Great Barrier Reef cruise

[Insequent]

I spent a few days at Burning Point, Shaw Island while the strongest winds were around. I don't think it made 40kn, but not sure. Mostly around 20kn. I could look NW to the old Lindeman Island Club Med, but it was some distance away so not sure if there was any activity there. As it was a lee shore I was not inclined to go over for a closer look.

This morning I made the short trip up to Sawmill Bay in Cid Harbour. There are a couple of dozen boats here, with arrivals and departures happening quite a bit. Plenty of room for all. Its kinda 'charter boat central', but a lot of private vessels also.

On the way I went past Pentecost Island, shown in pic. There are 74 islands in the Whitsunday region, but this is apparently the only one that Captain James Cook named during his voyage in 1770. Its an imposing little island, rising to 289m, but not sure why Cook was so enamoured with it.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Capt. Cook named it after the feast of Pentecost which is when he 'discovered'/passed it. Later when the international date line was established and the records verified the actual day would have been Whit Monday.
Sorry for butting in on your blog.
Safe cruising.

 

[Insequent]

IR
No problems, butt-in any time you like. There are lots of great islands up here, but I don't rate Pentecost that highly. I just can't figure out why he thought it was so special to be the only one that he named in this area. Its relatively small, has almost no reef, does not have an anchorage, very difficult to land on. Its the most phallic though - was that what got his attention?


So this morning I figured I would take the Whitsunday Peak walk. The guide said 2.5km. So I anchored the RIB off Sawmill Beach 45 minutes before high tide and set off. Then I saw a sign that said a good level of fitness was required (I don't really qualify for that), and to allow 4 hours return. I could not allow 4 hours. The RIB would be well and truly beached as the tides are several meters. So I decided to just see how far I could get in an hour, take a short break and return.

It was a good workout, which was part of the reason for doing it. Its over 400m vertical climb. After a couple of weeks of being on board with little exercise other than short beach walks I figured I needed a workout. I did not quite reach the lookout. I probably needed another 20 minutes each way. But a couple I met on the track, who were on their way down, said that the lookout was in the clouds anyway, so no view today. When I got back to the beach I just managed to move the RIB from the shallows into deep enough water to float, so my plan worked. I would have been annoyed to be stuck with a beached RIB for 5 hours!

 

[Hamo]

Sawmill bay beach was changed by cyclone Debbie and now it’s much easier to to leave a rib at Dugon beach which is only a few hundred metres around the corner. The walk from dugon back to sawmill is very well maintained, not too difficult and takes about 20 minutes.
Dugon has very good national park facilities and a good beach. Hope you have time to check it out.
Hamo

 

[Aquabelle]

I can 2nd Hamo's comment. Sawmill remains the better anchorage but Dugong Bch better landing and a good walk

 

[Irish Rambler]

Hi Brian,
Don't be embarrassed about coming back and finding your dinghy stranded because of the tide. I did the very same thing in Scotland and came back from visiting the highland games to find the dinghy hanging by the painters in the bone dry harbour. I did what any self respecting sailor would do and went to the pub until the tide came back in. Fortunately no damage except to my pride.
Capt.Cook named a lot of the islands around the Whitsundays, mostly after notables in England and a few after his crew. Hicks point being just one example.
Be that as it may, you enjoy your cruise and have a safe one.

 

[Insequent]

Hamo & Aquabelle

Thanks for the tip, I'll do that next time. I'll tackle the Whitsunday Peak walk again later in the year, and allow plenty of time. By all accounts the view is spectacular.

Irish Rambler

Well, there was only a picnic table and some long drop toilets where I was. So the wait would have been quite boring compared to yours! I think I would have asked for a ride back to the boat from someone else, then used the kayak to retrieve the RIB later in the day.

 

[Insequent]

I went around to Whitehaven Beach for a few hours, before coming back to Butterfly Bay at the northern end of Hook Island. I managed to pick up one of the '2 hour limit' mooring buoys just before sunset as a Palm Beach 50 headed back to their marina, or a better anchorage. Although the winds were light I rolled quite a bit all night. The swell was small, but I was beam-on most of the time.

My Cel-Fi Go could not pick up any signal at Whitehaven, Border Island or in Butterfly Bay. This morning, after starting down the passage between Hook and Hayman Islands I got a couple of bars of 4G, so catching up with emails etc now.

First pic is some of the boats at the southern end of Whitehaven Beach. Its the most protected section and always has a crowd. But with about 3nm of beach its easy to go north a little bit to have plenty of privacy. The restoration of the beach after Cyclone Debbie trashed it is pretty good.

