Low Isles 1

We - Ian and I - have just returned from a 4 month trip to the Kimberleys in our yacht "Winkali".  


 Low Isles: 

These islands are about 1 hours sail from Port Douglas on a favourable wind or 8nm in distance.  A popular destination for tourists and local yachties alike.

They consist of 2 islands: 
Woody Is which is the larger mangrove/coral cay island.  There are restrictions on access to this island as it is an important breeding area for many birds and other marine life.
Low Is is the smaller of the two and is a vegetated sandy coral cay with a light-house and several buildings on it which have accommodated light-house keepers and scientists in the past.  The light-house itself was automated in 1993 but there are still caretakers residing on the island who take weather readings, prepare the beach for tourists.  There is also a short interpretive walk across the island.

Woody Is

Low Is

What did we do?  We left Port Douglas with our crew for the day which consisted of Jessee (Ian's daughter), Josh and Gaye (Jessee's friends) and Lokki (Gaye's son).  Lokki turned out to be the feature of the day as his joy and enthusiasm was infectious.

With Lokki and Jessee sharing duties at the helm, we made it safely to Low Isles where we moored for the day.

Ian took the crew over to Low Is to do a bit of exploring, both above and below water.



Then it was back to Winkali where the fun escalated.   Marine life came from all directions to share lunch with us.

Batfish

Giant Trevally

More Batfish

Batfish and Ramora

This Black-tipped Reef Shark and his Ramora (sucker fish) wanted lunch too.

Lokki  wonders whether the shark has had enough lunch.

Low Isles is a favourite island destination for Ian and I.  Many birds breed there at different times of the year.  There are a few resident Ospreys which have built nests on the Lighthouse.  They are often seen flying back to their nests with a fish in their talons.  At the moment Bridled Terns, Blacknaped Terns and Pied Imperial Pigeons are busy in their nests.  

This video goes for 6min 7secs and uses 57.8mb

I published this blog as 'Around Cairns' a couple of weeks ago and intended to be informative about the areas around Cairns that Ian and I go to.

I've changed my mind and decided to keep it in the Winkali theme, as when we went away.

See you soon.

The Great White Hunter Returns

Rob and Henma on Easy Rider

Wayne and Barbara on Casper

We finally left Seisia on 11 Nov on a small good weather window.  Casper, Easy Rider and 2 others left the day before to get a couple of hours start from Cape York.  






















We sailed day and night and caught up with them the following evening at Shelbourne Bay.

The following morning we left for Portland Roads at 3 a.m.  Not good sailing that day.  We tacked 24 times into head winds, and covered 82nm to do 45nm.  We made it into Portland Roads 18 hours later and amazingly, all four yachts made it within minutes of each other.

Bougainvillea

Portland Roads is a small settlement of shacks and homes with a permanent population of 8.  It has no shops or facilities except for a small restaurant which caters for the tourist trade during the dry season.  We all had a delicious meal there which was as good as any you could hope for in any city. Rob and Henma shared their beer and wine with the rest of us who had all ran out. 

Thanks Rob and Henma!

Hibiscus

Flowers grew in abundance creating cascades of colour.


We spent almost a week there waiting for the next favourable weather window.  Once again, we waited behind for another day after the others had set sail which was just as well.  The toilet decided to block that day.  I'll spare you the details of the unblocking. . .  you don't want to know :(

The weather had turned for the better and we had a great sail to Morris Is, then to Cape Melville where we met up with Easy Rider again.

Cape Melville

The coast was spectacular with boulder cloaked mountains, multicoloured foothills, brilliant green mangroves and golden beaches.


At first light  it was off again as we continued to take advantage of the weather window.




We set off on glorious calm seas, tinted with the rosy glow of early morning sunrise.


Crazily balanced rocks formed small islands off the end of the cape.





















Fish, dolphins and birds were all gorging themselves on the schools of bait fish passing through.  I had a happy morning with my camera and made the most of the calm conditions and early morning light.

