THe Capricorn Group & GKI

The small string of reefs off the coast of Gladstone is sometimes called The Capricorn Group and is the start of The Great Barrier Reef. ​The southern most of those, Lady Musgrave Island is a 14 hectare coral cay on The Great Barrier Reef, with a 1,200 hectare surrounding reef. The reef forms a large kidney-shaped lagoon which is easy to enter by boat and provides a very spacious anchorage. Our route through these four reefs/islands is shown below.

We departed early from Burnett Heads to track due north for 54nm to reach the Lady Musgrave Island (LMI) mid-afternoon. The ABF spotter plan does a flyover of the route to LMI and calls a few boats including ITIKI for an identification check. Similar to our time in the Tuamotus, we want to arrive with the sun still reasonably high overhead so that we have good visibility on the entrance channel into the reef, and on any bommies lurking under the surface. With very little wind we sadly have to motor all of the way, arriving around 3pm. The “cut” or entrance channel is well marked and fairly wide and the tide is rising (ie going in), which makes for an easy entrance. Still as you can see from the picture the water is swirling through the narrow channel. There are a lot of yachts already here, as well as a permanent floating platform for one of the tour companies. There is plenty of room though and we find a nice patch of sand to drop the anchor, around the middle of the kidney, and relax for the afternoon.

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Starboard marker, reef entrance

Tiny Island, big reef!

Sunday we head over to the island in the dinghy and go for a walk ashore. There is a discovery path weaving its way through the island and we can see some ground birds, the Buff Banded Rail, as well as shearwater burrows. This island is a favoured spot for turtles to nest and while we can see some empty nests, and even turtle tracks leading down to the beach, the baby turtles are long gone. We do a lap of the island before heading back to the boat. There is not much else to do here, as the snorkelling did not look too good, but it is lovely to be swimming off the back of the boat again, in crystal clear water. In the afternoon a guy comes over in a dinghy offering us some fish. He has speared a large Spanish Mackeral and doesn’t have room for it in his fridge so gives us a huge chunk. We hack a couple of cutlets for dinner and it is delicious. As we are really rubbish at fishing, and have completely given up anyway, some fresh seafood is greatly appreciated. We have fish for the next couple of days and there is still another portion in the freezer!

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Easiest fishing ever!

Fitzroy Reef  - between a rock and a hard place

Fitzroy Reef

Tuesday we decide to head across to Fitzroy Reef. It’s a tiny coral atoll, about 2000 acres, with a very narrow and challenging entrance. There is no island here at all, only reef and low tide the coral reef is fully exposed and you can see just how narrow the channel is. It’s not charted but there are a couple of markers on the entrance. We arrive right on low tide, however the water is still rushing out of the narrow channel quite quickly, running at 3-4kts against us. All the water that comes into this lagoon over the top of the reef at high tide, only has one small exit as the tide falls and this is it! As we line up to go through I hit the panic button as a wave exposes a shallowish rock off our starboard bow. It looked like the passage would be too narrow for us, but after backing up a bit (and a few "gently heated” words) our skipper judged we would make it through  - between a rock and a hard place! It was fairly hairy as the passage must have been about 10m wide (and we are 7.5m wide) so not a lot of wriggle room. At least going out we will have our inbound track to follow.

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Ugly, but strong (the buoy I mean...)

We take one of the three public mooring buoys, which is heavily encrusted with growth. We are the only ones here. Once the tide comes in the reef is completely invisible and you feel like you are sitting in the middle of the ocean! Of course there is no wind protection at all and at high tide, no  protection from the swell either so it gets pretty uncomfortable. Overnight we have a front go through and wind gusts up to 34kts, which is lucky because the buoys are only rated to 34kts... We are safe on the buoy but it is noisy and uncomfortable as we bounce around, creaking and jerking, waiting for the tide to go down so that the reef would give us some protection from the swell. The next morning we consider leaving on the high tide as we are feeling a bit cranky, but it’s still blowing some and with considerable swell so we decide to stay on. The wind abates by the early afternoon and the sun comes out so we go exploring. The sea life and coral here are supposed to be spectacular, which is why we came. However as we scout around the bommies in the middle of the cay, all we can see is 50 shades of brown. A lot of dead coral and no sign of any fish or rays. Not sure if this is what we have to look forward to thanks to climate change. We have a calmer night and a much better night sleep, although we can tell when the tide is high as we bounce about for a few hours.

