We named Vellamo after Finland’s goddess of the sea. Sekkailu (sek- kai-lu) is Finnish for ‘adventure’ and Vellamo has certainly delivered plenty of sekkailu since she sailed out of Bundaberg back in July. When you think of cruising Queensland images of crystal clear water and endless sunny days might spring to mind. The reality for us was quite different as we made our way north from Bundaberg. Sailing along the Capricorn Coast we saw waters from muddy brown to milky teal green with kilometres of algal streams and much turbidity. It was only when we visited the outer islands and reefs much further up the coastline that the true Queensland tourist brochure views kicked in.
From Bundaberg we awaited a good window to travel to Lady Musgrave Island or ‘Wallaginji’ which literally translates to ‘beautiful reef’. It was our first foray to the outer reef and with 2.4m of lead hanging underneath, we were naturally cautious. The notorious entrance to Lady Musgrave is a daunting narrow channel that is possibly natural or much more likely the result of a few sticks of dynamite in the hands of some opportunistic fishermen. Once inside the natural lagoon offers some MSQ moorings, crystal clear water and ample anchoring in coral sand around eight metres deep. We were joined by Adelaide mates Sandy Higgins, Karen, Alex and Chelsea on their Beneteau Dark Horse but after a few days, with a 30+ knot front coming in, no vacant moorings and facing the possibility of dragging toward the reef, we decided not to push our luck, pointing Vellamo toward Gladstone instead.
Despite playing chicken with super tankers traversing the channel in the dark, Gladstone turned out to be a most pleasant surprise. The lovely marina, albeit surrounded by heavy industry, welcomes cruisers with helpful staff, great facilities and berthing at a reasonable price. Laundry rooms play an important part in social networking when you’re a cruiser and it was over a dryer load of sheets that I met Jill, and later her husband Pete, who cruise and live aboard their sloop Winifred. Pete and Jill were the first cruisers we met with E-Scooters on board and after a quick blast on theirs, Matt went straight online to buy one and it has proved to be a great addition to our inventory. Leaving Gladstone with the big four metre tides required to navigate the famous ‘Narrows’ shortcut still many days away, we sailed back down the shipping channel before heading north around Curtis Island.
As a cruiser in Queensland you hear a lot about Great Keppel Island. It’s literally a rite of passage up here. Some say that Great Keppel is a rolly anchorage but we didn’t find that to be the case on our visit. We spent a week hopping around to different beaches with Monkey Beach a favourite where we were joined by our mates on Dark Horse once again for a day of snorkelling and sundowners. The following day we discovered, along with at least 60 other boats, that Long Beach, just around the corner from Monkey, is just fabulous in a northerly blow. Across from Keppel it was back to the mainland coast where we were pleasantly surprised by the very picturesque Delcomyn Bay. We stayed only a night but have marked it as a return spot to explore. Continuing north through the Dukes Group we avoided Hummocky, choosing to plough on to better overnight anchorages at Marble and Curlew Islands. A long-time friend lives in Mackay and she was happy to take delivery of our packages including our new E-Scooter. With COVID shutting down Australia once again we got our first jab here and Matt completed repairs to the solar array and our aft head macerator while I cheered from the sidelines.
The Newry Islands on the other hand really don’t attract a lot of conversation or attention from cruising guides, however we rate ‘the Newrys’ as one of our favourite SE anchorages to date. It was also in the Newrys that Pete and Jill caught up with us. Vellamo and Winifred spent a couple of nights happily
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anchored in a deep sheltered hole just metres from shore while we all discovered great walking tracks and snippets of incredible history regarding a famous Australian movie star of old, Annette Kellerman.
From the Newrys, and after a quick return to Mackay, we dashed across to Brampton to shelter from a freshening northerly and investigated some snorkelling spots along the southern fringing reef. Matt found treasure here in the form of an anchor, chain and stainless swivel. Too small for us, we gifted the ‘Mooloolaba Pick’ to a young guy doing it tough on a small yacht. It was also at Brampton that Matt woke up one morning to witness a mother whale teaching her calf how to breach, blow and tail slap just a mile or so away. With the northerly easing we hopped up to Shaw Island to catch Sandy and Karen before they reluctantly made their way south to Bundaberg to put Dark Horse on the hard and fly back to Adelaide. We had made it to the Whitsundays!
At Airlie Beach we spent some time on the pick to relax and reprovision before a quick trip to Cid Harbor. After the obligatory climb up Whitsunday Peak it was back across to South Molle to rendezvous with Sam, Julie and the boys on Allusive once again. Having visited South Molle back in the 1980’s it was eerie to explore the ruins of the vibrant family resort from my memory. The shower rooms with cracked tiles, broken basins and decrepit cyclone-damaged buildings evoked scenes from a post-apocalyptic movie. I could not comprehend the cost of cleaning up the cyclone destruction however the impressive new jetty hints that plans are afoot to revive South Molle in coming years.
With a great weather window opening up we decided to head to the outer reef in company with Allusive via Butterfly Bay. The top of Hook Island is a good jump off point for the trip to Bait Reef, one of the more accessible reefs for those in the Whitsundays. At Bait we scuba-dived, snorkelled and enjoyed the surreal calm of hanging on a mooring ball in a seemingly endless flat calm ocean. As they say, this was exactly what was in the brochure! North of Airlie we caught up with Winifred at Woodwark Bay where Pete taught Matt the finer points of using a casting net. Mastering the cast is hilarious to watch and not so easy to do. With little help from either of us Pete hauled in hundreds of baitfish which promptly went on the hook back at the boat. We were soon hauling up Grassy Sweet Lips hand over fist, enough for a cook up and plenty for the freezer.
Gloucester Island was the next stop then Cape Upstart for a night before heading further north to Townsville and Magnetic Island. Exiting the Island passage, 100+ boats off the beach reminded us that the famous ‘Shaggers Rendezvous’ was underway. Too many rums the night before in Woodwark saw us decline invitations to join the legendary beach parties and after a solid sleep, we pressed on at first light to Townsville. Townsville’s Breakwater Marina is another favourite. It offers courtesy cars and close proximity to shopping, restaurants and the town centre. Dominating the skyline east of Townsville are the high peaks of Magnetic Island and it wasn’t long before we hopped over to Horseshoe Bay. Named appropriately, the bay provides shelter from the south easterlies and it’s a popular place until the northerlies begin to kick in. Here I counted 92 boats at anchor when we arrived, among them fellow CYCSA members Roger and Di aboard their lovely St Francis catamaran Spirit of Inyati. Horseshoe Bay is famous for (almost nightly!) sundowner sessions and, much like Great Keppel, it’s a social highlight stop for most cruisers during the season. North of Magnetic is the Palm Group of islands with Orpheous being the most popular stop. We had sailed among these islands last season with Pete Donovan and Paul Judge on