The Great White Hunter made the most of the conditions and set the rod.   

I made a short movie.

This movie uses 27.7mb and goes for 1:41s.  

Next stop was at Cape Bedford where we had anchored on our way up.  We had an electrical storm that night which continued till early the next morning. Winkali got a much needed fresh water wash.

I was looking forward to the next stop which was Hope Isles.  We arrived there early in the afternoon and unlike the stop on the way up, the seas were friendly and sparkly.  

We launched the dinghy for the short trip to the island. On the way up from Cairns we had been moored off the island for 4 days and only ventured there once because of the windy conditions.  Since then, we have had anchorages which have been over a mile from the shore, due to shallow waters, and had to cross in all sorts of winds.  Now when we looked at the ridiculously short distance to the island, we couldn't believe that we hadn't gone over more often on the first stay.


The tide was high so I didn't get the variety of birds which feed on the sand reefs at low tide but I was rewarded with Terns feeding over a reef close by.

"You dive in and grab a fish like this, junior"

 I managed to capture this sequence of photos of a Crested Tern (the one with the fish) teaching its offspring to fish.

"now I hope you are watching"

"Because now I'll drop it so you can get it yourself"

Along comes a pesky seagull, in for a free feed as they do.

Tern jumps in to rescue the meal before seagull gets it. Junior observes.

Tern and seagull fight.  Junior observes.

Fish gets away while Tern and seagull fight.  Junior observes.

Seagull starts to fight dirty.  Junior is watching and learning.

Junior comes in for a closer look as Seagull takes a chomp at Tern's wi

The weather held up once again and the following morning we left on our final leg to Port Douglas.

This is the final chapter of this Winkali trip.

We didn't do the voyage we set out to do.  No we don't regret that.  We were running out of time for the west coast and even if we had continued, we would have been too rushed to have enjoyed the experience.  

We have met some great people on our return trip who have been mentioned in this blog and we hope to stay in touch and maybe sail along side them again in future travels.

We will now try to find some work as we spent a lot more money than we expected to and there are a few repairs that need doing to Winkali before we set off again . . . . like locating and repairing a couple of leaks which dampened our enthusiasm on more than one occasion.

We've gained experience and learnt a lot, not only about sailing either.  

I've learnt how to do a blog! It's taken many hours, usually in trying to make the text and photos go where I want them - they do have a mind of their own.

See you soon.

Cape York - "The Tip"

Wed 31 Oct.  We hired a "Limo" for  our trip to the tip.  It was a Toyota Landcruiser troopy. None of that looking around the car for scratches and minor dents that you don't want to be blamed for later on.  We would have been there a week listing them all.

After using a crow bar to adjust the door so we could close it, we were off.  There were 8 of us in all and we could all fit in this vehicle and apart from hoping that it would make the distance, that was all that mattered.

I made this movie clip of our trip.  It takes 4 mins 16 secs.  I've resized it to email quality - 46.6mb

As usual, the main topic of conversation between us and the other yachties was the weather, especially wind speed and direction.  Bob and Cheryl had to get back to Cairns for work commitments and left the 2 Nov, bad winds and all.  The rest of us stayed put - no point in punishing ourselves and our boats if we didn't have to.  As it turned out, Bob and Cheryl haven't had too much of a rough trip so far, but they have sheltered for a couple of days at Portland Roads for the worst.

Ian had been busy fishing and I have lost sleep over it.  

• Ian gets up early
• I can't focus and go back to sleep
• Flippity flippity flap flap flap
• What the ? ? ? ?
• The world comes into focus for me
• IANNNN are you fishing?

He is catching sardines for bait for bigger fish which he catches but they are too big and break the line before he can bring them in.  

We do a fair bit of walking to get ourselves fit again.  The jetty is always a hive of activity as the locals manage to supplement their food supplies there very well.

