On leaving Flora Reef, we had intended to go to the neighboring Maori Reef, about 3 nm to the northeast. However, when we studied the position of Lynne’s GPS waypoint on the satellite photo, the anchorage did not look very easy or safe to get to as there were many shallow bommies around it. It also looked unlikely that there would be room for all three boats. We identified another possible area at the south end of the reef, but again we were not sure if it was big enough for all of us.

Given that it would be an hour’s detour to go and look at it, we decided to press on and go straight to Sudbury Cay, where Randall and I had enjoyed two great snorkels in very calm and clear conditions last year. If this was repeated, we were all quite enthusiastic about the idea of spending both Monday and Tuesday nights in the same place. With the southeast trade winds forecast to return on Wednesday and to be quite stiff on Thursday, we were all planning to head into Cairns by then.



A Clark’s anemonefish (to 12 cm or 5 inches) that came surprisingly close to my camera

In fact, even on Monday morning (2nd August) the southeasterly wind was starting to increase. This allowed us to sail part of the 20 nm trip northwest to Sudbury Cay but with the dinghy and outboard suspended on the starboard side of Tregoning’s bow, we had to motor when the wind was coming from the port side. Last year, we had used one of the two public moorings just north of the sand cay and we remembered that, being a weekend, there had been many trailer-boats anchored in the area. So when we arrived last and found that Mischief and Symphony II had been able to use the moorings, we assumed that there would be plenty of room to anchor.

Unfortunately, the water was quite choppy and nothing like as clear as last year, so we could not see the state of the bottom in the deeper water near the moorings. It soon dawned on us, that the trailer-boats we had seen would have all been anchored in sand nearer to the cay and in much shallower conditions than we could tolerate. They were also mostly to the west of the public moorings, which in these conditions was going to be more exposed to the wind waves.



A juvenile spotted parrotfish (juveniles to 9 cm or 3.5 inches) with its bright orange eye

There was one large private mooring that was tempting but we did not want to risk the owners arriving when light conditions were even worse for anchoring or right when we were about to go snorkeling. So we used the tracking option on the depth sounder to see on the chart-plotter where the bottom appeared to be smooth, indicating a sand substrate rather than rock or coral. We spent about 30 minutes going in circles until we were fairly confident that we had identified a large enough circle of sand at a depth of about 18 m (60 feet), to the east of the public moorings. It was a salutary lesson to pay more attention to potential anchoring areas even when able to use a public mooring.

Having realized that the water was not clear enough for a satisfactory snorkel on the deeper fingers of reef (which had been the most interesting area before), we decided to snorkel in the shallows north of the cay. We found ourselves swimming mostly over soft corals with small fish. I recorded 85 species in 70 minutes which was quite pleasing but I was a little disappointed that we had seen no fish species that were new to us since we left Beaver Reef. Still, between the cuttlefish, sea squirts, and cowries we had identified several invertebrates that were new to us so that was satisfying.



Randall in his wetsuit and sun-protection-buff prior to snorkeling, with Sudbury Cay beyond

We gathered for snacks and drinks aboard Mischief that evening but in the choppy conditions we decided not to bother with the musical instruments, so Jamie would have to wait a little longer for our next rendition of “These Boots...” Lynne and Andrew had not snorkeled that afternoon but planned go in the next day. However, once they heard how disappointed Sue and Graeme had been with the choppy, cloudy conditions, and that we were not enthused about making a second snorkel at Sudbury, our plans changed. Instead of staying for two nights, we would press on the next day to Fitzroy Island.



It was not all soft corals at Sudbury Cay - a particularly noticeable patch of a staghorn coral, the tips of which looked to me like elongate pinecones

This would also allow us to be reunited with SV Curried Oats. Anita had sent a text saying that they were having major problems with their electrical system, so after spending the night at Howie Reef, they would also go to Fitzroy Island before heading into Cairns Marlin Marina on Wednesday. We sent them the GPS waypoint for our anchorage at Howie Reef and wished them well. It was not a very calm night at Sudbury Reef, so even though we had probably had our last snorkel for a while, it was not difficult to decide to leave the next day after all.