G'day all,
Just returned from a week long trip out to the Percy Group of Islands ex. Stanage Bay. It was myself, the missus, 10 year old daughter and a mate of mine in my 6m half cabin plate boat.
We lucked out with the conditions seeing mostly 3 to 5 knot winds the first few days then some mild 10 knot days to round it out. Coupled with less than 0.5m swell the whole time it's fair to say we absolutely scored.
The road to Stanage Bay from the highway was really quite smooth on the way in. Seemed it had been graded quite recently with only a few areas of corrugation. Still, I opted to cover the trailer bed in shade cloth, wrap the outboard in plastic and attach corflute to the hull to minimise damage (along with the Stone Deflectors).
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The drive out however was a different story. Plenty of corrugations and a few new holes to contend with. If I could offer advice it'd be drive to the conditions and double check all nuts, bolts and fasteners on the trailer (and re-check halfway). We lost the spare wheel at around the halfway point but luckily I heard it go and was able to retreive relatively undamaged.
Plumtree camp grounds are awesome. Plently of space to drag a boat or trailer in to. Just remember to bring your own water and firewood. Fuel, ice & bait is available at the store. They also run the pub and do a bloody good feed.
The boat ramp at Stanage is as good as any you'd hope to see. Double lane with a new(ish) pontoon running the length. If the ramp parking is full, there's plenty of space at the camp grounds.
We didn't do any fishing around Thirsty Sound as we headed offshore for this trip.
We left on the high tide Sunday morning and set course for High Peak Island, 70km ENE of the ramp with barely a puff of wind.
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Got to the island and set up camp then went for a quick shore dive to secure lunch & dinner.
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Day 2 saw an even better weather forecast so we set a course for Paul Reef which is around 70km NNE of the island. As with most of the GBR, photos really don't do it justice but you'll get the idea.
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Spent the whole day diving and flicking lures to get a bit of colour in the esky. Spanish Mackerel, Coral Trout, Black Spot Tuskfish & Red Throat Emperor all came over the side. While we could have bagged out on most species we only took what we felt we'd need for the freezer at home. This is what I believe makes spearfishing so good. Being able to select exactly what comes in to the boat and not having to worry about a healthy release of an undersized or over bag limit species. Don't get me wrong, I love line fishing also but in this respect the two methods can't be compared.
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The remaining days were spent much like this. Exploring new ground, flicking lures for catch & release fun and just enjoying no phones, emails or work. We moved on to Hexham Island for the final night as the wether looked like it could turn so we wanted to be a bit closer to land. Thankfully it held out so we spent the day diving and fishing the fringe of the island.
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This chain of islands has so much to offer and well worth a trip if you can make it work. Obviously weather plays a big part in the enjoyment of the time and clearly we lucked out in this time. We have roughly a 50% strike rate when it comes to good weather on our trips so we make the most of the good days. Having a semi-remote tropical paradise to yourself just cannot be beaten in my opinion. Sure, it takes a little more planning to do comfortably but it is definitely not out of reach by any stretch.
In the end we did 1600km by road (ex Brisbane) and 350km by sea.
I put 230 litres of fuel through the 3 cylinder Gen 2 Etec 150HP. I am still blown away by the performance and efficiency of this engine. It's now done 350 hours and hasn't missed a beat since new.
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Now I'm back at work and already thinking about planning the next trip.......
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happy days ahead summer is coming
