Sailing Around Australia; Backtracking and Lady Musgrave

Bundaberg, Queensland

7/11/2015 Backtracking

No body I know likes doing things twice. So with that in mind we planned to try some different stopovers on our journey south from the Whitsunday’s to Brisbane.

The weather would play its part in where we could get to that was new or where we would have to revisit the anchorages we used on the way north several months ago.

After setting off from Hamilton Island we sailed in light winds to Keswick Island, then from there we motored in even lighter winds to Port Clinton, both were new spots for us. There is a large tidal movement and we had arrived during king tides, so the waters in Port Clinton were very mirky, in fact appearing dirty with leaves, sticks and the like floating around.

One place that was on our list of places to try and get to was Lady Musgrave Island. The weather would have to be perfect though for us to venture out there. This is because there is zero protection from wind and swell in any direction.

As luck would have it by the time we caught up with Bossa Nova at Yeppoon marina, the weather gods smiled on us and a trip to Lady Musgrave was planned.

On the way, we traversed the channel between the mainland and Curtis Island that brought us to the Gladstone Harbour. This is a very busy shipping port that took several hours to motor across. Fortunately, unlike our visit to Newcastle we did not get in the way of the many ships.

After deciding we had got to Gladstone rather early, we went on to Pancake creek, breaking one of our number 1 rules (yes we have quite a few number one rules) that is; we never arrive and or anchor in the dark. Unfortunately for Bossa Nova we broke this rule that night, arriving in Pancake creek in the dark. Using the boss as our only marker to anchor, we found out in the morning we had anchored way too close for comfort and poor Neville was up all night waiting to fend off Easy Tiger if we got any closer. We also managed to keep Amanda awake all night with our rattly mast keeping time with the rolling swell. They must really love sailing in company with us!

Lady Musgrave lies at the southern end of the Great Barrier reef, some 50 nautical miles north of Bundaberg and 35 nautical miles east of the nearest mainland, Bustard Head. The island is quite small, perhaps a hectare of sand, containing Pisonia trees.

The island is surrounded by a very large reef system that circles around to form an internal lagoon. A narrow channel at one end of the lagoon allows boats in and out, but careful navigation is required. Once inside the lagoon even more care is needed to find a place to anchor that is not on top of small outlying reef “pieces” or coral “bombies” as they are known. Enough “swinging” room has to be found too or the anchor chain could get caught on these bombies and then you would have to dive down to get the chain untangled or, worst case scenario, cut off your anchor and chain to move the boat. I am sure these are called coral bombies as the mess they would make to the nice fiberglass boat if you hit one would be similar to a small bomb.

So we snuck our way into the lagoon, again following Neville and Amanda on Bossa Nova. Leanne and I then had several “discussions” about where to anchor. After circling around three or four good looking areas, more Bombies were discovered. Fortunately after several more “discussions” in frustration we just dropped the anchor in, as it turned out, quite a good spot about halfway from the entrance channel to the lagoon and the Island.

Once the dust settled and the heat from energetic discussions dissipated, we were able to take in the magical surroundings.

Neville, Amanda and Leanne set off next morning on the kayaks to look at the expanses of reef that were very evident at low tide. With the clarity of the water, it was quite easy to see the coral and fish life in the water underneath the kayak.

Leanne and I walked through the middle of the island and we were truly amazed at the mass of bird life. It seemed every fork in every branch on every tree was home to a nest. Also there are a huge number of burrows that shearwaters have dug for themselves. This is really crowded real estate. It seemed than other than the narrow pathway we walked along every tuft of grass contained a nesting bird. Even the path was a gathering point for groups of birds in no hurry to move as we strolled along.

Being a collection of hundreds of coral reefs, Lady Musgrave lagoon gave us really nice snorkelling experiences each of the four days we were there. Some of the reefs are only a few metres across, but go quite deep forming walls of sea life to look at. Others are bigger than a football field and very shallow.

You would think that with all this Leanne and Amanda would have caught a feed of fish, wouldn’t you? No. Other than a weird thing that look more sausage with big teeth on one end (called a Long Tom) fish again remained the winners on the two occasions that the girls tried them out.

Perhaps the nicest surprise at Lady Musgrave Island was watching the Green turtles. Most days we would see a dozen or so turtles doing what turtles do. Some of the turtles we saw were easily a metre in diameter. It is very obviously mating season for turtles as we did see plenty of turtles doing that, too.

On the beaches of the Island we could see tracks left by mother turtles as they scrambled up from the water to lay their eggs in a nest near the trees. One fella we talked to said he had sat on the beach the night before and seen the turtles make their way up and prepare their nest.

That was it. Leanne was determined that she was going to see the turtles. So the four of us set off at 8pm in the dark, snuck around to where we saw the tracks and waited patiently in silence for any sign of turtles scrambling up the beach.

After nearly half an hour of silence (almost a record for Leanne) and, or, perhaps it was when the wine ran out, we decided that we must be there too late. So we enjoyed a drenching in the dinghy on the way back to the boat going back against a fresh breeze.

Not to be outdone by a turtle, plans were laid for the next night. We decided it would be dusk and sunset that the turtles would make their perilous journey driven by the primal urge to reproduce.

So the next night we were there, in wait, just before dusk. Again we sat in silence and waited. Nothing. Then we decided to relocate further up the beach. We waited. Wow, excitement grew when a head bobbed up out of the water about 50 metres from shore. This was it. We were ready. Here come the turtles.

Alas, other than a few turtle heads bobbing up, about 50 metres from shore, no turtle dared to take the 100metre sprint to the nesting area with us watching.

Once again, after the wine, the nibbles, the chocolate and cheeses ran out, we wandered back to the dinghy and again got drenched for our troubles again during the dinghy ride back to the boat. Turtles 2, people none.

The weather window for lady Musgrave was closing, so we left the next day at five AM. Easy Tiger headed a queue of about ten boats departing for safer and more comfortable ports to sit out approaching storms.

We headed for Bundaberg where we have been before. Leanne says it not her most favourite place and we like many others don’t like doing the same thing over again. However with the weather turning and storms approaching a bit of familiarity is quite comforting.