The Route

I have always loved being outdoors and enjoying what our surroundings offer, you don't have to be scaling cliffs to get an appreciation of the outdoors, you just need to get out a bit at a time. We love getting out and doing all kinds of things, especially with friends. last summer we got a group together to kayak around Double Island, off Palm Cove which is a little North of Cairns. My wife and I do this from time to time, however we had some friends from Japan staying with us and thought it would be nice to take them around the island.

The Above shows the route we took, we launched the Kayaks on the right hand side of the jetty and made our way over Double Island Reef to the beach nearest the main land. We regrouped there and proceeded around the island to a cave situated on the Northern side of the island so our guests could check it out. From there we kayaked around and over to Haycock Island, where we rested and took a few pictures, one of our friends had a drone (refer footage below) that he was testing out, and the photos and videos were quite good.

To the left you can see a photo (courtesy of google) showing Double Island and Haycock Island from in front of the jetty with a map of how to get to the jetty from Williams Esplande. We arrived at the break of dawn and some great shot (which I can't find) of the sunrise, unloaded the ute and waited for the others to join. We were missing one kayak and the hire guys had already gone out, to get everyone around, we tied an inflatable dragon to my kayak to accommodate the last person. This sounded like a good plan in the beginning however it proved to be a shoulder work out and half by the end of it.

The Cave On Double Island

The cave we explored, is only accessible when the tide is low enough, it is in the order of ten to fifteen metres deep (at a guess) and has a beach of broken coral at the rear of the cave. You could fit maybe two kayaks across to enter (we entered one at a time) but inside has quite a lot of room, maybe four or five kayaks across.

Stalactites are forming on the ceiling and walls of the cave, which are made by soluble material in the rock being transported as a colloid in water running down the walls of the cave. As the water drips, some of the material falls out of suspension depositing on the walls or surface. This gradually builds up over time.

Haycock Island

We headed over to Haycock Island, by this time I was exhausted and needed to rest. We spent a bit of time there, climbing the rocks, taking some photos and watching the drone. I took a relaxing swim in the bay, if you look at the drone photo it is just above where I am swimming, the water was pretty clear that day. It was probably some of the best conditions for the kayak, no wind and a clear sunny day.

If you look closely at the overhead photo you might be able to see the inflatable dragon (white,grey & green) attatched to the back of my kayak.

Don't attach a inflatable anything to your kayak, if you have to go any distance. You'll regret it.
rezantroy

The Home Stretch

The way back traverses Haycock reef, it is quite shallow and common to see all sorts of sea life, including turtles. I have been told that you can get crays in there as well but I have never dived there to check (you also get sharks). I didn't see any turtles that day though.

Half way back I was stuffed and had to get a hand with my passanger, lucky one of the kayaks was a tandem and was able to sit her in the middle and get back fine. The paddle back was still difficult as the wind had picked up and the dragon acted like a sail.

If you ever get a chance to get up to Cairns, go checkout Palm Cove, after kayaking in the morning you can grab a coffee and some breakfast at any of the may restaurants and cafe's there, they are all pretty good.

My Current Quotes

I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.
Thomas Sowell

I chose this quote as I like Thomas Sowell and I have been thinking lately on the fairness of how the proceeds of our labour are spent, he also said:

Helping those who have been struck by unforeseeable misfortunes is fundamentally different from making dependency a way of life.
Thomas Sowell

Thanks for stopping by and having a read

Kayaking Double Island: Palm Cove

The Route

The Cave On Double Island

Haycock Island

The Home Stretch

My Current Quotes