Photo shows Sundari anchored in the lee of North West Island, a coral cay.

We are anchored off the northernmost of the Capricornia Cays in the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef, North West Island. The island, the second largest coral cay on the Barrier Reef is about 40nm from the mainland, north of Gladstone.



Approaching North West Island, the beach surrounding the cay and the Pisonia forest.

The Great Barrier Reef, despite the name, is not a uniform linear barrier like the one in New Caledonia or Papua New Guinea. It is comprised of a large number of disconnected reefs and islands. Most of the islands are continental in character, i.e. bits of the mainland that were surrounded by sea after the last sea level rise. Despite their origin, most have surrounding fringing coral reefs.

The Capricornia Cays are somewhat different as they are made up of sand that has accumulated on a series of reef patches growing on a large offshore bank. Most of the cays (there are around 7 of them) have a special type of Pisonia forest on them. Further north, there are some similar cays near Cairns, while many of the cays even further north towards the Torres Strait, have mangroves growing on them rather than Pisonia.

We have had mostly lovely weather, a bit windy and cool in the morning, but in the afternoons, calm and sunny. The cay, like most of its type, is surrounded by a coral platform, the reef flat, which is exposed at low tide and hard to access from the sea.

At high tide, we could spot sharks, rays and turtles in the shallows patrolling the shallow top of the reef. Black noddy terns nest here in their tens of thousands as do wedge tailed shearwaters (muttonbirds).

The noddies nest in the Pisonia branches, while the shearwaters burrow into the soft, sandy soil. Neither are nesting at the moment - it's a summer thing - but there are still plenty of noddies, who fly away from their treetop roosts at dawn and return just before dark. Few shearwaters are still here, as most migrate to other parts of the pacific in winter, but one disoriented shearwater flew into our cockpit after dark and stayed there all night!



Wildlife in and around NW Island:
white bellied sea eagle, oystercatcher
black noddy terns, wedgetailed shearwater
watch out for sharks, turtle in the shallows

We are off to the Keppel Islands tomorrow and heading north towards the Whitsundays after the next bout of strong winds, expected to last from Monday to Wednesday next week.