Pirates of Hinchinbrook Island

The idea to do a paddle from Lucinda in far north Queensland was formulated in 2020, but with the rise of COVID19 and all of the ensuing lockdowns and uncertainty around the travel, the idea was put on hold until such time that the trip could be done with a level of confidence.

In 2022 as the tail of constant and changing restrictions became less of a feature in our daily lives we decided that this was the year. We left for Cairns on the 25th July returning back to Melbourne on the 3rd August where we spent 8 days paddling from Lucinda to Mission Beach. 

The trip had been planned for some time and was relatively straightforward trip - aided by the "trade winds" which blow generally E, ESE or SE would see the winds generally to our back and side providing some additional boost as we would not be sailing into the wind or at oblique angles to generate some sort of partial headwind.

With that the swell was also in our favour getting some "surf" assistance along the way making the paddling days short with not a huge amount of effort expended.

This is the route that we planned to take

Enjoy the photos that we took on our trip.

25th July - Melbourne to Cairns to Mission Beach Resort Wongaling

We had an early start to catch our 6.10am flight Melbourne to Brisbane. We stayed at the IBIS to make the day more tolerable and avoiding having to get up at 3am.

We had a nice flight to Brisbane arriving at about 8.30am intime for a nice breakfast. We boarded our Cairns flight and departed at 10.20am arriving in Cairns at about 1.30pm.

We were picked up by Mission beach bus services - excellent service. There was some concern with Pete luggage, due to it being oversize it had been delivered to a different area within the luggage pick up so with our first crisis over we headed to Mission Beach Resort stopping along the way for a quick lunch at a servo on the side of the road.

After quickly unloading our gear we hopped back on the bus down to see James from Coral Sea Kayaking for a briefing on conditions, camp sites, intro to the boats and how to set them up and where to land when we arrived back a week later - pointing out some key land marks for us.

A leisurely walk back to our hotel before been picked up by the hotel bus shuttle service to take us into Mission beach for our dinner at the Pirates Den. It was an excellent meal with a great selection from the menu.

We were picked up and taken back to our hotel - we all slept pretty well that night. 

Tuesday 26th July - Lucinda to Sunken Reef a 10.5km day in easy conditions.

We were up early for a 7am pickup, Jamie from Mission Link Bus Services collected us. A quick drive down to Coral Sea Kayaks at Mission Beach to hitch up the trailer, a quick catchup with James and then we were off to Lucinda where our journey starts. Along the way we stopped off at Cardwell for a quick breakfast, coffee and pickup some last minute supplies. Back in the bus we headed off to Lucinda where we were to start our 7 day adventure on the Coral Sea.

Our launch site was on the beach at Lucinda next to the Lucinda pier. At 5.78km in length it is the longest pier in the Southern Hemisphere. It is operated by the Lucinda Bulk Sugar terminal. It is a truly massive structure.

Packing our boats, getting fresh water, as we were unsure if there was fresh water at Sunken Reef (we later found out there was lost of water up at Mullagan falls) we finally were all on the water at about 10.45am - about 45 minutes later than we wanted as we needed get across the sandbar at Georges Point before the tide has gone too far out. At low tide the sandbar is about .5 of a meter above the water.

Peter, JB, Derek, Cam and Jason were all happy in singles with Ian and Ulysses in the double - the mothership. The double was labelled the Pearl - suitably named for our pirate theme.

We headed out in light conditions with almost no swell, very light winds under an overcast sky.

The plan was to head directly to Hinchinbrook Island then follow the coast and trying to put as much distance as we could between ourselves and the Hinchinbrook Channel that separates QLD mainland from Hinchinbrook Island - the channel is known for crocs.

The tide has gone out further than we would have liked as we committed ourselves to cross the sandbar finding out that part of the sandbar were above water. As it was we found a small channel that had enough water to paddle and float our boats until we got to deeper water. The options if we got stuck would be to wait it out, portage our boats - a right pain given how loaded our boats were, or avoid the situation and paddle many extra kilometers around the sand bar that would have added about an extra 1 to 1.5 hours to our trip.

We paddles for a couple of hours and after getting across the sandbar we pulled up on a sandy beach for lunch.

We met a group of 5 hikers as they were finishing the Thorsburne trail. After lunch we launched our boats making our way to our camp for the night - Sunken Reef.

We had the camp site to ourselves - James called the beach a bit of a "catch can", meaning that the prevailing winds would blow any flotsam onto the beach - well that was certainly the case. After setting camp we made our way to Mulligans falls. We explored around and had a nice swim is fairly warm water.

