Firstly thanks so much to all the positive reactions to my last post. Im still sailing and exploring the Capricorn Coast of Queensland though today is the final day of the trip and I have returned to Mackay (the redneck crap hole I mentioned in the last post). We just docked the boat in the Mackay marina and I have sequestered myself in the Marina bar with a cold Corona and some solid internet. The trip was fantastic. We spent a total of 5 days at sea island hopping and exploring. We fished, sailed, hiked, snorkeled, slept and repeated every day.
The islands up here are kind of too good to be true - the water is crystal clear. They have multiple sandy sheltered bays where you can anchor and hide from the strong North easterly winds that blow continually at this time of year. So our standard "MO" would be to have a little sail in the morning to relocate then anchor up in one of the bays and pack up the dingy with the following essentials....
water
mask/snorkel/fins
speargun
phone(for photos)
gopro - to snorkel with
shoes to hike - the islands often dont have paths and you defo need good shoes or trainers to explore the hills.
reef shoes to walk in the sand with as stonefish and stingrays are a real concern.
Normally we would drag the dingy up on the beach then my sister, her hubby and I would try to climb to the top of the island - every island has a hill but often there was no path, so we didnt always make it to the top.
After a hike then we would come back to the beach and normally go for a snorkel. Or rather my sis would snorkel, Chris (her husband) would fish from the dingy, and I would try my luck with the spear gun to see if we could dine on fresh reef fish. All these islands are designated fishing zones providing you abide by minimum size limits and maximum allowable catch. So for us it was perfect - all we wanted was enough to eat for dinner that night.
So this leads me to the title of the post. You cant spear anywhere in these islands and to be honest most of Australia without attracting sharks. It's simply part of the game. Within 2 minutes I had shot a fish but he shook off the spear and made his escape leaking blood from the wound. They always swim straight under the nearest rock or coral ledge so as to hide and recover. Immediately there was a large white tip reef shark there. When they smell blood they get very agitated and it can become a little uncomfortable to be in the water when they start behaving like this. I told my sister time to go back to the dingy and we made our retreat. Its important to keep an eye on the shark and be ready to see it off with the spear tip if it gets too close....
On that day I managed to get three good size fish. Two Emperorfish and one Rock Cod. On spearing them its a good idea to immediately raise the fish out of the water to keep the blood and struggling fish out from the sharks keen senses. I would swim them back to the dingy each time.
After dinner was caught we would head back to the boat for cold beers and BBQ fish. Look at these two beauties. There is nothing quite like eating what you caught after avoiding a pissed off shark!
Today the wind dropped and we had beautiful sailing conditions for the journey back to port. A gentle 10 knots right on our beam so easy sailing, no tacking, no heeling and no spray. A perfect end to an awesome week.
On reflection I'm just so proud of my sister for embracing this awesome life. She has never sailed before buying the boat and really had no clue about life at sea. But she is just killing it. In July I will return to Australia and help them sail from the north of Australia to Indonesia.
Im Jobiker and I love that my sister has a sailing boat! Peace!
As much as this sounds fun, not sure how much of it I can do cos of my fear of water, though I've travelled via water before.
Having seen in movies how sharks react when they smell blood, I just couldn't have imagined how you'd have felt at that point. Glad you were able to make it out safe.
I guess the best I can do is dmire those who do it. 😁
Not much to worry about with a little white tip reef shark but if u see a tiger or a bull shark it can be a different story. Like all potentially aggressive animals though it's important to remain calm and simply leave their area as smoothly as possible. Thanks for the kudos mate, very appreciated!
You're welcome, mate. Perhaps, I'd get to try this sometime. Fingers crossed 🤞
I love Rock Cod and is my favorite fish to eat. mart pulling the fish out the water as sharks are always a concern. Happy to see you having a great time and enjoying this adventure.
Thx @cryptoandcoffee! The rock cod was delicious! You are always first here in the comments and its greatly appreciated sir. Very nice of you and happy to know that people are enjoying my holiday stories....:) Im back now to Brisbane and am planning a long cycle trip on the old bicycle.
