Cape Flattery
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Sat 13 Jul 2019 12:01
Sailing up the Queensland Coast, when in the right frame of mind, offers some of the most interesting cruising possible. It is the only place in the world where two World Heritage sites meet. These are the Great Barrier Reef and the Queensland Tropical Rainforest. On your left is the steep forested escarpment that sharply rises up to a plateau and mountains. At 180 million years old, the forest is considerably older than the Amazon rainforest and contains the worlds best living record of the major stages in the evolutionary history of the worlds land plants (Wikipedia). It used to cover all of Australia but is now down to around 3%. To your right is the Great Barrier Reef all the way north from Bundaberg. The reef includes wooded islands that were, until the end of the last ice age, part of the mainland. Sea level rise left the hills and mountains as islands, around which coral has formed. Most of the outer reef is coral reef and sand cays that have formed in the relatively shallow water, the seabed beyond plunging precipitously to several thousand metres depth.
From Cooktown northwards the forested mountains recede inland leaving a flattish coastal plain that, apart from some rocky hills along the coast in places, seems to be scrub covered blindingly white silica sand. At cape York the low cliffs become dark orange brown hematite, the source of a great deal of iron ore.
Sailing up the coast is dominated by the trade wind that rarely seems to blow at less than 20kts. This makes for great passage making but can make anchoring overnight a problem. The number of secure or comfortable anchorages is limited but with careful planning and one or two long days the passage can be completed in day hops. Another important fact is that the flood (incoming) tide runs to the north, the ebb to the south. Generally sailing will be more comfortable going with wind and tide. With an ebb tide the wind against tide produces bigger waves and more rolling, although the reef ensures there is never an ocean swell. At night the wind often drops but there may still be wave swell in some of the less sheltered anchorages although we have not found this to be a problem. If it is really calm (ie no wind) you can anchor up behind one of the outer reefs where you can be protected from the incoming ocean swell.
Given our timescale and the fact that we spent so long in marinas between Bundaberg and Cairns we found it necessary to do a couple of overnight sails and make less stops in order to ensure we arrived in Horn Island by 10th July. Many choose to do the same but given the prevalence of reefs, islands and shallows (much of the water we have been sailing in has been less than 20m depth - normally anchoring depth!) you need to have faith in your plotter and weather forecast. There are defined shipping routes that all the cargo ships follow that are the equivalent of shipping lanes but, surprisingly are advisory, not mandatory. However, there are certain classes of vessel that must use them (towing or limited manoeuvrability) and any vessel with a cargo that could damage the reef must have a pilot. This seems to apply to ships carrying livestock but I am not sure if this is for the benefit of the reef or the livestock. We know this because Annie called up one livestock carrier to ask about the trade and spoke to the pilot on board. Both were commendably restrained and diplomatic.
I digress. The shipping lanes are well lit and follow the deeper water and so are the way to go at night. Notwithstanding their advisory nature the International Collision Regulations apply and therefore it makes sense to treat them as shipping lanes and to run up just outside wherever possible. Not all see it this way and we watched one yacht go up the “wrong” side of the lane against the flow of traffic, causing one amazingly obliging cargo ship to overtake and cut a corner in the wrong lane!! Just for good measure a tug towing a barge 400m behind it was forced out of the shipping lanes in order to pass the yacht port side to port side. Absolutely mind boggling!! One captain suggested to the yacht that it was “not mandatory” for a yacht to be in the shipping lanes - the hint wasn’t taken. The great benefit of sailing near, along or across shipping lanes at night is that it keeps you awake, alert and is great fun. We call up each approaching ship to confirm our respective intentions and nearly always receive a courteous and friendly response. It makes us feel like proper seafarers.
And so, you may ask, what has all this got to do with Cape Flattery? Well, Cape Flattery proved to be a wonderful overnight anchorage to break up the trip from Cooktown to Lizard Island. We set the alarm for a very early start from Cooktown, intending to sail direct to Lizard Island. On waking we wasted an hour while I cogitated about whether we would get there in daylight and whether I really wanted to make the trip that day. Then it occurred to me that we could stop over at Cape Flattery, 15nm short of Lizard Island, have plenty of time to get there in daylight and be reasonably assured of a good anchorage. And so it proved. Also, while we rested in a beautiful wooded bay with white sand beach, in the next bay is a large opencast silica sand mine run on Aborigininal land and providing employment for the aboriginal community there.