Remarkable Wilderness

First of all the Captain has caught 7 Mud Crabs!!!  News and pictures below.

Last night and the previous day we anchored amongst the mangroves in one of the most awe-inspiring & stunning places I've ever been to or seen - The Hinchinbrook Channel.  The past couple of days have been full on and, just like I said in my last post, just getting better and better. 

The exhibit pool at the James Cook University Research Lab on Orpheus Island .. with Haley, the unit manager and our tour guide.

On Saturday morning all 7 of us from 3 boats went over to visit and have a tour of the Research facilities in Little Pioneer Bay.  The tour was really interesting.  Haley, the manager, met us on the beach and was very generous with her time and information.  I don't think they get a lot of passing boats making contact - the opportunity was outlined in the guide book "Going Troppo" - and, at the Captain's suggestion, I called and asked if we could come over.  She was very welcoming.  Haley showed us around and talked us through how the facility works.  They cater to many people from School Groups over for a weekend to PhD students working on their thesis.  There are also qualified PhD researchers from all over the world who come there to study the reef.  There was a woman scientist there who is studying sponges and, in that area alone, has discovered and identified over 30 new species.

The view from the front of the research facility... beautiful but very isolated.  Hayley told us about the cyclone damage and tornado damage the place has had to endure over the past few years.  They don't get a lot of funding but they are adding much to our knowledge of reefs & oceans from their small lab.

On Saturday night we hosted sundowner drinks on 'Southern Belle'.  'Echo Beach' with Graham and Leanne arrived just in time for a terrific night.  The next morning 'Southern Belle', 'Whimaway' and 'Bogart' said goodbye to 'Echo Beach' who are staying around the Orpheus area and left for the crossing to the Hinchinbrook Channel.

The "gang" on board for drinks and conversation.  I love these sessions!

I've been on the boat for well over a month now - 7 weeks actually - and we've been through lots of different conditions.  Some challenging and some idyllic.  But the mornings when we get up early to prepare for a new day and a new destination - especially if that destination or journey means doing something that may be remotely challenging - I get a bad case of butterflies in my stomach.  I felt that way Sunday morning as we prepared to enter the Hinchinbrook Channel.   The route into the mouth of the channel is very shallow and to enter a vessel has to navigate off and along a massive sugar jetty/conveyor and then when lead lights are aligned turn and keep on a specific steering course until almost to the conveyor building.  Underway the depths got down to just over a metre of water under the keel ... but we made it.

The ocean end of the sugar jetty.  The jetty travels out into the ocean from the town of Lucinda for over 3 kilometres - in fact it had to be altered at the end to make allowances for the curvature of the earth!  Ships use this to load up with bulk sugar. 

Again, the Captain and I had no idea or expectation about The Hinchinbrook Channel and again we were completely knocked out by the majestic size and vision of the place.   The Channel runs between Hinchinbrook Island - which is HUGE and covered with rain forest jungles - and the mainland.

This is the view as the boat finally clears the channel markers and enters the channel proper... vast and completely wild.

Of course in keeping with all expectations of the wild and somewhat deadly Australia there are saltwater estuarine crocodiles here (the massive ones that eat anything they like including people).  We didn't see any but it sure looked like snake and croc country!

Our first anchorage - with Ian and Sharon from 'Bogart' - was off a little island called Haycock Island which lies right in the middle of the channel.   Turns out this it was a good call to stop there for the night because the crew of 'Whimaway' travelled on up the channel to Gayundah Creek and fought off mosquitoes and sand flies all night.

It was here - at Haycock Island - that Captain G caught his first mud crab!!!!  And then caught 6 more over night!!!

Captain G and Ian motoring off into the mangroves to set the crab traps.

We went over to have drinks with Ian and Sharon after the first poor crab was in the pot and cooked.  The captain reset the traps and left them overnight.  The next morning - very early the next morning - he was up and off to the mangroves on his own to check on them.  I wondered if he was going to encounter a croc but there was absolutely no stopping him or getting him to wait until Ian was up to check them with him.  He was gone awhile.  Then I heard the sound of the outboard and saw him coming around the bend with the traps on the front of the dingy.  He had another 6.

Intrepid hunter back home with his prey!

Getting the crabs out of the traps and sorting on the deck.  One was a female and two were smaller than regulation size so they had to go back and one got away over the side before the Captain could catch it!  But the two remaining were BIG and were marked for dinner for 4 that night.

The Captain was so happy and pleased with himself .. and I don't blame him ... the crabs were magnificent and delicious.  'Southern Belle' and 'Bogart' moved up the channel - amongst spectacular scenery - to an anchorage called Scraggy Point for the night.  Ian and Sharon came over for a dinner of fresh crab spaghetti and salad - SO GOOD - and Sharon made a peach cobbler for desert - EXCELLENT!   Good wine, good friends and fresh caught food from the sea....doesn't get much better!

This morning the Skipper caught another crab at Scraggy Point - he's sure he is an expert at this now.  Once the traps were loaded on board the two boats pulled up the anchor and travelled to the beautiful Dunk Island.  We'll be here for a day or two.

Here's another photo of the breathtaking Hinchinbrook Channel.

'Bogart' motoring ahead of us into Gayundah Creek.