Second pic is one of the tourist day-trip RIBS, this one out of Airlie Beach. Big Fury had 3 boats running that I saw, and get good reviews. With quad 225 Yamaha's they provide a quick ride!
http://www.magicwhitsundays.com/fury_whitsundays.html
There were other operators with RIBS, large cruise boats, and helicopters & float planes all making trips as well. It is a bucket list trip, particularly the ones that include snorkelling stop-offs on coral reefs as part of the day.

 

[BruceK]

I went around to Whitehaven Beach for a few hours, before coming back to Butterfly Bay at the northern end of Hook Island. I managed to pick up one of the '2 hour limit' mooring buoys just before sunset as a Palm Beach 50 headed back to their marina, or a better anchorage.....

Does sunset change the use period to overnight?
Our free to use NPWS(National Parks& Wildlife) buoys have a 24hr limit, plus 15M boat length limit.

 

[Insequent]

Chilling in Stonehaven Bay for a few hours. I arrived around 8:30am, but a few boats had departed and there were a few '2 hour limit' buoys available. By 9:30 there was only one other boat on a buoy at the northern section. There are more buoys in the next bay to the south, and there were 15 or so boats anchored in there overnight as well. Pic shows some of the buoys, as well as a white triangular marker. Anchoring is prohibited between the triangular markers and the shore in order to protect the coral reef. The Guides warn against lengthening the pendant with your own lines. Although you have plenty of water depth at the buoy, you can swing to within a boat length of the coral. No need to launch the RIB at most of these 'reef appreciation buoys', just snorkel a few meters from the boat!

Second pic is view to NW towards Hayman Island, an up-market resort. There is a small marina there, with a fee for overnight berthing. But in addition, you need to take accommodation within the resort - no overnighting on board is allowed in their marina.
It is still being rebuilt. Their website indicates that they will take bookings from March 2019 although they hope to be have some guests from late 2018. Cyclone Debbie was 28 March 2017, so that indicates almost 2 years to reconstruct (and perhaps re-furbish/upgrade).

 

[Insequent]

Does sunset change the use period to overnight?
Our free to use NPWS(National Parks& Wildlife) buoys have a 24hr limit, plus 15M boat length limit.

Bruce
The rules say 2 hours between 0700 and 1700 hrs. But if picked up after 1500 you can stay overnight. In practice not many people vacate by 0700. There are various sizes limits and wind speed ratings for them, and they are colour-coded. There are tags on the end of the pendent with the rules/limits. Some are 6m, then 9/10m (multihull/monohull) but most seem to be 18/20m and rated to 34kn wind. There are also a few 22/25m and 30/35m ones.

 

[Insequent]

I went into Nara Inlet for lunch, and will spend the night here as well. Last time I was here I lost phone service less than 1nm in. This time, with the Cel-Fi Go repeater installed, I had reception almost to the end of the inlet, just over 2nm in. This is the device that dear old JeffreyS said 'keep the packaging, ask for a refund, it won't work' etc.

As shown in the pics, its a hilly inlet and that eventually kills the signal. Range is much further when there aren't any hills in the way. Kokomo II (left of centre, far distance) was towards the end, and is 35m. Amalfi is on the right, and is 24m. I caught Kokomo II on its way out as well.

 

[Tidahapah]

I find the small bay on the port side of Nara not far into the inlet the best anchorage and good phone service. The rocks directly opposite the bay on the other side of the inlet holds a very good supply of oysters.

 

[BrisHamish]

Hi Brian,

Glad you are doing well and enjoying yourself. I don’t plan to get back to Hammo until Sept 2019, so I am a bit jealous!

While you are in the region, if you want an adventure and the weather is calm, go out east to Square Reef. We went there two years back, very isolated but amazing spot. You will have the place to yourself, most likely.

When you get back to Brisbane I am going to nag/cajole/bully you into getting a set of flopper stoppers on Insequent. Has made such a difference to my boat. No more rolling around in the middle of the night...

Hamish.

 

[Insequent]

Hamish
We might well be able to get out to Square Reef in a few days time, before the next change arrives.

I did think about the flopper stoppers. I need to take a better look at yours. I really do find the anchorages where current keeps you beam to light winds and swell to be annoying. When beam-on even a small swell creates a surprising amount of movement.

 

[Aquabelle]

I cannot immediately find a link but a few years ago there was a QLD outfit offering flopper stoppers that could be suspended from a davit swung outboard or from "proper" poles that they also offered. They could be folded up for easy storage. Opened and closed like doors. I'll try to find the corro I had with them.

 

[BrisHamish]

Hi Brian,

Some photos of my flopper stoppers attached. I got them through Peter Jenyns at Professional Boat Care in RQ - the brand is Ocean Torque (Australian, made in Queensland).

