Reply With QuoteYou guys weren;t at Lady Musgrave over Easter were you?
I'm thinking about taking the boat over to NW island early next eek for a couple of nights. Does anyone have any advice on beaching my 24ft cat on the sand? How much tide do you need to get over the fringing reef? what way do you approach the island to get the deepest water? I went over years ago but didnt beach the boat, from memory it as from the western side right on high tide. Any help would be appreciated.
You guys weren;t at Lady Musgrave over Easter were you?
Check with Kaypee about NW he 's been there a fair bit and we planning to all go there. Beaching I couldn t tell ya I'd still look at anchoring off and having a blow up or a kayak to go but give Mick a buzz he'll sort ya out
Jt
VHF CHANNEL 21
CALL SIGN : JT OR SC552(social club member)
There is a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot
I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges
Up here we Use Hussar as baits for real RED FISHS (SHSIIFDER)
Hey mate. We used to go over on the barge once a year and towed a 5.3 poly craft with us. You need a fair bit of tide to come and go. There is a slight channel that was blasted out of the reef in the guano mining days on the northwest side of the island. That's where the boats all come and go from. I've seen big glass boats laid down in the lagoon as it empties plenty of times but I'm not sure if I'd want to do it. The bottoms got a bit of rubble on it in most places and I don't know what that'd do to the gel coat. I must say I know very little about the properties of glass boats but I would assume it wouldn't be good for it.
In terms of fishing, if you want to keep the boat in the lagoon you will either have a window of a few hours or you will have to wait until the next high before you return.
Spider,
I'm hoping to take my big cat over there later in the year. Mine is 8.5m as well.
I've been there quite a few times but always with plate boats before. I've seen a 3000 Noosa cat in there and a couple of big shark cats so it is doable. Make sure you have a big enough sand anchor - it does get rough and boats have drifted. If you're worried take a shovel and dig your anchor in at low tide.
The bottom is rubbly sand with the odd bit of rock and coral. You can pick a good area and then if your worried dive down and remove all the bigger rocks, coral as the tied withdraws.
As for getting in and out - pick the larger tides to make your trip. We would normally be able to get in an out 2-3 hrs either side of high in the sml to med boats. I'd be planning to stay out for 12 hours if possible. Coming and going on the high - either that or a quick hour trip on the high would be it for the bigger glass boats.
Brett
Hey Spider Pig, I dont know what the lagoon is that the others are refering to but there was mention of lady muusgravee I think this is what they might be refering to as we spent 3 nights at North West just after Christmas and there isnt a lagoon there. I have a 7.4 Pacific sport fish supervee and we had a window of about 2 to 2.5 hours either side of High tide. There is a "Channel" however it looks like it is just the rocks have been removed from that section of the reef. There is a single pole on the edge of the reef and this marks the entrance to the de rocked channel. The beach dries out at low tide and it is sandy with bits of scattered coral there so you need to choosee your spot carefullyotherwise you will get pleanty of scratches. Awesome place and we cant wait to go back there.
What these guys have said mate...
The channel is on the NNW side. And yep.. look for the pole on the reef edge.
I've never taken mine in there and I've always anchored off the reef edge and rowed in, in a small inflatable. We sat out a fair storm there last year on the reef edge and I was lazy and only had the Mooloolabab Pick out and we dragged about 10m. So I wouldn't be too worried with a plough etc in normal conditions...
Enjoy.. Hopefully JTs M&G works out and we all end up out there next month.. should jump in on that too....
Hello
We are planning to drive up from Brisbane together with my son and spend a week or so visiting Lady Musgrave and Northwest Islands. We have booked camping sites for January 2019. We look forward to some boating, snorkelling, scuba, fishing and/or just plain relaxing.
We would need some good advise as to how to get to the islands, the ferry services are quite infrequent and do not match with our timetable 12-19 January.
Is there a possibility to getting a ride on a boat that would be heading towards the islands?
Are there boats on hire at reasonable cost or would it be too expensive or too dangerous for a non-local (Finland) to navigate to the islands?
Cheers
James MacGyver Bond
PS! what about stingers? Do we need to be concerned...
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