Coombe to Dunk ... and almost dunked

 

  

It was time to leave the small coral beach of Coombe and paddle the 12km crossing to Dunk Island. The forecast and actual conditions were the same so it was a couple of hours of heart in the mouth paddling in the 25kts of wind and 2 metre seas that were short, choppy and occasionally breaking. At one point I found myself chest deep in water looking down the face of a steep 2 metre wave ..... for me, that was a challenge. The boat performed well and I coped with the conditions while Sea Mongrel was enjoying the change from calm seas for the first time on this trip.

Unfortunately, the video below doesn't capture the more challenging nature of the paddle.

19km crossing to Coombe Island

 

Another perfect paddling day for the 19km crossing from Hinchinbrook Island to Coombe Island in the Family Group of islands. There were hopes of seeing Migalu (the white whale) as it had been spotted in the area in the last couple of days, however no whales were sighted today.

Video by Sea Mongrel

Cape Richards

 

The beach at Cape Richards was a great spot with the added bonus of a resort swimming pool up amongst the trees. The exclusive Eco Resort had been closed for 8 months but had a caretaker maintaining the pool and grounds before it opens again next year with $500 a night rooms.

My sleeping quarters weren't too bad though  ;-)

Rock or turtle ... that is the question

Sunset Beach - Some people thought that a turtle was a rock and had to watch it for hours before agreeing that the fact that it kept appearing and disappearing in different locations could possibly mean that it was a turtle ..... maybe.  :-?

Blacksand & Sandwich

 

(click on images for larger view) 

Stopping in at Blacksand Beach on the way north, Nina Peak climbs out of the forest as if to bid us farewell.

 

The 9km paddle up Ramsay Bay was on totally glassy aquamarine water. Here KK and Jen round Cape Sandwich before heading to Sunset Beach. The complete lack of swell allowed us to get up close and personal with the rocks.

The beach, the view, the paradise

Nina Beach with Nina Peak in the background. Our camp was amongst the coconut palms .... this certainly is paradise.

This is the late afternoon view looking south along the Hinchinbrook coast from whence we came. The weather .... beautiful one day, perfect the next ....  and the next, and next and next

Nina Bay

The conditions remained perfect with little to no wind for our paddle around to Nina Bay. Many turtles, fish and stingrays were seen.

Zoe snorkeling

Coral reefs aren't the only place you can snorkel, in fact the pool at the base of Zoe Falls was a great spot including fish that loved to come close.

Zoe Bay

It was time to move into croc territory again and the creeks at either end of Zoe Bay are perfect habitat for them. We gingerly got out of the kayaks and kept our distance from the waters edge. Plenty of barra but no crocs to be seen.

Mulligan's Falls

(click on image for larger version)

One of the reasons for spending two nights at Sunken Reef Bay was to take a day trip up to Mulligan's Falls. The water was great and the fish enjoyed watching us swimming.

No crocs, no sharks, no worries

This was the first night's camp of a 12 day trip to Hinchinbrook Island and its northern neighbours. An amazing trip with fabulous weather.

Who doesn't love dolphins

Dolphins just love to play ... here are a couple surfing a bow wave today. Truly great fun.

Whale time.

This time I wasn't watching the whale from my kayak ... it was a day cruise off the Sunshine Coast to watch some of the passing whale traffic as they headed up north to calf. This encounter was with two females who at one point decided to come up to us in the boat and swim under, coming up on the other side less that 10m away. Unfortunately no photo of that ... just the memory.

Perhaps my next whale encounter will be of the kayak kind. :-)