St Bees and Keswick Islands

 Sailing in to St Bees with a good downwind run, we arrived just as the drizzle began.  We already had our rain-catchers out in anticipation and caught enough to do some washing.

The new moorings at St Bees now make it easy to stopover.  The Keswick Kiosk is only open Sunday to Monday 10 am to noon, despite what their old webpage states, and has basic supplies of bread, milk, beer, wine, ice creams, cold drinks and a few basics.  The boat ramp is best at full tide, but we managed to pull the dinghy up among the rocks beside the ramp.

The NP beach opposite on St Bees has a lagoon at high tide, fed by a creek lined with mangroves.  It should be called St Butterflies as there was a constant procession of Tiger Blues and Common Crows flying in.  Dinghying back to the boat a few crashed into us but then kept going.  Such intrepid little insects!

Prudhoe Island Isolation

Leaving Percy at first light, in a light Northerly, we expected a good screecher run to St Bees and Keswick Island, but the wind died off and we had to resort to the “iron sail” and made for Prudhoe Island.  In the glassy sea it was easy to spot two whales and a few dolphins.

On the way we passed Digby Island in the Beverly Group and the impressive Still Island, resembling a giant turtle head poking out of the sea.

Sick of the noise of the motors, we anchored at Prudhoe Island, a new stop for us and very pretty.  Hoop pines, pandanus and coral trees cover most of the island, but there are no real walking tracks so it is limited to the beach areas.  At least we had the whole island to ourselves, except for a million Tiger Blue butterflies coming across the water, landing on the boat and distracting us as we anchored.

July – August 2020: Hervey Bay to Port Clinton to The Percy Isles

The forecast for our sail to Bundaberg hardly resembled the conditions at sea.  Up to 38 knots SW hammered us for most of the trip, but we made into the safety of the Burnett River to rest overnight.

A brief stop at Cape Capricorn, then on to Svendson’s Beach at Great Keppel Island, where we met old and new friends: Kathamaria, Bona Fide, Skellum, Sea Legges, Sofia and Double Barrel.  Sundowners on the beach again, at last and finally saw 2 whales breaching off the eastern beach.

With storms and strong winds forecast we tucked in to Port Clinton as there was no military action at present.  We were surprised to see Fisheries launch their big rib at the ramp, but they came over for a chat and then were going out to check the Green Zones for illegal fishing.  Port Clinton is a very pretty area with great bird life and coastal heaths.

Once the weather cleared we made a stopover in Pearl Bay followed by friends on Jigsaw and Koza.  Next morning brought an unusually calm entrance into Island Head Creek, where we stayed for a week, catching up with Cat Magic and enjoying fishing and sewing.  When more strong SE winds were forecast we moved to a more sheltered area before we could set off for the Percy Isles.  Island Head Creek has a spectacular mixture of wildflowers, rugged cliffs, mangroves, wide sandy beaches and huge sandspits at low tides.

 

After an early morning start we had a great sail downwind with the current to Middle Percy, and opted to anchor in West Bay, even though it can be quite rolly on change of tide.

Our old embroidered Heatwave sign still hangs in the A-frame, aka The Percy Island Yacht Club on the beach.  At last a perfect warm, sunny day so we kayaked in to the beach and hiked over to Rescue Bay.  Two big hills to traverse through forest depleted by too many feral goats that are still pruning all the vegetation to death, but boronias were out in flower and a few birds were calling.

By the time we paddled back to the boat a pod of whales had cruised in and were lolling around Pine Islet.  By evening there were 19 boats anchored in West Bay so we opted out of sundowners for social distance purposes.