Back at camp we had Chilli Tuna avec Cous Cous all washed down with a great red wine. On the beach that night the sky was super clear showing one of the spirals arms of the Milky Way - we even saw some shooting stars. We too a walk along the creek that emptied out into the Coral Sea and to our great dismay we saw heaps and heaps of Cane Toads. 

Wednesday 27th July Sunken Reef to South Zoe Bay.

About a 7km trip with an expected 2 hour paddle time in easy conditions.

The day started off beautifully with clear blue sky's and a fair wind to our backs and a slight swell. We left Sunken reef at about 10am starting our second day out. Our destination was South Zoe Beach not to far off and just around Hillock Point a protuberance on the East side of Hinchinbrook.

Following the coast along and paddling close to the plunging rocky slopes that dramatically entered the bluey green waters you got a real perspective of the island and the impenetrable forests that lie just off the coast, the swell making a gentle noise as it hit the rocks sending small amounts of spray into the air.

With the slight seas and favourable winds we arrived at Zoe beach on very short time - getting to the beach by midday and landing in the lee side of the southern end of the beach. We found a suitable camp site and moved out kayaks right up on the sure, that kayakers camp site is located up at the northern end of the beach. the site does not have the amenity of the southern end and is a considerably longer walk to Zoe Falls. The camp sites at the northern end don't really exist and is far more mangrovie that the southern end.

Our camo site was the furthest from people already camping as we did not want to disturb hikers or encroach too much on their space.

After our lunch of Vita Weats and condiments we set off to explore the northern end of the beach - there were lots of "sand dollars" - the remains of sand sea urchins and a myriad of crabs, busy about their business feeding in the sand flats as the tide was running out leaving lots of sandy balls in their wake making surprising patterns on the beach. These patterns triggered a conversation about crabs having artist designs and therefore intelligent - I was fortunate to miss the conversation. The little sandy balls are the end product as they sift sand through their mouth parts in the hunt for food. The walk to the northern end was about a 6km round trip. Arriving at the northern end we found it to be swampy, with maybe a croc and heaps of sand flies and mossies. At our camp site we had tables, hangers for food bags to stop the local rodents having a feast and prepared camp site area with a conveniently located drop toilet.

We then took a walk up to Zoe falls with water bags, towels and bathers for a swim in some fresh luke warm water. It was very refreshing in the plunge pool at the bottom of the falls with many fish having taken up residence in the pool.

After a refreshing swim and full water bags we headed back to camp to start to cook dinner. A meal of Spam and tortellini with porcini and 3 cheeses was a adequate meal and sated our appetites.

It was a busy camp site with some fishermen who had boated in from Mission beach and many walkers most likely having walked in from Little Ramsay Bay camp site on their send day. 

We were in bed by about 10pm.

Thursday 28th July - South Zoe Bay to Banksia Bay

A 12km trip with an expected 3 hour paddle time in easy conditions - well that's what the plan said.

We woke up at about 7am with an incoming tide. The winds had blown up over night with the seas quite lumpy with large swell - between 1 to 1.5m meters. We were on the water by 9.30am - the weather forecast said that the winds were going to blow up during the day - so getting started earlier would mean that we would miss the worst of the winds that would develop over the day.

Once on the water and still within a safe paddle back to Zoe beach we rafted up on water, discussed the merits of continuing given the conditions and our experience levels. We decided to head out to he point on the northern end of Zoe Bay and to reassess. Because we were on a lee shore we needed to keep a couple of kms off the shore line in the event  that one of us got tipped out. We certainly did not want to be getting bashed up on the rocks.

A reassessment with the decision to push on. We concentrated and needed to loosen up and to roll with the swell. At least we were not getting ocean waves. As we headed out the swell got a little more challenging hitting our boats on the broadside. The winds turned in our favour shifting from eastern to south easterly. We had swell and wind to our backs making the going easier and faster. We made good way.

Passing a fishing boat at Agnes Island we were quickly on the lee side of the island with the worst of the swell and wind behind us we made our way to Banksia Bay. The designated camp site was on the north side of the beach, fine for walkers but no good for sea kayakers due to the exposed rocks at this end of the beach. We chose the southern end of the beach and found a great set of camp sites that could fit us all in. We were the only campers for the night.

Given the wind and wave assistance, we made excellent time taking about 2 hours to reach Banksia Bay - arriving at around 11.30am.

