Heading Home through the Capricorn and Bunker Group

Our penultimate adventure of the 2016 Cruising Season started in Rockhampton, where we picked up three close family members. They contributed many of the photos in this post. Our journey took us through the "narrows" inside Curtis Island, along the busy shipping channels of Gladstone Harbour, out to Fitzroy Reef and down to Lady Musgrave before ending in Hervey Bay (anchorages asterisked below). What a spectrum of different scenes and seas!

"The Narrows" is a tidal waterway between Curtis Island and the mainland. 

 The shallowest region, "The Crossing" is actually a vehicle track and cattle crossing at low tide and hence is only navigable to boats at high tide, when the northern and southern arms of the channel are linked. The tide ebbs and floods in reverse directions on either side of the Crossing. The trick is to sail in with the rising tide, pass over the Crossing at the peak, and then get flushed south as the tide ebbs.

Web Link: Cattle Crossing Curtis Island

Channel marker for boats crossing at high tide: post and rails for stock crossing at low tide.

The waterways on either side of the Narrows are home to a rare species of dolphin, new to me, called the Australian snub-fin. We saw two pods of snubfins feeding in the muddy water near mangroves at either end of the Narrows, but it is very hard to get a good photo, so I have shared this one courtesy of Guido Parra, QLD Government. The snub fin is not officially endangered, but they must be vulnerable to the industry and shipping around Gladstone.

 Once you navigate the Narrows, you end up in Gladstone Harbour, and a spider's web of navigation  channels. Even non-sailors will appreciate the intricacies of this chart.

Running this gauntlet was an adventure in itself; the reward being our escape back into the open ocean and a nice sail to our next anchorage at Pancake Creek.

From Pancake Creek, we sailed north-east to Fitzroy Reef, breathing a sigh of relief as we left the dusty coast behind.

The excitement of heading offshore, and the prospect of watching the sun set over the ocean never grows old.

Fitzroy Reef is one of the Bunker Group. Although Cook and Flinders undoubtedly sailed through them, they were named by Captain Eber Bunker, of the whaling ship, Albion, in 1804. They also form part of the Capricornia Cays National Park.

Web Link: Capricornia Cays National Park

Fitzroy Reef did not disappoint. We anchored just inside the fringing reef and it offered wonderful diving and spearfishing.

 

Then it was on to Lady Musgrave, for 5 idyllic days.

The noddies and terns were roosting in great numbers.

And there was the added bonus of green sea turtles mating in profusion across the lagoon; seemingly oblivious to voyeurs.

 They left "tire tracks" on the beach when they came ashore each night to lay their eggs.

The Man in the Grey Suit

In Fitzroy and Lady Musgrave Lagoons, we also had a series of shark encounters. White-tip reef sharks were most common. These are ubiquitous and almost harmless unless you get between them and a fish they have decided to eat.

Black-tips were also common. Here you can see about 10 swimming in the shallow water feeding on crustaceans.

Then there were larger sharks, sometimes glimpsed in the deeper channel, or from the safety of the inflatable. We never identified this one, who was more substantial than our regular visitors, but we felt he was worthy of respect.

Inside the lagoons, away from the outer reef, we did not expect to encounter any large, troublesome, sharks; but that proved to be a case of wishful thinking.

We were settling down one evening to a meal of fresh-caught coral trout and stripey. Embers of the setting sun glowed on the horizon and the water took on a silky black sheen as night swept in.

 We drained our cooking oil overboard and within 5 minutes a scimitar-shaped fin sliced through the water towards the back of the boat. It was clearly a shark, and not a small one. Although the light was too low for us to see the rest of its body, the unusual shape of its fin gave it away (example below). We later identified it as a hammerhead. In the lagoon. Yikes.

Two days later, we were anchored in Lady Musgrave Lagoon, only a hundred metres from the island.
The sun was out and the water was crystal clear. I was sitting on the bow contemplating a swim, when I saw a dark shape swimming towards the boat.

Its fin broke the surface and as it passed beneath me, the sun caught the beautiful pattern on its back. As usual, I was not quick-witted enough to get a photo of my own, but it looked like this ...

Courtesy of www.funpeep.com

Hello tiger shark. In the lagoon! I decided against a dip. Later, George was swimming alongside the boat, checking the hull and the props. Looking at him in perspective to Alchemy 1, I could see that the shark had easily been longer than he was.

 The legend of the 3 metre tiger shark was born. Although, really, it wouldn't have mattered how long it was; it was still an amazing thing to see, and I am happy I was not in the water with it. Not surprisingly, it took some persuasion for our visitors to re-enter the water, but they were safe because they stuck close together.

