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| Annie & Ronnie's 'Siri' at the Hope Isles |
We said our goodbyes to Nigel and Sarah, next to us, in the Port Douglas Marina and motored out to begin the 47nm sail to the tiny, reef encrusted Hope Isles where we planned to spend the night. Port Douglas Marina has just constructed a huge new super yacht facility which has extended the marina berths and had me a bit bamboozled on our arrival as the marina plan in our 'Lucas' did not relate to what I was seeing. It is very impressive. The day was fine and calm and we motor/sailed for most of the way, gazing at the mountainous scenery and pretty bays along the coast.
The Hope Isles are interesting, especially if you arrive late in the day and the sun glares on the water. It is a place where it is imperative to have a view of the reefs and bombies in the water - that means arriving by 3-4pm and no later. We arrived at 5pm after a long slow day. Local knowledge would also have been an advantage in achieving an incident free entry into the anchorage. There is so much reef here and we overshot the easiest entry in, but I did my best to use my ex-rayless eyes to pick our way through the reef and bombies in order to anchor near the other boats. The glare made it difficult and after a couple of quick turns when coral began to appear under us, we finally dropped the anchor in 14m of water near the eastern island. Nine boats anchored in this tiny area for the night. I know why the Hope Isles got their name - you HOPE you don't run aground as you approach the anchorage. There are two courtesy moorings here, but both were already taken when we arrived.
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| A new day dawns at the Hope Isles |
Next morning we saw that three of the others were preparing to leave, so we decided to tag along behind and find the best way out. Listening to them on the VHF informed us they had been here before and knew where to go. Actually it was quite easy as the sun clearly showed the reef in the water.
Cape Flattery
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The wind gradually built during the day and we flew along and found ourselves off Cape Flattery at 4pm, where we motored around into the north eastern bay behind the cape and dropped anchor with two other yachts. The wind was quite gusty, but the water was calm and the anchorage secure after a 51nm trip. A ship was loading sand off an open water jetty on the southern side of the cape. There is a sand mine here, but we could only see the glow lights in the next bay as night closed in.
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| Loading sand at Cape Flattery |
On Friday we took Lily ashore to a beautiful, long white beach backed by rugged, scrubby bushland hills. The beach was littered with shells; cowries, olives, cones and various snail types, but all were old and broken. Very disappointing! As the tide went out it exposed large areas of sandbanks so we scouted about and managed to find some live olive shells. It reminded me of childhood when our family went 'up north' shell collecting with family friends. Needless to say we put the shells back in the sand to live another day. Behind the beach fresh water oozes out of the hill in places and huge paperbark trees line the beach. It is such a pretty place. The beach turns into cliffs and it is possible to walk around them when the tide goes out. There are so many interesting rock shapes and colours.
We could see two derelict houses on the hillside above the bay, so on Saturday we decided to explore them. Obviously a cyclone had damaged the structures and they had not been renovated. Rubbish was scattered everywhere and no attempt to clean up had been made. Piles of new cladding had been delivered and remained in untouched heaps deteriorating in the weather. Such a waste!!
There are many camp sites along the beach which looked as though they were frequently used and sure enough, several groups of people set up camps on the weekend. Pity they don't all take their rubbish home with them. A closer look into the bush behind the beach reveals quantities of rubbish that otherwise spoil this beautiful place. Later, when I read about this area I found out that it was actually Aboriginal land. Hope Vale Aboriginal Community is situated near Cape Bedford not far to the south.
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| We called this rock formation Giraffe Neck |
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| Up the hill for a better view |
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