After lunch we went exploring. Finding wonderful fresh oysters along the way and eating several of them - you cannot get them any fresher. We used rock to knock the top of the shell off, scooping out the delicious oyster before devouring it. What would have been great would have been to collect a bunch of oysters, lighting a camp site and sitting the oysters on the coals to open up - but alas you cannot light fires on Hinchinbrook - so we had them alla naturale.

We returned to our camp site, then walked back to the designated camp site and in search of water. After about 10 minutes of walking we connected up to the main Thorsburn trail. A short walk along this track we came to some wonderful fresh water pools. It was great to wash the salt of the day off.

Coming back to camp we were treated to a beautiful sunset as the sun set behind Mt Bowen - at 1,101 meters it is the 45th highest mountain in QLD.

Tonight was Pearl Cous Cous and Tuna for dinner and all washed down with another great red.

Friday 29th July - Paddle Banksia Bay to Sunset Beach.

A 19.5km paddle in medium conditions

After much consultation with weather forecasts and discussions we decided to paddle to Black Sands beach for morning tea and lunch, then onto Sunset Beach.

We were up quite early in the morning with JB, Ian, Jason and I going back to our swimming hole from the night before to fill up some 56 liters of water. With no guaranteed water at Black Sands beach or Sunset Beach we decided on the side of caution to fill up.

After a quite breakfast and pack up we were on the water by 8.30am. The winds and waves not as bad as the previous day, but challenging enough. The flotilla was the same as previous days. We made surprisingly good time to Black Sands beach, being only 5km away. Black Sands Beach offers a nice sheltered landing spot when snugged in at the southern end of the beach. Our plan was to stay at Black Sands beach and walk up Nina peak look out taking a round trip of about 1 hour. Nina Peak is part of the Thorsborne trail. Cam also managed to get an updated weather forecast. The forecast confirmed our concerns about the weather that we were due to get the next day. Forecast winds of upto 30knots blowing in from the East/South East. We were concerned about the high of the seas that this wind would blow up. On the back of the weather forecast it confirmed our decision to paddle onto Sunset beach.

We decided to have lunch at Black Sands beach. At about 12.30 we headed back out form the beach to make our way to Sunset beach. We pushed out in a northerly direction to avoid been too close to the shore line as we were on a lee shore and in the event of a capsize - if we were too close to the shore would have ended badly as the waves would have pulverised  the paddlers and kayak against the rocks. Also taking the route that we did shaved time off our trip.

Once we reached the end of the beach along Ramsay Bay we changed course to track between Eva Reef and the headland. Out in the waters we were fortunate enough to see some whales breaching maybe a kilometer off to our east.

Once around the headland of Hinchinbrook and with Eva Reef behind us the wind started to abate as we progressively moved into the lee of the peninsular. Cruising along the rock faces as they plunged into the aqua green waters was a far more relaxing cruise. Ian and I spying a sea turtle poking its head out of the water, then diving quickly underwater on spying these strange vessels on the water.

We continued to cruise to our bay - Sunset Beach. Interestingly the sunset was not visible. The camo site was occupied by the couple that had left with us back in Lucinda - the 2 outdoor ed types from Tasmania. We camped at the other end of the bay to afford them some privacy.

That night was a little windy but still warmish. We had Singapore and crab noodles washed down by yet another lovely red and some Tawny Port courtesy of JB.

30th July - Sunset Beach.

This was a spare day for us as we completed 2 days of paddling on the previous day.

Today was a spare day having made up a day yesterday by skipping our night at Black Sands beach. Looking out to the east and noticing the seas looking higher - we were happy with the decision that we made.

The couple who we shared the beach with had headed off early in the morning and we wished them all the best.

We explored both ends of the beach finding fresh sources of water at both ends of the beach. We moved our camp into the designated site as it has more protection from the wind and sun.

It was a slow day - we did some exploring, then decided on an early lunch. Cam, Peter, Ian, JB and I decided to head down to one of the beaches. the tail wind was fierce and pushed us along at a great rate - probably 20 knots so the trip down was fast with the wind beginning to blow up.

We landed on the first beach where we could get some lee. The approach was tricky due to the rocks. After JB took care of business we headed back to the camp site. What was a 20 minute trip down became a 45 minute trip back. When the gusts hit us we pretty much stopped making progress. We made it back fine and where happy to be back. We picked some oysters to eat and settled into dinner preparations.

All in all a fairly quite day.

