Happy Bay, Long Island

[Kyle]We had heard good things about Happy Bay. There is the defunct Long Island Resort, from which several easy to medium trails began. They also have good cellular service for our ongoing cooperation with my brother Darren in handling Mom’s estate.

The sail from Cid Island was so short that we were already pulling around the corner at Happy Bay by the time the engines were warmed up. We crossed the intervening channel with a three-knot beam current, allowing us to sail on a broad reach even though we were tracking dead downwind,

There were a handful of boats already in the anchorage, all squeezed in the first shallow band of sand clear of the coral protecting the beach. We got as close as we dared and dropped the hook. By dinnertime, the population of boats in the bay tripled.

We row ashore to the Long Island Resort (long closed to new guests)

In the morning, we went ashore to find the trails. The problem is that they all start from behind the resort, which is liberally sprinkled with ‘Private Property’ and ‘No Trespassing’ signs. We even saw one that said simply, ‘Get Out’. There isn’t really a good way to skirt the resort, so we tiptoed through, trying our hardest to appear respectful and non-threatening for the reputed security cameras.

Our first trail was the 3.5km Whitsunday Circuit, to the north of the resort, it circuit takes you across to the east side of the island (its a rather skinny island). We were hoping for some lovely views from both sides of Long Island, but they never appeared. The trail was instead a rather dull walk through a uniform forest/jungle. We went into a green tunnel and emerged an hour later feeling like, apart from putting in some distance for the exercise, we hadn’t really seen much.

The walk was made quite magical by the clouds of butterflies that we walked through (mostly the brown ones)

As a consolation, we tried another loop trail to the south (the Round Hill circuit), but despite being a national park trail it was too overgrown, we had to abandon the idea. We then headed to Humpy Point, one of the prominences bookending the anchorage. The trail went to the summit, which was in the middle of the hill and surrounded by trees, so there were no views to enjoy there either. At least we got to say we summited something.

Oh, well. We returned to Begonia for a refreshing dip and some of that great internet. We also had long views of the sunset.