Coral Coast 2016

Vessel Name: Bay Dolphin
Vessel Make/Model: Seawind 1000
Hailing Port: Brisbane
Crew: Darren, Leanne, James , Zoe
About: Australian family exploring the coral coast
12 June 2016 | Scraggy Point, Hinchinbrook Island
12 June 2016 | Scraggy Point, Hinchinbrook Island
09 June 2016 | Townsville Marine
09 June 2016 | in transit to somewhere
09 June 2016 | NE Bay, Great Palm Island
09 June 2016 | NE Bay, Great Palm Island
07 June 2016 | NE Bay Great Palm Island
07 June 2016 | On route to Great Palm Island
04 June 2016 | Magnetic Island
02 June 2016 | Wallaby Reef
02 June 2016 | Nara Inlet - Hook Island
18 May 2016 | Keswick Island
18 May 2016 | Middle Percy Island
11 May 2016 | Middle Percy Island
10 May 2016 | Middle Percy Island
02 May 2016 | Great Keppel Island
01 May 2016 | tranist to Lady Elliot
30 April 2016 | South Percy Island
Recent Blog Posts
12 June 2016 | Scraggy Point, Hinchinbrook Island

Scraggy Point Fish Traps

Hinchinbrook Island - Scraggy Point fish traps

12 June 2016 | Scraggy Point, Hinchinbrook Island

Scraggy Point Fish Traps

Off shore from Scraggy Point there are some indigenous fish traps made by the Bandjin people, named the traps 'Ngaragubbi'. Sraggy Point is part of the Hinchinbrook Island which is located of the coast of Cardwell which is a town in between Townsville and Cairns. Since the construction of the fish traps the water level has risen so you can't see all of the originally built traps (there is white marker by GRMPA out further). The traps are built to the right of a fresh water stream (looking east from Cardwell). Oysters glue the rocks together. The traps extend over an area of two hectares. We think that the stream is significant to the success of the traps. We observed oysters gluing the rocks together and they must have done there job well to be standing today (including the category 5 cyclone Yasi that hit in 2011). How the traps work is as the tide covers up the traps the fish move with the tide and as the tide goes out the fish get caught up with the 40cm high walls. The walls need to have small holes in them or the water would gush over the walls and the fish would follow. The traps consist of many other connecting walls to make a network of traps.

09 June 2016 | Townsville Marine

There was once a dinghy on the back of a boat

There once was a dinghy on the back of a boat

09 June 2016 | in transit to somewhere

Keep on Walking - Keep on Putting

Darren has used his not recently celebrated macramé skills to repurposed a whisky bottle into our backup fuel container for the dinghy. Carrick knots all round. We have now doubled our capacity!

09 June 2016 | NE Bay, Great Palm Island

Success!

We have left Townsville with some new gear, a spear gun for dad and a hand spear for me. I am looking forward to have a go with my new spear ever since I set eyes on it. We are at great palm island and I are going to try out my new spear today. Dad and Zoe are going line fishing so I get my 5ml wet suit [...]

09 June 2016 | NE Bay, Great Palm Island

Freezing Fresh Water

When we anchored at Great Palm Island we thought that we would not stay long but we ended up staying 2 nights. It was paradise it had lots of coconut trees, a two kilometre long beach, a fresh water stream, a water fall, great fishing/spearfishing and some coral. The first thing that we did was we went [...]

I may have missed Lady E, but I didn't miss this...

01 May 2016 | tranist to Lady Elliot
James Pearson
There was a rumble at 6:30 this morning as we weighed anchor. The sound of the motors roaring away as we departed Fraser Island. It would take 8-10 hours (hopefully) to get to Lady Musgrave, we would pass by Lady Elliot Island and possibly stay there for the night if it wasn't too rocky. Eventually I wake up and stagger towards the stairs on the port side which leads up to the top deck. The first thing I see is my father at the helm (steering wheel). Then I sit down and watch the grey outline of Fraser Island fade away. As exciting as it is listening to my drowsy morning I have a more engaging story to tell.

My story to tell is about a certain pod of short-finned pilot whales. They chose to appear when there was no land in site. When we sighted these whales we thought they were some type of (big) dolphin. There were about 15 or so whales and a couple of calves. The whales where on average 1/4 of our boat (8f). But some of the larger whales were around 1/3-1/2 (11f-16f) of the length of our boat. The performance was extraordinary and it went on for about 20-30min (YAY!). This performance consisted of the whales jumping maybe 1m-5m out of the water and landing with a splash, the spray from the landing created rainbows, the same effect of rainbows was created also by tail smacks. I was disappointed when the show was over but still my brain was fuzzing with the beauty of these animals.

So I decided to have a nana nap in my cosy cabin. OH, I missed Lady Elliot Island altogether. I can't even see it. But what I can see is pretty much what I saw before, sea and sky. After lunch we put out the spinnaker (a massive sail used for down wind sailing). We gained about 2-3 knots of speed when it was up. I am not going to bore you with turning a wheel for hours on end so------------------We arrived at Lady Musgrave Island! (4pm arrival after 12hours sailing).
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Bay Dolphin's Photos - Main
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Photos of our preparation for the trip
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