July 31st - Sunset Beach to Gould Island - Day 7

A 14.5km trip with an expected paddle time of 3.5 hours in medium conditions

Another early morning, skies overcast, wind not too much and seas pretty good. We were on the water by about 9.30am

Same paddling groups as previous, setting off to Gould Island. The root was to follow the coast of Hinchinbrook, around the trip of the island that put us in lee of the prevailing winds. Pulling into a beach at the top of the island before doing the cross island open sea crossing, to hit the middle of Gould Island and then the paddle westward to round the island, paddling in lee, then around to our camp site.

We headed off to plan heading to the last beach on Ramsay Bay. Along the way we saw several sea turtles. They are funny things. They surface, breath, swim around, but when they spot you they immediately dive. Some were quite large and it was great to be able to see so many. A beach landing in Ramsay Bay would have entailed a surf landing. So we opted to go around the tip and dropped into lee for a nice paddle into Orchid Bay. We pulled into the bay at about 11am for a break and budgie bar leaving at about 11.30am before our open water crossing to Gould Island.

The beach had a restricted area because of - either something like the old resort or special conservation value. There was a remnant of some old structure, lots of croc signs and no camping.

We left Hinchinbrook and it struck me that we saw so little in the way of terrestrial animals. A ratus ratus, cane toads, the boys say a goanna and very few birds. So odd I thought for an area that is lush green and plenty of water. There were small animal paw prints on the sand, but the jungle was so thick that it is entirely possible that the island was teaming with life.

Our open water crossing was without incident and seemed to take forever. Once we got across and into lee on Gould Island, the paddling was alot more easy, we saw sea turtles swimming under our boats. We paddled over what looked to be soft corals.

JB made an emergency dash to one of the first beaches much to the great amusement of all of us. We got to the sand spit and paddling around it, the winds dropped off and an easy beach landing at about 1 for a 1.30 lunch. There were 4 boats moored off the beach. Three large cats and a Chinese junk - Notorious Espain. Looked very much Black Pearl'ish. Infact the boat was used in the shooting of the Pirates of the Caribbean when it was shot in Queensland.

After lunch we explored beaches finding more oysters and a crocodile nest.

We ended the day with Singapore prawn macaroni and a fine wine.

August 1st - Gould Island to Wheeler Island - Day 8

A 16km trip with an expected 4 hour paddle time in medium conditions

Today was a big open water crossing - once off shore from Gould Island there was no landing till Wheeler Island. The weather was pretty good and the winds and the seas were pretty good.

We have a leisurely start leaving Gould Island at about 10.10 paddling past some moored yachts. We were able to paddle up closer to Notorious Espain what appeared to drift past us a couple of days ago when we were camped at Sunset Beach. This boat was used in the Pirates of the Carribean. It had cannons fore and aft and did look every part the pirate ship.

Out of t lee from Gould Island the wind current and swell was all pretty fair. Ian and I were bringing up the rear with a newly developed set of whistles for management of the boats. 1 toot for the lead kayaker to stop and the rest to catch up. 2 toots to start paddling and 3 toots for boat has capsized. This all worked pretty well. We made the crossing in good time with no issues and tracked pretty well to plan.

The camp site had 2 approach beaches, one with some fetch and the other in lee. After landing and setting up camp we had lunch. We had lunch at about 1.30. The camp site was pretty sheltered and we found some interesting seeds, little pod with a sail at the top and a sked on the bottom. We also found a seed pod that looked like tetra pack.

Chis did some snorkeling around the rocks, but there was very little to see unfortunately. We did some exploring along the beach finding some lovely oysters again. On the east side of the island we found broken coral meters deep banked up on the shore, I guess the leftovers from Cyclone Yatzi. Maybe in about 5 million years there will be some limestone caving to be done on Wheeler Island.

The rocks on Wheeler Island were more of a conglomerate with one striking rock that had a series of fist to football sized rocks embedded in the finer sedimentary rock. You could clearly see how the rock was squeezed up into its current position at 45 degree angle.

There were numerous rock orchids growing but unfortunately not in flower with the typical impenetrable forest brooding just behind the shore. 

Our camp site seemed to be devoid of mosquitoes and sand flies much to everyone relief. To the east was Bedara Island which at night you could see some lights from the sparce accommodation that was on the island. Apparently a nights accommodation is in the vicinity of about $2000 per night - a bit beyond our budget, also they only allow 28 people at a time on the island so it is very exclusive.