This is a lovely adventure indeed.
Something I'll love to do someday.
Enjoy
Thank you @tomlee! I can recommend a sailing adventure if you get the opportunity!
I'm always looking forward to that.
Wow, thats cool! Hunting fishes is somethig very enjoyable,and in the case of a marine adventure and island like this would drive all the monotony.
But, I havent been able to make spearfishing like this, dont know how it feels to have the all out mood in terms of fishing.
Interesting, is one thing, I am asking out of Curiosity and fun, if you hit the spear to the baby shark,how he would react?😀
If you are a comfortable swimmer and can hold your breath for a little while then I suggest giving spear fishing a try! Its super fun and the feeling of finally getting a fish is really something. Thanks for your nice comments sir!
Ha ha, 😀...
I am just kidding..
Bru that was so fucking cool, pardon my French! Living like Livingstone, or Bougainvillier, or any other explorer haha.
Speaking of white people, I am happy you didn't find a white shark in the water, you seem so relax about the whole experience, it's awe inspiring, I am also a little worried about your sanity, but you seem to know what you're doing, the dude is obviously striking the meditating pose on that last pic like a freaking cold blooded monk!
Thanks so much @edprivat you made me smile! I like being compared to a cold blooded monk. That little shelter was on one of those beaches and was constructed of driftwood. We added an extra few pieces and used it as our shade spot for the day. The Australian Indigenous people have a very cool word for this kind of makeshift shelter - they call it a "humpybong" so we nicknamed that bay "humpybong beach" Trip was so awesome and glad you enjoyed my humble offering to the community.
Hmmm, my sister is an officer in the Royal Navy so perhaps it's time to convince her to invest in a boat or otherwise requisition one 😀
Reminds me a lot of a holiday I took to the Philippines a while back. Island hoping, exploring, snorkeling some reefs and a few WWII wrecks that were close enough to the surface and then eating the best sashimi I've had.
Sounds like you're having an awesome time
!BEER
Hehe - better have a chat with your sis! I have not spent too much time in the Philippines but have done a couple of dive trips there over the years at the Sogod Bay. I must get back over there soon. They have some amazing wrecks to dive there as you say. What area did you explore incidentally?
We were over in Coron on Busuanga Island. Really easy to just hire out a catamaran and head off to whichever island or wreck you want to explore.
We were there about 8 years ago and while you wouldn’t call it “untouched” it certainly wasn’t as developed as some of the main tourist spots which in my opinion was a plus point. Can’t vouch for what it might be like now and I think that whole Palawan area is becoming very popular with Chinese tourists amongst others.
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Sounds amazing man, real back to nature self sufficient action and loads of fun by the sounds of it. Great photos to capture the enjoyment too, I bet those beers and fish tasted extra good after being so active and busy too.
Hehe - beer always tastes good but even better on the boat at the end of the day! Have to thanks my sis for getting the great shark photos...:)
My grandparents are up at Cairns and I need to go for an overdue visit and make a trip up here. It's been really humid up there hasn't it (I know it's always humid) from the weather reports I've seen on the news.
Such a beautiful place of the world, and a world away from the rat race of Sydney!
Even the locals were complaining about the heat! I slept on deck every night as the heat below was just too much. It is a beautiful part of the world for sure. Get up there and see your grandparents...:) Were you affected by the bad flooding in Sydney last week?
How awesome is that? I have never tried this because I don't think I could hold my breath long enough to get one of the fishies. It does look like a lot of fun though, despite the obvious dangers from sharks of course.
I once read that if you see a shark in the ocean that you should consider yourself lucky because there are so few of them remaining in the world. You spend a lot more time in the water than I do so is there any truth to this?
That is certainly true in many cases. Many sharks species around the globe are critically endangered. We can thanks the Chinese thirst for shark fin soup for that. However, the white tip reef shark that was chasing me around is defo not endangered on the great barrier reef of Australia. He was only doing his job though...:) after all I was a guest in their territory.