Unable to encourage The Bloke to traverse ‘The Narrows’ between Curtis Island and the mainland on previous trips up and down the coast, this route emerged as s handy way to ‘steal a base’ while the wind blew from the wrong direction relative to our desired direction of travel. Perfect. No need to nag or plead.
Dramatic sky to accompany our departure
Islands being left behind
Our night anchorage at Sea Hill Point ahead of our cross-country run the next morning.
Having spent almost 3 months at Great Keppel Island and beginning to wonder just when we should head south, the decision to leave was made swiftly by an urgent recall to Brisbane. Three days of northerlies were presenting and the timing couldn’t be better. They were coinciding with spring tides.
In case you're wondering about the significance of tides from the comfort of an armchair, for the route between the mainland and Curtis Island you actually travel over a cattle crossing. Yes, you read that correctly. A cattle crossing. At low tide cattle can amble across where we will float our boat with a 1.6m keel depth!
Joining a conga line of boats also intending to traverse The Narrows.
Muddy water.
The yellow boat track is hard to see because it's cross country
The cattle crossing gates on either side
Low depth alert!!!
And right at the very narrowest part we encountered a power boat.
Weirdly, we knew this boat too. Is was Mark Goodall on XS!
You don't want to miss a single marker.
The Bloke concentrating deeply. The gesture is just a reflex he says.
We completed the passage and popped out just north of the industrial port of Gladstone where we anchored for the night in Graham Creek just out of sight of the gas hub, noise and illumination. Note to self for any future visits: the mozzies there fly with a co-pilot!
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