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 Island.
On the horizon, a week of calmer weather, perfect for reef hopping. The changing conditions in that time were remarkable: sequels of strong wind and greyness at first, then blue days with no wind at all and finally a slow return of the southeasterlies. After weeks of strong trade winds it felt surreal to be anchored with the most gentle of movement, glass out conditions and total quietness.
Bramble Reef
We reached Bramble Reef on our own, armed with satellite overlays on our navigation software as this was our first visit to this reef. Our cruising companions decided the passage was a bit rowdy for their families and changed course to the Palm Islands, joining us a day later. As is often the case after many days of strong wind, the ocean is agitated but within a day it calms down. We got well inside the shelter of the half-moon shaped reef wall with surprising ease and dropped the pick in 8m of water over sand. Bramble is a dream to anchor in with plenty of sandy areas clear of bommies near the entrance and further in where we went.
With one of us on the roof as the lookout and the other at the wheel, we proceeded well inside the reef carefully. The black looking patches are deep enough to go over; anything brown or light green is just under the surface and should be avoided!
Our dives at Bramble were a little ordinary. With grey skies above for the two days of our stay, the light underwater was poor and the reef being damaged with a lot of algae and seaweed, everything looked a monochrome grey-brown. Lots of little fish though… It is always hard to understand how different reefs close to one another appear to fare differently. But this reef is popular with fishermen and being so close to Lucinda, it is used and abused!
The silver lining was the quantity of (real) giant clams, the Tridacna giga. These behemoths are the largest living bi-valves and are the most endangered species of clams. Yet they seem to thrive at Bramble. If interested in reading more about these clams, here is a link to a post we published about them a couple of years ago: Gigantic Clams.
Trunk Reef
In sunny glass out conditions, we moved to nearby Trunk Reef, another new destination for us. Such a different mood again!
Of course it was stress free drone flying weather, first while we had this reef to ourselves, then when our cruising buddies joined us.
Along the edge near the boats our snorkeling revealed storm and cyclone damage, with hardly any hard corals left and the few survivors smothered by algae and seaweed. But one thing we have learned over time is that although the protected side of the reef where you anchor the big boat is often in poor shape, if you dinghy to the side of the reef exposed to the prevailing winds and snorkel or dive there, you get far better coral cover and fish populations, the result of stronger, clearer waterflow and better nutrients. The reward for the longer dinghy ride is displayed in this slideshow: interesting critters in crystal clear water.
Walker Reef
Next hop: Walker Reef, where we had been two years ago and had reported a Crown of Thorns Starfish outbreak. We had this anchorage to ourselves as the wind increased for 24 hours, encouraging most cruisers including our friends to go and hide inshore. We decided to put up with a bit more breeze and movement initially, and enjoy the solitude for a few days. As we expected, the wind calmed down and we had gorgeous conditions, sedate enough to send the drone up. We are always astounded at the aerial views – so lucky to see these aquamarine havens from the sky!
Walker Reef has a shy little cay, more akin to a sand bank as it only appears at low tide. Wade spearfished and caught us a Spangled Emperor, highly prized for our table and a Painted Sweetlip! We snorkeled in a few places of course. Some spots were better than others, for instance the area behind the sand cay had lovely gardens of hard and soft corals. But the bommies and reef wall were very damaged. There were signs of recovery though. A few unexpected finds made it all worthwhile: beautiful and varied soft corals, a few sea squirts, two nudibranch and several spectacular sea anemones with their inhabitants – yes we found lots of Nemos! Here is a selection of our favourite images.
Found Nemo! 
Eastern Clownfish in a red sea anemone 
Crinoid 
Competition for space! Giant Clam surrounded by encrusting coral! 
Tunicate or Gold Mouth Sea Squirt 
Eastern Clownfish in a green and purple anemone 
Eastern Clown Anemonefish 
Eastern Clown Anemonefish 
Corals on the reef flat 
Reef flat seascape 
Upturned coral from storm damage 
Reef flat seascape 
Sarcophyton 
Nudibranch – Notodoris Minor 
Nudibranch – Phyllidia Varicosa
With the wind conditions not ideal for being offshore, it would be tempting to do like everybody else and return to the coast, but we so enjoy exploring new reefs that we might just stay out here! Anui is behaving and keeping us reasonably comfortable even in some chop. We’ll have to see how the weather forecast develops! We hope you are enjoying reef hopping with us. More of this next week with a bit of luck!
