Southward Bound – Cairns to the Whitsundays

We have turned back! We have taken advantage of a longer bout of light northeasterlies and gone south.

Adventures

Extraordinary Agincourt Reefs

Agincourt Reef #4 was the northernmost point we sailed to at Latitude 15oS, and the pinnacle of our reef explorations. What made it so? Being somewhere new with our friends from Oceaneer and Clair de Lune in a breathtaking anchorage, snorkeling and diving with a staggering amount of marine life, over beautiful coral, swimming in…

Adventures

Heavenly Opal and Crispin Reefs

With nearly a week of calmer weather, we have decided to head a little bit further north of Cairns and explore a few reefs on the very outer rim of the Great Barrier Reef offshore of Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation: Opal Reef, St Crispin Reef and the Agincourt Reefs.

Adventures

Zig zagging to Cairns

Since leaving Mourilyan Harbour and heading towards Cairns, we have zig-zagged our way between the continental islands dotted along the coast and the reef. This far up north, the reef runs quite close to the mainland so it is easy to hop out when the weather allows, and come back inshore when the conditions are…

Adventures

Ups and downs of Reef hopping

It is always a bit up and down when you reef hop. Weather conditions and reef health are the big variables and rarely perfect.

Reefs Offshore of Hinchinbrook

There are only so many times you can do the same walks at Magnetic Island while waiting for the 30 knot winds to ease, even if we enjoyed them. So when a break in the weather was forecast the glaring of cats had a powwow and we plotted our next reef escape offshore of Hinchinbrook…

Reef Hopping Offshore of Townsville – Part 2

This week we are taking you reef hopping to two sites that were new to us: Lodestone and John Brewer Reefs. Discovering new spots is always exciting. We had heard a lot of good things about those two from fellow cruisers so were hoping it would be fun and it was!

Reef Hopping Offshore of Townsville – Part 1

The GBR runs SE to NW about 40nm from the coast between Cape Upstart and Townsville. As you head northwards, you can choose to follow the coast or take the offshore route and hop from reef to reef. You can guess what we did!

Sv-Anui

Sailing adventures and photography

Southward Bound – Cairns to the Whitsundays

Extraordinary Agincourt Reefs

Heavenly Opal and Crispin Reefs

Zig zagging to Cairns

Ups and downs of Reef hopping

Reefs Offshore of Hinchinbrook

Reef Hopping Offshore of Townsville – Part 2

Reef Hopping Offshore of Townsville – Part 1