Reef Hopping on the Great Barrier Reef

One of the wonderful things about being up here at this time of year, with our renewed confidence in navigating reefs, is being able to go offshore and explore parts of the Great Barrier Reef from the comfort of our own boat, in our own time, and in the company of friends.  So, with weather looking pretty much perfect, we set off from Dunk and began a reef-hopping expedition.  Boats in company with us were Tregoning, Mischief (and Curried Oats for some of the time).  Our first stop was Beaver Reef, an easy sail of 20 NM in calm conditions.  There was a tiny sand cay that helped to provide a frame of reference.  (Which I explored later.)

• 

We spent the afternoon snorkelling with Alison and Randall from Tregoning.  The bommie we chose was swarming with fish life – probably the most prolific we’ve seen on any of our snorkels so far.  So many fish and so hard to identify them all!  Also, we had whales pass us on the outside of the reef.  I think I can hear whale song in one of the videos, but maybe it’s just squeaky snorkel breathing… Turn your volume up in the second video below and see if you can hear it!

• 

Tregoning caught a spotted mackerel on their sail over and invited us all for dinner for crumbed fish and another sing-along, with the 2 guitars, a banjo, some percussion including a wooden frog, and some enthusiastic singers!

• 

We had another snorkel the next morning before motoring through glassy seas just 4 NM to Taylor Reef.  The water was gin-clear, and we could see our anchor on the bottom. This reef has a larger sand cay with a cluster of birds vying for roosting space – mostly Black Noddys.  We snorkelled again after lunch . We didn’t see the prolific fish life of Beaver Reef, but it was still a good dive. Highlight was a huge anemone with resident Pink Anemone fish.

• 

• 

• 

The next day, Tregoning left early to scope out the anchorage for our next reef destination, Eddy Reef.  We left with Mischief a little later.  Another easy, flat, glassy passage.  We spotted a couple of dolphins not far off our bow, but they didn’t join us.  Too busy catching their breakfast.

Once out of the Marina Park Zone, we let out the fishing line, and within about ten minutes the line went zing and we had a beautiful Spanish Mackerel, just over 1 metre long! 

We are pleased with our fishing set up.  We have a sturdy deep-sea rod sitting in a rod holder on the rear port rail.  We are using a TLD-25 overhead reel, 55-pound line, 80-pound trace, and a Halco Laser Pro lure that dives down to 2m.  A big thanks must go to Alan from Goolara who gave us some trace, and Forfar from Sarisha who rigged up the line for us. We haven’t had to rig it up since! We have a homemade gaff to get the fish on board. All of our fish this trip have been caught on that exact same lure (and yes, we’ve tried other ones). Our biggest problem is what to do with the darn fish once we get it aboard.  A couple of the fish have flipped at the worst time, spraying blood all over the cockpit.  Not fun to clean up!  We do have a cunning plan of how to land the fish on the back platform, but we haven’t tried it yet…. The line doesn’t go out in messy seas… (When I’m already feeling a shade green, reckon dealing with a fish might just push me over the edge.)

Once we arrived in the lovely anchorage at Eddy Reef, I cooked up a small portion of fish (just pan fried in butter) and ate it.  I was the guinea pig testing for ciguatera.  It was delicious. A couple of hours later, I was still feeling pretty good, so we decided to invite everyone over for dinner that night.  The guys from Tregoning and Mischief joined us for an early dinner of Thai Fish Curry, which went down very well.  (We all like to be back on our own boats before full dark.  It’s a safety thing.)  Alison from Tregoning made a yummy raspberry oat crumble slice for dessert.

Rather than continue with the blow-by-blow account, I’ll just cover the highlights (or lowlights?) of the next few reefs.   

Eddy Reef: proved a little disappointing, with poor visibility and lots of damaged coral (especially staghorn coral).  Highlights were sharks, a large turtle, many Christmas Tree worms, giant clams and some pretty coral.

• 

• 

Howie Reef: We anchored at Howie in 19-metres of water.  The reef is quite a distance away from the anchorage area, but a minefield of pinnacle-like bommies rise up almost to the surface from depths of 20-metres or more, so none of us were keen to go further in.  We decided not to snorkel this reef (after reports from Tregoning that it was disappointing), but even without the delights of the underwater world, the reef is still a beautiful place to be – you’re in gorgeous clear blue water, surrounded by ocean, with no land in sight…  Oven-baked mackerel parcels for dinner with broccoli and mash. Yum.  And we still had another 2 packages in the freezer.  This lifestyle is hard work, but someone has to do it.

• 

Flora Reef: We anchored in about 6.5-metres.  Jamie had a short snorkel before trying to inhale some water when he was talking.  Yep, he can talk underwater too…  Jamie sat in the dinghy while Graeme and I continued snorkelling together.  I discovered it’s also possible to scream with a snorkel, when a 4-foot shark suddenly appeared swimming right under me.  Graeme reckons he could see the shark giggling to itself as it went on its way. We joined Andrew and Lynne on another bommie with a giant clam that appeared to change colour from emerald to topaz to amethyst, depending on the angle.  We saw a huge Coral Trout, and – a first for us –an Epaulette Shark (or Speckled Carpet Shark).

• 

• 

Sudberry Reef:  We had heard great things about this spot, including reports from Tregoning who were here last season.  We must have just had a bad day or picked a bad spot, because visibility was pretty bad.  Also, the water was chopping, making snorkelling quite difficult for those of us who spend more time on the surface than at depth.  Gorgeous sand cay, though.

From Sudberry Reef we headed back towards the mainland.  Next stop was Fitzroy Island, just south of Cairns – an actual island, not a reef!  Great lunch spot (Foxy’s Bar and Café) where we enjoyed lunch and several jugs of a delicious ice-cold alcoholic cocktail.   The resort wasn’t busy, but just seeing groups of people after being away from land for a while with no one but our little group took a little getting used to.   There’s some pretty walks around Fitzroy Island.  We tried the Secret Garden walk, a short track through rainforest.  We discovered the Wompoo Fruit Dove with its distinctive warbling call, as identified by avid birdwatchers, Alison and Randall.

• 

• 

• 

• 

 From Fitzroy Island, it wasn’t far to Cairns.  We booked a berth in the marina, and looked forward to the simple joys of clean clothes, clean hair, and long showers.  Oh, and ice-cream.