Sv-Anui 
As always, so many beautiful photos. Wow! I would not be comfortable being so far offshore in a storm or heavy seas. Stay safe, guys!
Hi John, it wasn’t! Most of the time we had less than 10 knots.
Oh, that’s great! 😎
The nudibranchs Chris! I haven’t spotted one this year. Very envious. And the eastern clownfish too. Big finds. Great pics as usual. You have being rewarded for your perseverance out there!
Hi Amanda. These were the jewels in an otherwise damaged reef. It pays to stick your nose out when the reef is so close to the coast.
Hi Guys, superb pics and beautiful clear water. How do you identify the names of the corals and the other reef critters? We used to have a book but it went missing and is now out of print.
Hi guys, we have reference books. Have a look on http://www.underwaterworld.com in their dive books section. And there is always Dr Google!
Very nice photos & you guys seem to be relaxed out there more so than you were a few weeks ago in Mackay. We been up to Mission Beach in our Coaster MH went water taxi tour around Dunk & Bedarra the weather was perfect now in Airlie. Enjoy & keep safe.
Cheers Mick & Lyn
Hi guys, nice to get your comment. We have been having fun! We are reef hopping our way to Cairns! Enjoy Airlie!
Stunning and so jealous. The way things are going this year we may not get past the Mackay Marina. Your favourite place! Xx
Hi Trish, hope you are there because you are enjoying some land time and not because of mechanical problems. We are enjoying the reef and exploring as much as we can.
Hi Chris. We had some great times on land near Mackay. However the crew is currently in very chilly Tasmania renovating a house! We can’t wait to get back north!
Wow, we did not realise! Hope you can get back without problem!
We’ve run out of superlatives! All the underwater critters you’ve shared are truly amazing, thanks for bringing them into our autumnish living room! Love how your drone pics capture the shape of the reef and your place in it; adds that extra dimension of reality to your reporting …. For us, the swallows are leaving Scotland, a sure sign of driech days ahead ….
Glad you enjoy the mix of images, guys. We really like being able to get the overview of the reefs with the aerials and clearly see where we can anchor or snorkel. Some of the reefs are massive and we would never really know without the drone. And then the underwater shots show the riches under the surface. Having fun as you can tell!
Hope the Scottish weather is not too dreary!
Stunning photos. I’m not a big fan of drones normally, but these pictures are incredible. I can see a book emerging from these photos.
How much longer can you stay north? Are you planning one big dash south?
You are right Phil… book coming up at the end of the year, capturing our best images from our reef experiences above and under the surface.
We will start turning around towards the end of October. Not sure how far south we’ll go… dependent on Covid lockdowns, vaccinations progress, etc… We’ll figure things out in November.
I loved the slides shows and aerials Chris. The Nudies are amazing as are the clams.The water looks so clear and beautiful. I am pleased that Anui is comfortable in rougher weather. Good photo of you Wadie., well done with the fishing. Take care you two, still in lockdown down here.
Glad you like our mix of images, Sue. It does not look like you will be able to join us on board for a while, unfortunately. What a crazy year this is!
I think we have all been affected by Nemo–I immediately thought of him when I saw the clownfish, even before I read your captions, Chris. The giant clams were amazing and I loved the shot of the sea anemone. You and Wade have gotten really good at flying the drone high. The shots of the tiny Anui and the vast expanses of ocean and sky are incredible.
We have a soft spot for all the different species of Anemonefish, Mike, but the Eastern Clownfish is our favourite – really small compared with the others and a lot less common. So when we spot several individual groups in their beautiful hosts at the one reef we feel very lucky!
There is something special about being able to capture the extraordinary surroundings of our boat at a reef, that sense of being very little and incredibly fortunate to experience such a different world. I love what the drone let us see.