November 2021
The day we left Cairns it was the end of our northward travels as we turned south to begin our journey back down the coast. After nearly ten months of near continuous sailing north it had finally come the time to turn south to find a safe place to spent the wet season (summer). Our first leg of this journey was from Cairns to Townsville however as was our usual lately we stopped each night to anchor, as we weren’t in that much of a rush yet to need to do any overnighters. So with this in mind we set sail with our first stop set to be Fitzroy Island. By now this was our third visit to the beautiful island and as such we decided on one last snorkel on the islands reef.
That day we decided to snorkel off Welcome Bay beach where we were once more surrounded by fish of every sort. It was during this snorkel that we even had an amazing close encounter with a small eagle ray which glided gentle circles around us as we sat still and watched. This was a lovely swim with water temperatures so warm it felt like we were in a bath not the ocean. After our swim we enjoyed watching the sunset from the beach before retreating back to Allagai for the evening.
The following day we were up early ready to keep moving with the aim to reach the Moresby River for our over night anchorage. However with such beautiful weather and thanks to our early start we had enough time to enjoy a short lunch stop at Normandy Island which was a tiny little island part of the Frankland Island Group. Since it was only a lunch stop we weren’t able to spend much time on the island, however this didn’t stop us from spending what time we did have ashore. Since the island was so small we were able to walk an entire lap of the island on a short parks trail we found and even have time for a snorkel afterwards. This was a beautiful little island with a tiny tropical forest surrounded by pretty coral rubble beaches lapped by crystal clear water. The snorkelling here was fairly good with scattered coral bommies and plenty of fish life. It was while snorkelling here that we had our best turtle encounter to date in the clear blue waters. The turtle seemed unaffected by its two humans companions as it swam along searching for food. However as awesome as the swimming was we eventually had to pull ourselves from the water as we still had many miles to make that afternoon before reaching our overnight anchorage in the Moresby River.
Our sail to the Moresby River was fairly uneventful and involved more motoring then we would have liked as there was barely a breath of wind. The most exciting thing that happened that sail was the capture and subsequent release of a small reef shark on our trolling line. It wasn’t long after this excitement that we were arriving into the Moresby River, dropping anchor just as the last of the sunset was fading from the sky.
Once again this was only an overnight anchorage so we were up early the next morning and weighing anchor to continue our journey to Townsville. Although we still had a couple of more stops we wanted to make, the first of which was a stop at Dunk Island. The sail to Dunk was more drifting and motoring as the light winds we were forecast never arrived leaving us instead becalmed. With such little wind we were once more forced to motor and were arriving at Dunk Island a little after lunch. While on Dunk we went for a short walk ashore and enjoyed an afternoon of rest on Allagai after the last few days of busy sailing.
The following morning we were up early yet again but it was just before we started pulling the anchor that we noticed something a little odd a few hundred meters away. At first we thought it was a log drifting along the shore line, however after a look through the binoculars we quickly changed our minds as it was actually a small crocodile. The two meter long reptile was about half way between us and the beach and seemed to be swimming for the shore, possible to enjoy an early morning sun-bake. We were amazed to see one on an offshore island and knew that from now on we’d be extra vigilant when visiting any island so close to the mainland. After watching the crocodile swim for a bit we decided it was time to head off as we had quite a busy day ahead.
That day we were aiming for Orpheous Island but had decided to have a quick stop at Zoey Bay on Hinchinbrook to visit Zoey Falls. This meant with so much planned we couldn’t afford to dawdle too much and with another day of barely 5kts of breeze we had no choice but to motor once again.
It was about lunch that we finally arrived on Hinchinbrook and wasted no time in launching the dinghy to head ashore. The island was absolutely beautiful as we followed the trail to the waterfall through a pretty green forest. When we arrived at the waterfall we had the whole place to ourselves and unable to resist went for a swim to cool off surprised that the waterfall was still flowing so late in the year.
We were amazed when we entered the water, which although it was fed by a waterfall was the temperature of a warm bath. The moment we entered the water we were surrounded by friendly Jungle Perch, a local fish that inhabited the small lagoon. These fish were super curious and not afraid of us at all as they swam up close to investigate us and the camera. We spent about half and hour in the water enjoying the cool down and peace before a group of hikers arrived who were also looking to swim and cool off. With their arrival we decided to call it a day as we still had 15nm to go to reach Orpheous Island.
The sail to Orpheous Island was the first time since leaving Cairns that we actually got to turn the engine off as the evening sea breeze blew us to the island. We had all but the topsail set and enjoyed an awesome sail right into the anchorage where we picked up a public mooring.
Once again we only stayed the night there however before the leaving the following morning we enjoyed a quick early morning walk ashore. Our maps showed that there was a short walk up the nearby hill to walk along the saddle. Thankfully our map was right and the trail head was found with little difficulty behind the camp area. The trail was only slightly overgrown and other then needing to relocate a couple of monstrous orb-weaving spiders, which had decided to make their webs over the path, we had a very enjoyable walk. At the top of the saddle we had an amazing view down to the bay where we had left Allagai as well as a view to the seaward side of the island. We were both awed by the view for such little elevation and for a walk that was barely two kilometres return. Following a brief stop at the top to admire the view we then headed back to Allagai, passing a few other keen walkers along the way.
That day following our early morning stroll we decided it was time to head for Magnetic Island and for once were blessed with a gentle but sailable breeze for the morning. However the breeze only lasted until lunch before it dwindled out and the motor was once more required to finish our trip. We arrived in Horseshoe Bay that evening as the sun was dipping below the hills, feeling like it was only yesterday that we’d been there. We had finally made it and in a fairly speedy time as well as from the following evening we were due for a front of rather strong trade winds which were due to hang around for the next ten days and was the reason we hadn’t dawdled on the leg south.
Following our arrival on Magnetic we spent eight days planning our next move. Each day we went ashore for a walk along the beach and occasionally catching up with Hugo’s sister when she was in the area. When the forecast finally showed the arrival of more northerlies we headed over to Townsville to buy a few groceries for our next southward leg. The forecast showed nearly a week of northerlies however only 2-3 of those days were good for sailing as the last half of the front was set to bring squalls and thunderstorms. So with this in mind we readied Allagai to sail once more with our destination as the Whitsundays.
