Mackay Reef Surprise Justine Porter
Looking back towards the mainland as Red flew away.
It’s cyclone season, however we decided to stay within the cyclone belt in Far North Queensland, Australia, to take advantage of the beautiful warm tropical days between storms. Not many sailors like to risk being up here, but we have a solid performance blue water catamaran, Shima, and a plan for any cyclonic weather. We lived in the territory for 20 years and are well accustomed to cyclones and the dangers, but also know it is a stunning and variable time of year with so much to offer the more adventurous sailors. The public moorings are generally vacant, and you can go out to stunning reefs and often have them to yourselves! On the downside, sometimes the variability of the winds swinging a full 360 degrees in a 24-hour period can make choosing anchorages challenging, and the lightning belts on ridges are often ferocious and something we fear more than the storms themselves. We chose to go out to Mackay Reef, a beautiful sand cay north of Port Douglas with stunning coral and plenty of fish to play
Red.
with whilst snorkelling, to sit out some stormy weather on the Great Barrier Reef. We like the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMPA) courtesy mooring buoys. They are well serviced, rated for up to 35 knots, and to us are preferable when the winds shift during these storms from the south east to north west. We enjoyed a day with our great friends on Sugar Baby, did some snorkelling in our fashionable ‘stinger suits’ (as this is also the deadly Irukandji jellyfish season) and then had sundowners on the sand cay. Three years ago, green sea turtles returned and started nesting here again. What a beautiful sight to see several piles of sand with huge tracks leading to their nests! To our dismay the high tide eroded a nest and we watched several eggs tumble out and Women Who Sail Australia 50
