Day 3 - Palm Islands

 29/7/26

The tidal currents changed direction overnight, so Teria swung 180 degrees with it. However the winds died off as well so it was a comfortable overnighter. I was in a deep part of the channel (8-15ft) but near a sunken boat wreck. The heavy CQR and chain held firm. (checked position on GPS every few hours)

Hundreds of mosquitos can reach the boat during calm conditions at night, so the double mosquito net over the pop top, plus a mosquito coil in the cabin keep them out. Two essential pieces of equipment in tropical rivers which avoid a potentially hellish experience.

During the day its less of a problem as the winds ground the mozzies in the mangroves. Just anchor 20-50m away from the mangroves, not right up against them. (Tropical mangroves are also habitat for sandfly swarms, fruit bat colonies, and 2 to 5m long salt water crocodiles.). Out at offshore Islands these critters are rarely a problem.

Dungeness anchorage at sunrise flat calm.

 Double mosquito net covers the pop top at night. 

Left Dungeness at 0830 on a high tide and crossed the entrance bar into the Hinchinbrook channel. (It's not passable at low spring tides, as seen on facebook, tens of fishing dinghies, aka "tinnies", were stuck outside at least on one day.) Teria's 2 foot draft makes it more important to time the tide right, the local tinnies draft is only 6" to 12" so they have a wider tide window to cross the bar.

At the Lucinda sugar shed's a white fast small passenger ferry came inbound, while a small blue vehicle ferry (with a beach ramp bow) was outbound. They probably service the Palm Islands group.

Lucinda wharf, Sugar sheds. 

Amazing Hinchinbrook Island

Lucinda sugar terminal has a 6km long jetty.

Lucinda

Bulk carrier loading sugar

Hinchinbrook Island backdrop for the sugar terminal and blue islands vehicle ferry.

Teria enroute to Orpheus Island, about 10 nautical miles offshore

Raised sails about halfway over and caught some SSE seabreeze. 

I checked out Pioneer Bay, but the mooring area was a leeshore in the Southerly wind. So kept going south along the Orheus Island coastline which provided a nice sheltered lee. July is the southern hemisphere mid winter time, however its nice in the tropics. (About 24C by day and 15C at night.)

Humpback whales

Off the aft port quarter i spotted some whale spouts, about 500m away. They were heading south, like i was, and they were slowly converging on my course. Being the first time to witness whales from Teria, i was exciting stuff. A full grown humpback Leviathan is huge, and make 1 ton Teria look like a gnat (just their heart or brain weighs 1 ton!). The west side of Orpheus Island is quite deep, about 80-100 feet, so the whales had plenty of searoom. They dived somewhere below and i didn't see them again. They have excellent echolocation abilities and a gentle temprement. They migrate to the tropics from Antarctica every year to give birth to their calves, fatten them up, then head south again. To their Antarctic feeding grounds to feast on tons of krill (shrimp) over the southern summer.

I motor/mainsailed upwind, and spotted an empty national park mooring bouy in Hazard Bay, so had a closer look and tied upto it for the night. It was a few hundred meters north of Yanks Jetty national park campground. 

Marine National Park mooring bouy.

The bouys allow 24 hour free mooring, most of them can hold large 10-20m vessels in normal conditions. The mooring rope was huge, about 50mm thick, and covered in growth so tied to it with Teria's 12mm white rope dockline.

Hazard Bay shoreline

Cloudy sunset. Commercial vessell anchored off hazard bay.

A cruising cat on a MNP mooring

There are about 3 MNP moorings at Hazard bay (north) side of yanks jetty National park. This is the more sheltered side. There may be a few others on the south side but it has allot more exposure to wind and wave action from the south.

This video is at the Yanks jetty marine National park mooring, Hazard Bay side, Orpheus Island.

Fishfinder and night viz light on.

The MNP mooring was in about 9m/30ft deep water with a sandy coraline bottom. If the moorings are full (as usual in season) there is allot of space and sand/mud bottom to anchor in Hazard Bay, but its deeper water about (15-18m) 50-60ft. About 3 big bridgedeck cats and a 30m commercial vessel were anchored out there.