounced around in the swell. All we can say is thank god for our east/west bed orientation or we would have rolled off! We were not the most uncomfortable, though. On the second night, three other boats had come in and the monohulls were doing the death roll! That will teach them for invading our anchorage!

Our time at Lindeman was very enjoyable nevertheless. The views from Gap Bay are spectacular, with Little Lindeman and Pentecost Islands looking like sentinels. It is very reminiscent of South Pacific Islands: tall peaks plunging into the ocean.

The good thing about Lindeman Island is that there are walking tracks. However only one is partly maintained, the one going from the now closed Club Med resort to the airstrip and Mt Oldfield. The others are very overgrown if you can find them at all. It does not take long for nature to take over.

So our aim while at Lindeman Island was to stretch our legs and go for a few hikes, starting from our anchorage.

The beach at Gap Bay is rocky, covered with dead coral, shelves steeply and backs on to some dense bush. On our first day there, we searched for the trail to no avail. However what we did find was a treasure trove of beautiful shells: big cowries in great quantity, various types of cone shells, and one stunning Spider Conch. Okay, our shell collecting hobby might be turning into an obsessive compulsive habit! No idea what we are going to do with all this, but we had fun!

On the next day we left Anui at Gap Bay and dinghied to Boat Port, on the western side of the island, again in search of another walking trail. It meant anchoring the dinghy way out at low tide. We managed to drag it half way across the sand flats and hoped Wade would not have to swim too far to get it back on our return! These are the before and after the walk shots at Boat Port!

We wanted to find the trail to Mt Oldfield, which starts from the resort. Of course, we first had to reach the resort, 2 kilometres away from Boat Port! The trail was easy to find being signposted, but very overgrown to start with. However as we fought our way up the hill to a saddle, things got better. We came prepared this time: walking boots, gaiters for the burrs and stick to fend off the spiderwebs! We could have done with a machete at the beginning! The lovely surprises were going past a lake covered in water lilies, the butterflies fluttering around us, and eventually meeting up with the Mt Oldfield trail which was maintained and so much easier to walk on.

The views at the top were stunning, and well worth the 9 km return trip and dozens of mosquito bites. It was threatening to rain at the summit, but it meant we got some really moody shots, which I love.

We could easily have spent another day at Lindeman exploring other bays, and following other trails, but the weather forecast shows we might have a chance for some calm conditions to get to the Outer Reef! So on 12 June, we ended our Southern Whitsundays exploration and left for Airlie Beach to re-provision Anui, pick up a few boat bits and be ready to head off again. This is us thundering into Airlie Beach, doing 12 knots, passing everybody with ease. We love our boat!

We hope you enjoyed our Southern Whitsundays Series. We will shortly place a copy of our cruising journal about these scenic islands in our Cruising Stories/Sailing Anui page for those interested in more detail and photos.