Locals catch fish by the bucket load from the jetty.

Wayne gets some tips from the kids on the finer art using a cast net.

Barbara in front of a termite mound.

Barbara and I do a long walk.  Our waistlines are steadily approaching the dimensions of our boat's waterlines from too much food and too little exercise.

We go bush for a while so I can go looking for birds while Barbara looks for new plants - she has a background in horticulture and is a wealth of information when I need to know what a particular plant is that I've never seen before.

Proiphys Lily

This beautiful scented lily emerges after the first rains of the wet season.  Few people get to see this lily as most visitors have left the Cape at this time of the year.






I spot a Red-backed Fairywren, in all his feisty glory.  He is fiercely protective of the grasshopper he has just caught and dares me to try and take it from him.

Red-backed Fairywren

Native Spider Lily

This eye-catching Native Spider Lily is another flower which emerges at the onset of the wet season.  The bulb can be dug up, ground and boiled and then applied as a "painkiller, disinfectant and insect repellent all in one".






The next day, a few more people join us in a walk to Red Island which is just a stone's throw from Seisia.  Ian and I attempted to visit this island not long after we arrived here but we chickened out when a crocodile jumped into the water from the beach we were about to land on.  

We decided there was safety in numbers and ventured forth.

Bees visiting a Scarlet Flowered Bloodroot 

We found this attractive little plant growing across the island.  Once again, it heralds the wet season - nature is telling us something!

After consulting John Beasley's 'Plants of Cape York' once again we find that it is a Scarlet Flowered Bloodroot.  Named for the red sap of the bulb which is used as dye by Aboriginal people for baskets and bags. 






On a less happy note, Ian finds a discarded fishing line lying in a tangle, complete with a bird skeleton.  It must have been a slow and cruel demise for the unfortunate bird that met with the careless action of a fisherman.

once was a bird

A pigeon pair

On a happier note - a pair of Pied Imperial Pigeons also known as Torres Strait Pigeons.  These beautiful birds migrate to the north of our continent from New Guinea each year to breed.

There are enough yachties here now for a game of cricket with the arrival of a couple more yachts.  Ian finds a splintered plank on the beach and fashions it into a cricket bat.  A lot of insulation tape applied over the lot to prevent splinters and it's ready to go.  Wayne and Barbara had a cricket (tennis) ball and we used jerry cans as wickets.  A concrete path running parallel with the beach proved to be a great pitch.

After a couple of dismal bowls from our participants, we accosted an innocent passer-by. 
 "Can you bowl?", we asked the hapless stranger.
It turned out he had played cricket for Townsville and Brisbane and was quickly enlisted in our game.  

All went well for a while till someone spotted a crocodile cruising close to the beach.  The cricket rules suddenly had a new one. If you hit the ball into the water, you had to go and get it yourself.

We are itching to get going as usual.  The weather patterns are unusual and we can't seem to find a good break.  Seisia is a good place to be as everything (shops, water, fuel, showers and washing machines) are in walking distance and it is only a short distance by dinghy to the shore. There are good beaches and bush walks to go on as well. 

On a longer walk, you can get to Bamaga which is about 3/4 of an hour by foot.  On the way to Bamaga there are sewerage ponds.  I bet that excites all my readers!  Well, we noticed a lot of ducks there the other day and I'm hoping to 'spot' some Spotted Whistling Ducks.  I suppose that would make them 'double spotted'.

There are also pockets of monsoonal rainforest in which reside Magnificent Riflebirds (one of Australia's 4 Birds of Paradise).  I heard them the other day as we were walking past.

Ian hasn't seen any more Palm Cockatoos and is now appreciating the sighting earlier in our trip.  If we have to wait at Seisia for much longer, the Beach Almonds which grow near the jetty, should ripen.  Palm Cockatoos love them.

Well, it's off to the showers for now.  Amusing signs on the amenities ensures that Ian and I go into the right ones.