Below: Check out our Dramatic entrance 

​We leave on the high tide at mid-morning and it is a much less stressful transit. Very strange though as the reef is not visible at all so you are totally reliant on following the inbound track (saved on the chart plotter), three channel markers and a very nervous lookout on the bow.
 
It’s only a short (17nm) hop across to Heron Island and we pull out a headsail and motor sail, picking up a mooring at Wistari Reef. Heron Island has a private resort and a research facility, neither of which are open to visitors. It is possible to visit the small harbour, however the weather is fairly ordinary so we relax and enjoy the view. As with Fitzroy, Wistari Reef gives us some protection from the swell until the tide comes up and covers the reef, letting the waves through, and we start bouncing around. We get some squalls overnight but it’s not too uncomfortable.

Heron Island, as close as we can get...

An early start the next morning for the 58nm journey to Great Keppel Island (or Wop-pa). We hoist the main up in anticipation of the forecast 15kts, and it builds we unfurl the gennaker. Motors stay on most of the time as the wind is up and down and shifting a lot in direction, and we gybe the gennaker a few times. We have a few squalls pass over us and it pretty much rains the whole journey. Checking the chartplotter for any nasties along the route I came across an interesting find: A wreck is named after me! Yes the Linda Jane! Well that explains a few things...

​As we get closer to the island the winds builds and we have to furl the gennaker and go to the genoa. Better late than never I guess. We came close to reefing the genoa but eventually got into the lee of Great Keppel and were able to sail around the top and into the anchorage at Leekes Beach.

Get wrecked at Great Keppel!

​After a quick cuppa we head ashore in the dinghy, around the point to Putney Beach to go to the resort here. Not because we are desperate for a drink but – long story short – I accidentally almost ran out of my medication, not realising until we got to Lady Musgrave Island! After a bit of ringing around (thanks to StarLink) I could organise a pharmacy in Yeppoon to fill an e-script, deliver to the GKI ferry who would drop it at the resort reception. All for a $5 delivery fee! How good is that! There is no dinghy dock though so rather than pull our heavy dinghy up on the beach we decide to do a “touch and go” on the beach. I still have my wet weather gear and sea boots on, so what could possibly go wrong… Of course as I jump off the front of the dinghy I realise I have under-estimated the depth of the crystal clear water, immediately filling one seaboot, and to top it off the next incoming wave fills the other. I slosh my way through the resort to reception, looking like something the cat dragged in, and gratefully collect my package! After emptying my sea boots, squeezing out my socks, I squelch my way back through the resort to the beach. Keith has been bimbling around in the dinghy waiting my return and comes in to pick me up. As I am already wet I just wade straight in, refilling both boots. Somehow he has only managed to fill one of his seaboots when he dropped me off! We head back to ITIKI for a well-earned sundowner.

A rare moment without rain or our way to Keppel

​The following day is still cloudy and we get a few spits of rain, but decide to ignore the weather and take the SUPs ashore for a walk along our long and lovely beach.  Once we get to the end there is a creek leading into some mangroves, with a couple of boats tucked up amongst the trees. After lunch we come back in the dinghy to explore the Leekes Creek  and take a closer look at the boats moored there. One boat is inhabited and reasonably well loved, the other looks like it hasn’t been checked on for a while and at low tide it lies on its side. There are a few nooks and crannies in the creek that would make great boltholes for cyclones.

Leekes Creek

Skipper on the tools

Leekes Bay

I found out that the resort is hosting a “music festival” this afternoon, with a few local and cover bands from the mainland. We didn’t fancy stumping up $100 for a ticket, but decided to go and see (and hear) what we were missing. We could hear the sound check from ITIKI. We take the SUPs ashore again and there is a steep scramble, with a rope, up to top of the ridge. From there we can walk through the forest and down to Putney Beach and along past the resort where I came ashore yesterday. The dulcet tones of Status Quo give way to Elton Jack and we continue on to Fisherman’s Beach. Keith and I have both been here before, many, many years ago. Me as a backpacker in ’84, staying at a youth hostel on the island, and Keith about 30 years ago staying at a resort which is long since closed. We head back to ITIKI, have a swim from the boat, put Elton John on the stereo and pour a glass of wine. It’s been a busy day!