Well - lets just say that my Whitsundays trip was memorable in so many ways - sometimes for the good & sometimes for the bad ……. If anything it made me take stock & think of my future trips to NQ.We left Sydney as planned (5am Christmas day) got through the Border ok with no cars ahead & proceeded to our overnighter at Caliguel lagoon (Condamine) - lovely spot Caliguel lagoon.jpg . Up early & proceeded to Airlie beach along the way meeting a torrential downpour which lasted overnight & into the morning .
Monday saw the start of the dramas - I left the trundle drawer opened when we left for the boat ramp only to see the damage as we pulled into a garage for fuelling. 2 hours were lost trying to remove the drawer ( the damage may run into several thousands if not requiring a whole new tray).
Taking a deep breath we headed over to Naris beach (at least the rain stopped) - we set up camp camp.jpg & later decided in perfect conditions to go & have a fish at a nearby shoal . I didn’t really fish but my young bloke was blown away by at least 3 fish that he couldn’t stop on 40lb ….. no fish landed but a really nice evening.serenity.jpg
Over the next couple of days we did some exploring / snorkelling & a trip to Hammo for our day 5 covid test (thankfully that was no longer a requirement). We did have one afternoon fishing session at an islet near Edward Island where the fishing was hot - once again I didn’t fish much (helping my young bloke) but he managed to get the runs on the board with a really nice trout & a leaping Spanish mackerel Jakes 1st trout .jpg…Jakes 1st mackerel.jpg… enough fish for us for the next week . There were lots of bite offs , bust offs & when I did manage to get a line in – I destroyed a very nice rod when what I assume was a GT took a sharp dive breaking the rod just above the foregrip . It was a surprise considering that I was only fishing maybe 4-5kg of drag (Daiwa Certate 4000) … we’ll have to see what Mr Miller says.
We did get hit by some heavy rains & winds just before New Year ….. a lot of rain actually which has certainly made me think about adding a auto bilge pump - it’s not nice getting up at 3am in pissing rain to haul the boat in & run the bilge pump. ( did that a few times over a couple of nights). Still managed to do stuff - snorkel around Butterfly bay & out to Border Island which was pretty good till the spring tides & wind change to the NW reduced visibility .
We did get out to Black reef for a day Black reef.jpg– did some more snorkelling … plus fished the reef flats getting a few red throat & grassies on subsurface lures (Westin swims) . Managed to get some lovely squid too. Then while my young bloke snorkelled the reefs edge I did some bottom fishing getting plenty of small trout , the odd red throat , Spanish flag etc …. Nothing to write home about but it was a good feed for the next few nights.
The pain in the bum was dealing with the wind direction change to the NW – specially on the spring tides at 0.3m . The continual loop anchoring 120m of rope worked for the majority of the trip but the last 3 nights I had to drop the boat on the sand …. No big deal though it just meant later starts .
The woes did continue – the 3D transducer was ripped off its mount ( pulled screws) so I had to tie that thing off for half the trip . A second transducer was damaged on the falling tide .
Oh & while the march flies were pretty well absent – I got smashed by sandflies …. Specially getting up in the middle of the night to adjust the boat ( I should have used the Bushmans) .
The last day we attempted to get out to bait reef on a 10-15knt NW - we made it … but holy hell . It was still an hour to the top of the tide & there was the best part of 1.2 m of swell coming over the reef .. it was ugly & sitting on the public mooring was dangerous with the odd greenie coming over the bow . I made the decision to get out of there rather than wait it out for 3 hrs plus – but even exiting the reef was akin to a bad bar crossing on a run out tide …... we headed back to snorkel the Manta ray bay area & give George the Māori wrasse the remainder of the bait / squid we had . He is a magnificent fish & very friendly . It was also pretty cool hand feeding a particular black GT which was like feeding a pit bull (except that it too slowed down & put its head out of the water like George waiting for a feed.GT.jpgGeorge the Wrasse.jpg
Next morning was pack up - talk about sweat ….. as the boat was still sitting on the sand we loaded all the heavy stuff - once the tide came in it was pull the anchor in then nose the boat into the beach to pick up the last of the gear & young bloke (easier said than done with ½ m waves & a 15knt NW wind . Back to Airlie & on the road by 12pm heading to Rockhampton for our motel then the 18 hr drive back to Penrith
Now the clean up & repairs .
As mentioned earlier - I’ve come to the conclusion that these trips are no longer for me (not the island camping anyway) . It’s a lot of gear to take (specially in 1 trip) . Dealing with fringing reef & low tides .. nahtides.jpg . Running generators to charge batteries for the leccy & fridge / camp every day is a chore. Most of all the benefit (other than isolation) just doesn’t justify it – not if the reef is your target destination. Yes you can get some good fishing nearby but this trip was more about my young blokes passion for reef snorkelling(coral & fish) ….. so my fishing took a back seat - I could have thrown topwater on numerous occasions but didn’t - I’ll leave that when I’ve got another fishoe with me. It was still a great trip with my young bloke & I know he had a ball .
Chris
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Originally Posted by Kev_McC
