We are lucky enough to have escaped to the Outer Reefs and the Coral Sea. For how long is in the hands of the weather gods, but we intend to share our voyage through a series of posts. Today, part one of the series, we are taking you to the very outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, to seldom visited Kennedy and Kangaroo Reefs.

This voyage is an extraordinary escape because we came so close to missing out. It is extraordinary because we are somewhere off the beaten track. It is extraordinary because these are beautiful, wild remote spots we escaped to.

We had initially thought we would leave from Airlie Beach to go to Windy Bay at the top of Haselwood Island and then do the big overnight sail to the Lihou Atoll, but the updated forecasts showed the wind would be too easterly. We did not fancy a rough run into wind, nor did we want to motor there. So we made another plan. We would head to the Outer Reefs first, visit a couple of new ones for us, then track north to another Coral Sea atoll: to the Flinders Group.

Beyond that will depend on the forecast of course. If the weather turns on us, we could return to the mainland at about Townsville’s latitude. But if it is kind to us, continuing on to the Herald Cays might be a possibility (a favourite from last year’s Coral Sea trip), and we would love to discover Flora Reef on the way back to the mainland and Cairns.

Last Friday saw us leave Airlie Beach and have a fun sail to the Stonehaven Anchorage at the top of Hook Island. An easy 9 or 10 knot speed blew the cobwebs and frustrations of the previous two weeks away.

Kennedy Reef

We went out to Kennedy Reef the next day, a 40nm passage and new discovery for us. Bengie could sense something special was happening and was up on deck, sniffing the breeze as we were leaving the Whitsundays. After weeks of strong wind, it was a gentle sail in a light breeze.

We had long wanted to check out Kennedy Reef. We had seen photos and reports from a marine biologist that the coral cover out there was remarkable, which would make sense given its position on the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, far enough away from the murky waters of the Whitsundays.

We left from Stonehaven Anchorage and headed north, passing close to popular Bait Reef where the race was on for a few boats to get in and grab a mooring. It was kind of nice to just sail past and keep going… no competition for where we were going!

On the way to Kennedy Reef, we saw quite a few humpback whales. In fact one came awfully close to us. It was tracking behind us, big as a mountain, obviously curious about Anui. We were doing 8 or 9 knots and it was gaining on us! Every time it came up for a breath it was closer to our stern.

We had visions of this 30 tons behemoth surfacing for a breath under our bridge deck and lifting Anui out of the water – a good incentive to trim those sails.  We were both getting nervous… “surely it knows we are there and will avoid us?” Just to be on the safe side we turned an engine on so it would be sure to hear us, and to be ready to put the speed on if needed. But the next time it surfaced it was to our port side… and then it took a dive straight down, fluke up…. phew!

The closer to Kennedy we got, the more whales we saw… it was as if there was a bay for them to frolic. And yet you could see how much current was flowing out of the narrow passage between Wansfell and Kennedy Reefs!

We anchored in a sandy patch right against the reef, in 8m of water at low tide. Here is what the anchorage looked like from the sky.

As you can see from the aerials, the edge of the reef is like a mosaic of bommies, quite spectacular. Although there is a lagoon, it is peppered with “black speckles” and entry passages are far too narrow to get in with Anui, but accessible by runabouts or dinghies.

We had a snorkel and a fish. The water was not as clear as we expected, nor was the coral as healthy as we hoped, but if you meandered your way through the labyrinth of bommies and got to the inside edge of the lagoon, the visibility was better and the mix of corals interesting. There was a lot of fish, some big like Maori Wrasses, Giant Trevallies, Coral Trout and Emperors and some small like the butterflyfish and clouds of Pullers. Wade caught us a beautiful trout, Chris captured these photos.

Although we stayed overnight and were not alone with two fishing runabouts anchored in the lagoon, it was not a restful stay: jiggly and noisy because of the current and us worrying about having our chain wrapped around small coral heads. Our anchor track on Vesper showed evidence of this! We were up at dawn and out of there by early morning, thankfully without too much difficulty.

Kangaroo Reef

We followed the channel out to the outside edge of the Barrier and made our way to Kangaroo Reef. As soon as we were on the outer edge, the sea state was different: swell lines were noticeable, with nothing between us and the Coral Sea. We opted to go to Kangaroo over Cobham or Gould because its anchorage provided easy access in and out to then start heading out to the Coral Sea on the next leg of our voyage. Kangaroo Reef is a sunken platform reef with a solid line of reef at the western edge where a deep channel separates it from the Dingo Reefs, and a series of small reefs dotted along its northern flank. Where we chose to stop was a kind of island surrounded by channels 30 to 50m deep. We followed the narrow channel snaking between the western end of Kangaroo and the Dingo Reefs. There was a lot of current flowing, with eddies forming and we had to watch that they did not throw Anui off course. Once we reached our anchorage, the water settled and it was a lot calmer, although we still had some chop. The spot was scenic, with a small lagoon about 5-8m deep.

Once anchored safely we followed our usual routine: Lunch, drone flight, snorkel. Here are three aerials gradually getting closer:

The coral was not wonderful, but the fish life good and the water clear. We saw our favourite pink anemonefish and some quite large Sixband Angelfish. And there were a few Coral Trout too, not nervous at all given Kangaroo Reef is in a green zone!

Although we initially planned to stay the night at Kangaroo Reef, we figured we would likely experience strong currents there too. If we are going to be awake, we might as well leave! By midafternoon we were ready to go for an overnight passage to the Flinders Group.

We have made it safely to the Southern Flinders Reef and are anchored at Horseshoe Reef. But this is for another post! Talk to you in a few days.