I could store the stainless poles out of sight, but they actually dont look too bad so I just leave them in situ.

The system is simple and works a treat. And - by boat standards anyway - it wasnt expensive.

Hamish.

 

[Insequent]

Thanks Hamish. They do look quite simple. And as you say, not quite tidy when stored.

 

[Simi 60]

Boat Stabilisers | Boat Stabilizers by Ocean Torque

 

[Insequent]

Simi - thanks for the link.

Hamish - what size stabiliser and what length boom do you have?

 

[BrisHamish]

Brian,

I will check the sizing and let you know.

The actual floppers (witches hat, weights, springs) came from Ocean Torque and are either size 3 or 4. The booms are custom stainless, sourced separately from a stainless guy in Brisbane. The ropes are very thin (but tremendously strong) Dyneema sheathed in a black cotton like substance to protect from the sun.

Hamish.

 

[Simi 60]

Advice given to me for boom length was longer the better.
3 metres is my minimum as that's half a length of 100x3 ally tube and gets to the rail on the top deck.
A full length will be about 2m above roof line and probably getting a bit out there, though it would put off close anchorers.

I will be doing the arms like this, no fore and aft attachment ropes required

 

[BruceK]

Bogranjac1 made his own flopper stoppers for his Finn 8,and he was headed to Qld when he left NSW,several months ago. He likes warm, it`s been cold down south, perhaps he is still up north. Maybe he`ll come in on this,or a PM might be worthwhile.

 

[Aquabelle]

would be useful to know how much roll is mitigated by a single pole. if 70% as I was told would you bother with the second ? BrisHamish....can you post a pic of the actual in water component ?

 

[Insequent]

They are not double acting, they only provide damping when being raised. So I would think you need two in order for them to effectively counter roll.

The website Simi posted a link to has a pic of the underside. The top side would be a series of 'pie-shaped' flaps that lift up when the unit is falling/lowered.

 

[Simi 60]

I'll be going this style reusing some old amplimesh security screens.
Don't look as flashy, but they'll stow flat against the arms and the price will be hard to beat

 

[BrisHamish]

Hi Guys,

I am in Melbourne today and tomorrow (its bloody freezing in The Bleak City!) but back in Brisbane on the weekend so will take some pics and post them then. The witches hat/spring/weight design of my system is shown on the Ocean Torque website which Simi has posted a link to.

I think you probably do need a pole on each side of the vessel if you really want to tame the roll.

Simi, the way you are constructing your poles is a good idea. I went with my design because, at the time, I had this notion that I would stow the poles away when not in use. In fact, I leave them in situ so if I had my time again, I would do it your way and thereby remove the need for the forward and aft ropes.

Hamish.

 

[Insequent]

We went out to Square Reef on Thursday. It truly is a great place. It was a bumpy ride into a 15kn easterly with swell that increased to about 1.5m before we got there. So some spray onto the flybridge. A southerly up to 20 kn was forecast for Saturday morning, so just one night there. There was not going to be another weather window while my brother is on board. Lots of whales, about 8 quite close. At one point I stopped to let 2 go across our bow. One then turned around and came back to within about a boat length of us!

A fishing trawler was anchored at the reef, but they got moving about 30 minutes before sunset. It was likely them anchored about 5nm NW of us near a little reef.

There were plenty of fish in the embayment/ semi-lagoon on the west side of the reef, but they proved elusive to catch. Fortunately we landed one Sweetlip for dinner! We left about midday to return to Nara Inlet, and the seas continued to flatten during the afternoon. We averaged 9kn on the way back to arrive before sunset. But I noted that I used 50% more fuel than on the way out, when we averaged 7.5kn. We were pushing current for some of that trip as well. The price of extra time in the lagoon!

Presently back at Shaw Island, and losing plenty of bait but not landing any fish. We'll try a few more islands tp the SE over the next few days. With 15-20kn SE forecast I'll pick good anchorages away from swell to enable a restful night's sleep.

 

[BrisHamish]

Mate I hope you and your brother had a great time at Square Reef. I thought it was an awesome place, sort of genuinely ‘wild’ - so few of those places left!

My eldest son Angus found the fish more forgiving, so we had a plentiful dinner!

Safe travels Brian.

H.

 

[Tidahapah]

Guys for my flipper stoppers I have gone for the flat Magma stainless steel hinged units. So far pretty impressed with them at anchor. I have decided to shorten my arms by 1 my as with the rig I never use my fish stabilisers anymore.. They stow alongside inside my arms when raised..
Simon I would probably look at putting a fed dynema stay on your rig, it helps to keep everything nice and taunt.