Signs at the Percy Hilton

Since the '70s visiting yachties have been leaving their hand-made signs in the A-frame at West Bay and now there are thousands!  Among them we found several yachtie friends whom we have had the pleasure of meeting and sailing with over the past two years... and hope to meet and sail with again.

Middle Percy Island

 Our morning walk up the dry creek bed, lined with giant melaleucas and strangler figs, was very still and quiet, only a goat and a few roos hopping by.  The waterfall was also dry with just a few puddles for some tadpoles.  Back at the beach we kayaked around to Dolphin Bay, where a lone red-capped plover foraged with a pair of pied oystercatchers.

As the morning wind turned easterly we joined the flotilla of yachts that began to motor around to the shelter of West Bay.  Around the “Percy Hilton” fireplace some blokes from the Percy Yacht Club were preparing the famous Goat Stew for the incoming crowd.  A donation of veggies would score you a big serve of stew for dinner.

Ernst preparing Goat Stew for 35 yachties

The crowd enjoying Goat Stew

A very sociable week in West Bay, with several yacht families and a tribe of kids exploring and playing treasure hunts on the beach, along with some creative carving of signs to be installed in the gallery.  A game or two of Finska in the shade of the coconut palms and tales of travels over a few sundowners completes our busy days.

Rusty iron "rocks"

Just when you thought you had found the most beautiful beach, you find Rescue Bay.  The barefoot walk over a few sand dunes winds through forest of red gums, kurrajongs, tea tree and casuarinas then opens out to white sand with the most interesting rocks: at first they look like old rusty pieces of iron, but on close inspection they are sandstone eroded by wind and water to become those unusual shapes.

White's Bay, Middle Percy Island

Keswick to Middle Percy was a great sail with Charm.  We opted to tack out past the tankers at Hay Point, which gave us a good downwind run all the way to The Percys, while Charm cut through the anchorage still under screecher, also with a good run. 

There were already a few yachts anchored in White’s Bay and a few more followed us in.  Spring tides are big here so we kayaked in for our walk up the ridge because we could pull the kayaks up past the high tide mark.  It was very hot for walking so we didn’t continue to the Homestead but walked back to the Dolphin Bay headland, with great views of North East and South Percy Islands.

Goldsmith to St Bees Island

After a couple of balmy days of kayaking and beach walks, waiting for more northerly winds, we set sail with Charm at 4 am towards the moonset to St Bees and Keswick Islands, off Mackay.  The wind forgot to arrive so it was a noisy motoring job all the way. 

moonset

first light 

The planned anchorage on St Bees was very deep on the spring tides so we back-tracked to nearby Basil Bay on Keswick.  The plan for the next few days will need discussion over a few cold drinks at sundowners again.

Charm at Shaw Island on a windier day

Vlasoff Reef and Michaelmas Cay

The outer reef at high tide is mostly under water, so at anchor here you feel like you are floating way out in the Coral Sea.  When we arrived, on low tide, on the last day of the school holidays, the tiny sand islet was covered with people, umbrellas, gazebos and surrounded by boats.  Then a jetski started hooning around the snorkelers, through the coral and destroying the serenity.  And it was a bloke with two children!!

Sunday crowds on Vlasoff Reef

After the crowds retreated back to Cairns we could enjoy our sundowners on the foredeck, watching the tide slowly cover the reef again.  The coral looks good here and so many fish!

Next morning we sailed up to Michaelmas Cay and kayaked into the beach to see the nesting birds.  

Tight groups of Sooty Terns were sitting on eggs next to groups of Black Noddies, interspersed with Brown Boobies, one with a fluffy white chick, more than half the size of the parent.  Nest is a term to use loosely here as they are really just scrapes in the sand and coral, with the odd stick thrown in.

Brown Booby and chick

Nesting Noddies with one egg

Real estate is at a premium!

A pair of Masked Boobies landed on the northern end of the beach, while a lone Ruddy Turnstone flew back and forth from the shoreline to the chaos of the noisy nesting area.   Meanwhile a few menacing Greater Frigate-birds circled up high then returned to land on the few remaining sticks and branches on the sand island.

Snorkelling around the reef we saw colourful corals and even more colourful fish, although the biggest fish seemed to be enjoying the shadow of our hulls: batfish, trevally, maori wrasse and black-tipped reef sharks.

There’s Hope Again!

After a slow moonlit start from Lizard Island we eventually had a great sail on main and screecher to Hope Isles, arriving 12 hours later at 4:30 pm.  

As we eased Heatwave through the reef into the anchorage, to the ghostly calls of the thousands of pied imperial pigeons, arriving in small flocks to their breeding sites, a pair of Sea-eagles were flying laps of the island, stirring up the pigeons as they tried to land.

A flotilla of pelicans cruising along the sandpit looked menacing too, perhaps waiting for some prey, while bridled terns casually dived for their dinner.  Turtles popped up beside the boat as we watched the sunset fade into the smoky mountains. 

Sunrise was more dramatic as orange, red and gold developed through a gap in the clouds and the pelicans began to muster on the beach.  The sea-eagle was the early bird, calling as she set off to find some brekky on the reef (Female sea-eagles are larger than the males.)  Smoke, smog and drizzle set in as we attempted to sail on to Low Isles, making visibility quite a challenge until the sun was high.

Birds of Lizard Island: September 16th - 30th

It’s quite easy to spend a few weeks at Lizard Island, with walks and mountains to climb and shorebirds returning from breeding in Siberia.  A couple of Little Curlews, which mostly rest and feed up in the grassy fields of northern Australia, Pacific Golden Plovers, which travel on as far as Tasmania, olive-backed sunbirds and rainbow bee-eaters everywhere, and a pleasant change for us, no pesky welcome swallows!

Great Egret on the creek

Pacific Golden Plover in moult

A juvenile black noddy landed on our deck, didn’t seem to be injured, but sat for ten minutes, preened himself, then flew off to join his mates and the black-naped terns.  The terns follow the bait fish, who in turn are followed by bigger fish and the water regularly explodes with a fishing frenzy.  “Noddy” enjoyed himself so much on our boat that he returns every day now to preen his feathers.  I guess he has replaced the welcome swallows for now.

Black-naped terns following the bait fish

Our friendly noddy

Bird list so far: 

Rose-crowned fruit-dove, Pied Imperial-Pigeon, Bar-shouldered Dove

Little Curlew, Pacific Golden Plover

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Eastern Great Egret, White-faced Heron, Little Egret, Eastern Reef Egret (white morph)

Eastern Osprey, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling Kite, Nankeen Kestrel

Brown Booby, Black Noddy, Black-naped Tern, Common Tern, Crested Tern, Silver Gull

Pheasant Coucal, Rainbow Bee-eater, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike

Silvereyes, White-breasted Woodswallow, Olive-backed Sunbird