With 365 nautical miles to go to get to Thursday Island, our exit point from Australia, we sailed forth from Lizard Island via Ninian Bay to the Flinders Group.
Sailing north along the coastline of Cape York you see the many different landscapes of this part of Australia. We've seen the Daintree rainforest, the oldest rainforest in the world, meet the ocean. We've seen rolling hills of green followed by stark rock and boulder coastline. The Melville Ranges running parallel to the coast looks like a huge quarry mine. Gigantic mounds of purple tinged rocks, as if a giant hand had scooped up pebbles and dumped them on the ground in piles.
We've travelled in or next to the shipping lanes at different times on our sail north. It pays to keep a look out because those cargo ships are big boys.
What we saw
What our friends saw
Yacht Speakeasy with a stunning vista behind
A couple of days of sailing and we reached the tropical islands of the Flinders Group which has 4 islands in total. We anchored in Owen Channel in between the 2 biggest islands, Flinders and Stanley. We picked up a couple of extra yachts along the way so now we are 5, all of us on the rally to Indonesia.
Flinders Island offered us a fabulous little beach with a sand spit to bring the dinghies on shore. The perfect spot for sundowners and BBQs and sunsets. Every evening. For 3 days. There were oysters waiting to be harvested and wonderful company to enjoy.
A dinghy tour along the island edge and we found the naturally formed freshwater well on Flinders Island that the local indigenous Yiithuwarra people used in years past. One of our yachtie kin on Barnabas scored a big squid and a lovely mackerel while fishing near the mangroves by the well.
sand spit on Flinders Island looking at Stanley Island
Stokes Bay on Stanley Island has a yachtie club house, so to speak. A bit of a protected spot on the edge of a teatree swamp with a table of sorts made from washed up rubbish and a collection of art pieces hanging from the branches. It was interesting to read the names and years that other yachties that had visited Stokes Bay. Our favourite yachtie artist, Carol from Speakeasy, put her talents to good use and created a beautiful piece of artwork out of a chunk of driftwood and, with pomp and ceremony, we left our mark on the club house.
Stokes bay offered us a few experiences. Amazing oysters for starters. Literally. They were huge and tasty, served up as oysters kilpatrick thanks to Carol. Again. She is the mother shucker of oyster shuckers if ever I've seen one. I am also a shucker now thanks to her tutorage, but with nowhere near her speed or finesse. We backed up the oysters with delicious fillets of shark, freshly caught that day by Hubby.
Stokes Bay, lined with red rock
best oyster spot
flake for dinner
Stanley Island yacht club
Carol's masterpiece to leave our mark
The different experience we also had here, aside from the many stingrays and reef sharks, was the crocodile. Yep, finally spotted one in the wild. About 4 foot long. In the shallows. Very near our dinghies, and right where we swam just the day before. Gulp! It definitely wasn't a log. We were on the beach for a picnic lunch of fresh prawns we bought from a trawler anchored in the bay. Needless to say, we took turns to be the croc spotter and keep an eye on him, now known as Stanley, and skipped the after-lunch swim.
After several nights in the Flinders group of islands, it was time to sail further north and closer to our destination.
Until next time, Watusi Woman - shucker of oysters, out.
Wait. So you guys spot a croc at Stanley island, and you name the croc after Stanley? 🤣 Or have I misunderstood?
The place is marvelous. If I must pick the picture of the day, I will pick two with the cargo ships(and throw them out). Absolutely love the description of giant hand scoped a bunch of pebbles and leave it there 🤣
Haha yes , we named him Little Stanley because he wasn't very big. You didn't like the cargo ships? How insignificant we felt when it passed us.
I don't not like the ship photos 😁 before the so called pandemic, I will take ferries to the island once a year, just to enjoy the sea breeze and take photos of other ships. Those are excluded because the sunset photographs and island exploration are way too excited 😁
Once again, I'm afraid of sea. You'll have to imagine a fully grown man standing at the deck looking up the stack of life jackets in the ferry and wondering if we will have enough time to put those jacket on if the ship is sinking 🤣 despite the fear, we're still doing it every July, until pandemic stopped us. Well, it's about time again this year, I will try to submit some new material 3 weeks later. See if I can also show my 1 pack abs 🤣
Re: ship photos. we are the tiny little sail you see in the front of the lettering on the 2nd photo
Yes. Am wondering if you feel the current from your helm being so near to the giant cargo ship 😁
Oh yes, we certainly felt the waves that came off the ship after it passed us. Yep, it's July so take that ferry, check out the life jackets and think of me crossing from Australia to Indonesia 😘⛵
Oyster, I have never tried the kind of dish, the only dish is oyster sauce. The dried wood are amazing, I dont know why the woods are dried?
You are missing out on a treat if you haven't had fresh oysters. The dried wood is actually a tea tree swamp, very much alive. They survive in a salt water environment as long as they get some fresh water too.
What a lovely experience! I hope you all have smooth sailing
Thanku @yoieuqudniram , the weather is looking good for our sailing from now on.
Is it really a crocodile, meaning it's a sea (saltwater) crocodile? If it was true, surely the crocodile was not the only one there.
Really, a beautiful night on the island while enjoying the sunset of course 😍
Yes @abizahid , it was a salt water crocodile. It wouldn't have been the only one I'm sure. In saying that, crocodiles are territorial so they tend to have their own little area.
Hi hi.. Sharon.. wow.. it's amazing.. I am pretty sure that many have never been to these wonderful places before. In the future, you can offer tours.. hahaa.. I bet there would be high demand.. Your friend is fearless for sailing so near that container vessel. Lots of beautiful spots in Australia. =) Sorry for being late on the train. Was moving about in Brunei. Super tiring..
That was us in our boat sailing past the container ship. Our friends took the photo. We felt like we were miles away from the ship so the photo really put into perspective just how small we are on the ocean. I would happily play tour guide so I could visit all these amazing locations again.
Hi hi.. wow.. that was you.. maybe I did not read it correctly.. how did it feel being so close to the container ship.. wow.. =) Yea lo.. it is amazing to see.. Hope to see new places in Australia again.
Haha, yes they are huge when you're in the water next to them. The first photo was our view of the ship so not too close, but when our friends showed us the photo they took we appeared to be really close.
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