We had a fine meal with chilli beans with port and rice with quinoa. As usual it was washed down with another fine red. This was our last night camping. I must admit I was looking forward to finishing the trip - I was getting tied of feeding sand flies and mosquitoes and putting on what was becoming progressively damper and damper clothing. I sure that the continued use of DEET is probably not great for your skin either.

It was an odd nights sleep with sometimes pockets of warm air blowing in and at other time cooler air.

August 2nd - Wheeler Island to Mission Beach via Dunk Island - Day 9.

A 15km trip with an expected 4 hour paddle time in medium conditions

Well our last day on the water - paddling between islands to reach Dunk island before heading across to Mission Beach where our journey would come to an end. We started on the water at about 9.30am. We mixed up the boating a bit with Ian and Peter swapping boats. Pete and I was the lead boat on our last day.

We paddled over to Bedara Island first, standing off on a beach on the west side of the island looking a what was a pleasant beach. From this vantage point we could see some of the sparsely spaced accommodation.

We then continued to paddle between Bedara Island and a rocky outcrop on the eastern side of the island, taking care of the lee shore. Once clear of the rocky shore of Bedara Island we adjusted course to point into the middle of Dunk Island, trying to take into account the wind and drift from the currents.

The crossing was uneventful rounding the first point on Dunk Island in pretty good time and taking about an hour and three quarters to complete the crossing.

Once around the tip of Dunk Island we were once again in calmer water enjoying the shelter from the prevailing easterly winds. Given that it was high tide we were able to paddle alot closer to shore, but eventually had to push further out to avoid rocks in the shallow waters.

Rounding our last point on Dunk Island we landed on a sheltered beach getting out to have a look around Dunk Island and also to have lunch. We spoke to a couple who were off one of the large cats that we saw on Gould Island. Their year was spent 6 months on their cat sailing from Toowoomba to Cairns and back, a pretty chilled life style - he did some fishing, she read, did yoga and craft. generally by lunch they wanted to be at their anchor for the night.

Dunk Island was a sad sight indeed. Cyclone Yasi had smashed it and had yet to be restored. Cyclone Yasi happened in 2011 - Locals speak in terms of before Yasi and after Yasi. The camp ground was in the process of being re-built, the accommodation still had roofs peeled off, like the skin of an orange, the ceilings in what would have been luxury accommodation - collapsed and lying on the floor. The lower level windows smashed as a result on the surging waves driven by the winds of Yasi.

There was other accommodation that was new and looking very swish - I believe where the island's caretakers lived. The airfield whilst maintained and serviceable was run down with the windsock stays broken and lying in rusty heaps on the ground. The runway lights broken. One of the pools was filled with sand not the sparkling clear fresh water that would have been there pre Yasi.

A walk along the pier revealed lovely clear waters teaming with a wide variety of fish. Lunch and sight seeing done we headed back to our boats to complete our journey to Mission Beach. Aiming off at the southerly most town (South Mission Beach). After hitting our point we followed the coast line to the 3rd settlement, finding the spanish house and landing our craft.

We got the trollies from Jame's place at Coral Sea Kayaks to transport the kayaks back to his place. Washing our gear in freshwater and loading up our suit cases with the clothing and items we had been carrying for the last 8 days in our kayaks.

It was great to get to our accommodation where we could shower and wash off a weeks worth of salt, deet and sweat and to get into some dry clean clothes.

We had a wonderful meal at Buko in Mission Beach and a great nights sleep in a comfy bed.

Wongaling Beach back to Cairns airport for our flight Cairns to Melbourne - Day 10

Wednesday 3rd August

As with all things - they come to an end.

We had a great breakfast at the Mission Beach Resort and then were picked up by the bus to take us back to Cairns airport for our retun journey home. The flight was a little delayed and this time we enjoyed a direct flight back to Melbourne. The flight was pretty good and then home again. I was looking forward to getting home as I think the rest of the team were.

Overall it was a great trip with a great group of friends. It was different seeing the country form the water in a slow boat. The sand flies and mosquitoes were a constant nuisance with all of us sporting bite sites. the constant humidity meant that clothing never really dried and progressively got a little damper each day.

The camping opportunities for the kayakers were numerous and depending on the wind direction and strength meant that the beach landings could be done safely. We had good weather and the designated camp sites were pretty good. The great thing about sea kayaking is that weight is not such a great considerations you can carry quality food.

We found water at every camp site with the exception of Wheeler Island - so fresh water is available, sometimes you just need to walk a bit.

Cam did a brilliant job organising everything with everything going off with out a hitch.