It was a wonderful finish to our cruising season. There was some stormy weather on our way south to Bundaberg; this front passed right over, whipping the sea into a wild ride for a few hours.

But Alchemy 1 saw us safely through and the sea settled again. In this photo (courtesy of N.H.) the crepuscular rays of the setting sun arced all the way across to the eastern horizon.

Alchemy 1 is now in Brisbane (while we spend a few weeks down south for Christmas and New Year); waiting for our 2017 adventure to begin.

Sailing South

After reef-hopping to Orpheus Island with David Beer, it was time to head back to the Whitsundays to pick up friends for a month or so working our way slowly south.

Close Encounters

We had a couple of strange experiences ...

We've mentioned the regular fly-overs by Border Patrol. It's hard to capture a good picture of the plane, but I tried. When I saw this photo I realised perhaps they weren't interested in us at all; it seemed they were chasing a UFO!

Closer inspection was not very enlightening, but we concluded that a moth had flown in front of my iphone at the moment I snapped the shot.

But what was a moth doing on the outer reef? And what was this tiny bird that we found perched on the Genoa sheet doing out there, either?

 We identified it as a Rainbow Bee-eater and can only assume it got blown off course.

Unless it too was chasing the moth, thinking it was a bee. In which case it was merely confused. Either way ...

We saw plenty of other birds which were supposed to be out there, like terns and Noddies, which made for a pretty picture at sunset.

One even came to visit and rested awhile on our bowsprit.

Which would have been fine, had it not invited all its friends.

It was a simple choice; scrub the roof, decks, solar panels and hatches free of bird poo every morning, or find a means to scare the birds away. George tried many techniques, including an air horn, humming bird tape (it almost drove us off the boat), loud clapping, thumping, flashing lights and harsh language (which almost forced a choice between offloading George or the birds). In the end, after two sleepless nights, we just had to move somewhere the birds had more attractive places to roost.

 This was a scene from Bait Reef, the most accessible reef to the Whitsundays and victim to the inexorable march of tourism. We were silently pleased to see the landing platforms occupied by flocks of seabirds when the helicopters were away, but did wonder how the well-heeled tourists felt as said heels sank into a welcome mat of guano.

Apart from David, who had been with us since we left the Whitsundays, our first human guests were Judy and Peter, who hopped aboard at Hamilton Island.

 We spent six days revisiting some favourite parts of Whitsunday and Hook Islands, and taking refuge from the pesky sou-easters in places like Gulnare Inlet.

We also welcomed the newest member of our crew, Jack Tar, who has many skills.

 

 He is very helpful in the kitchen. 

 

Almost as helpful as Uncle!

 

After all the wining and dining, it was important to get some exercise.

George maintained his excellent skills at hunting and gathering, and when he couldn't go spear-fishing, he collected fresh oysters.

After Judy, Peter and David left us, we picked up Judy and Laurence Beasley, for a cruise south to Mackay.

There was the issue of Judy's badly sprained foot (an injury acquired as she worked the fore-deck), but nobody let it bother them too much (most of all Judy) and the Alchemy lounge was put to very good use until she was able to come out for some sightseeing trips in the dinghy.

We did some more snorkelling and met some captivating reef denizens, including this Blue Spotted Fantail ray,

a large Morwong in a fish-cleaning station -  

and some laid-back green turtles (much more on them in the next post).

We island-hopped on the long trek south from Hamilton Island to Yeppoon, and stopped for our first night at Brampton Island, where we met the caretaker (seeing as the resort is now defunct).

We took the dinghy to neighbouring Carlisle Island (now deserted) and forged our own bush trail to an old Melaleuca forest. It was wonderful to have to whole island to ourselves.

This tree brought to mind a hybrid between one of Tolkein's Ents and the Weirwood from Game of Thrones. Not sure what he thought of George adjusting his tie!

After a short stop in Mackay to pick up and install our transformer that had been left for repairs earlier in the year, we moved on. Our trip took us right through the city of ships anchored off the coal-loading jetty at Hay Point. A disturbing sight from your helm station, even when it isn't under way!

Then it was on to the beautiful Percy Islands.

The large tides and flat sandy beaches meant that our fold-down dinghy wheels came in very handy.

 We finally reached Great Keppell Island, where we stepped ashore for some more oysters.

 Then it was time for a quick visit back to civilization in Yeppoon.

And we bade farewell to Laurence and Judy in Rockhampton, before getting the boat ready for our next visitors, and the journey on to Bundaberg.