Sailed/motored out of Horseshoe Bay at 9am. Broadreached at 3 knots to "white rock", then motored along the north coast of Magnetic Island to Huntingfield bay.
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| Stern anchor out, just clear of shore break |
Dropped the main anchor onto a 15ft deep sandy bottom. Removed the rudder for it's own protection (not a kickup type). Put a stern anchor out up the beach, and adjusted the anchor chain and stern rode to keep Teria just clear of the shore break. It was about waist deep water to go ashore.
It was the first time to anchor at this absolutely beautiful pristine location. It's part of the National park which covers over half of Magnetic Island.
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| Huntingfield Bay |
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| Norfolk pines around a steep gully on hill |
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| Beach's end |
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| Granite beach boulders |
It was good to be able to chill out away from civilization for awhile. There is no mobile signal on Maggy's north coast and there were no people within kilometers or even any sign of passing boats or watercraft. So wore the belt bag containing a VHF radio and PLB (Personal locator beacon) ashore.
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| Low tide oysters exposed |
The tide was fairly low, and rock oysters were exposed and the sea looked crystal clear. There was a small lagoon/creek behind the beach dune. Rugged vegetated unpassable steep granite boulder hills rose all around the bay. I don't think there is any land track in. There were no other footprints below the high tide mark and only a small stone firepit indicated that some people had been here quite some time before.
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Coastal she-oak tree
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| Pandanus tree |
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| Beach dune (creek lagoon behind it) |
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| Spinifex on dune |
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| Pumice and flotsam at spring high tide area. |
The beach dune had some hardy vegetation. The she-oak and pandanus trees, some spiky spinifex and other succulents which can survive on minimal water. The pumice flotsam probably originated thousands of kilometers away, from the pacific "ring of fire". A place where moving plate boundaries separate, grind against each other or subduct which results in vulcanism, which is often subsea but also on isolated island chains. It's a rock but it is full of gas bubbles, so floats on the seas surface, and gets carried by the winds and currents to eventually wash up on beaches like this one.
Around 1pm a light wind began to blow in from the north. So up anchored and motored along the coastline, past Liver Point and Rollingstone Bay.
The wind increased to 10-15 knots from the NNW, so raised full sail and raced along at a good clip on starboard tack. This wind wasn't forecast but was more than welcome. Teria soon passed Bay Rock, a few miles off Maggy Island. We kept going with the bow pointed towards Rattlesnake Island in the distance. This was the furthest north i'd ever sailed out of Townsville.
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| Bay Rock East side, sailing north. Mainland in distance. |
However the time was mid afternoon, so gybed about and headed back for Townsville about 3 hours away. It was a good run downwind to Cape Palleranda. Had to stay clear of the Capes' northern shoals and avoid Magnetic Islands' wind shadow zone as well.
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| Bay Rock, west side beach, sailing south. Magnetic Island in distance. |
Sailed in near Palleranda beach, then the wind changed direction from ~ NW to ~ NE. This may be due to Magnetic Islands geography, bending the winds around opposing coastlines. Teria close reached on port tack and anchored at the Duckpond, Townsville in time for a golden red sunset.
