With persistent 30 knot winds and rain, Cairns harbour gets a bit chaotic so we moved four miles up Trinity Inlet, a first for us. This week we are taking you up the mangrove creeks and their many moods. Get your mozzie repellent on and let’s go!

These Camtas maps show Trinity Bay giving access to the port of Cairns and the network of creeks running off Trinity Inlet.

The mouth of Trinity Inlet is a busy place if you want to be anchored in the harbour close to town, and in 30 knot winds it can be pandemonium: wakes from all the tourist boats and warships coming and going, yachts dragging at anchor or swinging unpredictably with or without their owners on board, choppy wind against tide conditions. We did not need the stress so after we had done what we needed to in town and could see we had another week of blowy weather, we decided to move further up the tidal estuary. We spent a week anchored opposite the 5th little tributary on the right from the entrance.

We swapped the tension and discomfort for safety, peace and quiet. And in the early morning and late afternoon when the wind was calmer, we got to see what our surroundings looked like from the air. Each image shows a different mood depending on the weather conditions and time of day:

Trinity Inlet is in the original delta of the Mulgrave River which flows to a mouth further south. With about 90 kilometers of waterways, there is plenty to explore as the streams meander snakelike through mangroves and mudflats.

We scouted around by dinghy on most days, following large creeks like Redbank and Smiths Creeks, and the more interesting small ones like Falls, Wahday, Skeleton, Mackey, as while you follow the small streams, you are protected from the wind by the mangrove trees. The furthest south we went was past Packers Camp shown at the bottom of the inlet chart.  

The mangroves are veritable forests, forming dense stands with trees growing up to 30 meters high. Their tangle of aerial roots make the trees appear to be standing on stilts above the water. These aid the exchange of nutrients and oxygen and help the trees maintain a firm grip along shorelines. You can see why during cyclone season you would choose to hide your boat in there. But it would be a rather scary prospect. If the cyclonic winds did not get you, the midges certainly would!

Although we have no photos to show you, we saw many birds: whimbrels with their distinctive down-curved bill as well as herons, white ibises and egrets foraging in the shallows for crabs, frogs, and molluscs.

We were hoping to spot one of the twenty or so crocodiles which frequent these waterways, basking in the sun on a mudbank at low tide, but had no success. It is probably just as well given RIBs like ours make great teething rings for crocs. Most of the locals along these waterways fish for barramundi and mangrove jacks in tinnies.

We followed Smiths Creek around the large mud isle called Admiralty Island, and found a few boats anchored, others on pole moorings right against the banks. There were also quite a number of derelict boats which can often cause problems. Some had been gathered together and put on a port mooring.

We had lunch at the Cairns Yacht Club one day, made a dash to town (a 15 minutes dinghy ride each way) to pick up some supplies on our last day there. But most of the time we just relaxed as Anui gently swung back and forth at anchor, with the stunning backdrop of the Macalister and Gillies ranges seemingly moving around us. It was quite enjoyable during the first few days.

Bengie liked it too, especially first thing in the morning when it was calm. She would run around like a cat possessed up on deck, as well as on and inside the boom bag. One morning, she was sitting at the bow, sniffing the air, nostrils flaring, eyes closed. Wonder what she could smell?

On our last evening in Trinity Inlet we were treated to a spectacular sunset.

But in the end, we were just waiting out the weather and it got a bit boring. As you known we are not very good at doing nothing. So as soon as the forecast showed a small break in the wind, we took off to the Outer Reef… a story for another post.