Middle Percy Island to Island Head Creek
Rising
to the alarm before dawn is not easy sometimes and getting the Our Dreamtime crew up and operational this
particular morning after a very social evening was a challenge. We’d had a late
night in the Percy Hilton with other cruisers enjoying wild goat stew and the
odd bottle of red wine so no one was keen to leave their bunk but we had a fifty
nautical mile passage to Island Head Creek ahead of us.
The cats Seabreeze and Howzat at anchor under the pink, pre-dawn sky at Middle Percy Island's West Bay |
Once
we’d all downed a good, strong coffee our productivity improved dramatically
and we soon had the boat prepped for sea
and the anchor up. We slipped out of Middle Percy Island’s West Bay as the
eastern sky began to lighten. Breakfast was despatched underway and we had left
the island well astern even before the sun appeared over the horizon.
We’d
raised the main and mizzen sails in anticipation of a predicted gentle north
easterly breeze but relied on the engine for propulsion for the first couple
hours of the trip. As the breeze began to fill in a little we were able to get
our asymmetric spinnaker up and flying. It’s always a great feeling when the
motor is turned off and we’re able to ghost along downwind in near silence.
We love flying our asymmetric spinnaker. |
The
new friends we’d met over goat stew the night before, David and Nerida from the
catamaran Seabreeze and Rick on Howzat had weighed anchor soon after we
had so it was nice to have some company around us. With the benefit of a huge
screecher, Howzat had no trouble
overtaking us once our engine went off and disappeared into the distance but we
were able to keep Seabreeze to our stern right through the long day. You know
the story, two boats or more in sight means there is a race on, particularly on
a light winds days when nothing much else is happening to keep you occupied.
Fair winds, smooth seas, sunshine and a sketch pad makes Karen a very contented cruiser. |
The
wind did strengthen into the low teens in the afternoon seeing us get up over
seven knots for a while but overall it was a fairly uneventful trip until we
approached the mouth of Island Head Creek. The tidal run around the point here
causes quite confused seas and we found waves standing up steeply despite the
moderate winds. This made the time spent on the foredeck dropping the spinnaker
in its snuffer and getting it stowed away a little more lively an exercise than
normal. The mizzen was also dropped and main furled away before we motored in
towards the river mouth.
This would have been a very impressive land slip at Island Head when it occurred. |
Both
pilot guide books* we had on board indicated there was a wide shallow bank mid
stream in the creek mouth with narrow channels each side. Both recommended steering
very close to the rocky cliffs on the north side. In direct contrast, our Navionics
chart showed the deepest water smack bang in the middle. It was near low tide
so we were a bit worried about which may or may not be correct. To further confuse the issue, the Navionics was also showing a set of cruiser contributed waypoints for entry that seemed to align with what the pilot guides suggested rather than the contours shown on the electronic chart. After some
discussion, we decided to go with the pilot guide advice and hugged the northern
shore. We found ourselves in a narrow channel with over 15 metres of water under
us which eased our nerves about the steep cliffs only metres off our starboard
side.
We carefully eased by close to the rocky northern side of the Island Head Creek entrance. |
As
we cleared the rocks and had nothing but sand around us we began to relax - until
the bottom shelved almost instantly. Rob threw the wheel hard over to port, hit
reverse and slowed the boat down to a couple of knots as the depth gauge dipped
to 1.8 metres. We have a fairly modest draft at 1.5 metres but
any depths as shallow as we were now in scare the pants off us, particularly if
unexpected.
Edging
back towards centre stream the gauge slowly climbed to three metres, four, then five and we began to breathe again.
We proceeded very carefully well up stream to the area we’d chosen to anchor.
Seeing a couple of boats, including Howzat
already there made us feel a little more comfortable about our choice. However,
we still found it quite shallow and eventually dropped anchor in just a bit
over two metres satisfied that the evening’s incoming tide would provide a more
comfortable depth.
Middle Percy Island to Island Head Creek – 52.6 Nautical Mile – 11 Hours 16 Minutes
Average Speed 4.7 Knots – Highest Speed 7.8 Knots
|
This
part of the coast was ground zero when extreme Cyclone Marcia made landfall early this year as evidenced by the many trees
still with only a thin amount of foliage showing. The area also experienced
massive flooding so we can only assume that the creek mouth may have
experienced some silting with banks and channels moving since last charted. David
and Nerida on Seabreeze entered the
creek shortly after us and, after facing the same dilemma as we did, elected to
take the Navionics option and steer their Lagoon Catamaran straight down the
middle. They reported depths of over three metres most of the way but also
crossed a very shallow sandbar just when they thought they were through and safe.
Whatever,
we would recommend using extreme caution to anyone navigating the Island Head Creek mouth, particularly if
entering or exiting anytime other than on the high tide.
We anchored well inside Island Head Creek where we were well protected if the northerly wind picked up overnight. |
Our post passage beers tasted extremely good once all was
secured and we could truly relax. Karen was very pleased to free up some more
room in our backup fridge by producing another awesome meal from our declining
stocks of Wahoo which we enjoyed on the stern as the sun set.
Our dinner view of the sun dipping behind the mountains. |
It was a very peaceful night on the hook well
protected from all directions. We slept soundly in the knowledge that the tide would be a little higher when we left in the morning and if we followed our own track back out through the creek mouth we would have enough water to be safe all the way.
*The pilot guides we had on board were Alan Lucas' Cruising the Coral Coast and Noel Patrick's Curtis Coast.
It's hard to photograph a rising moon from a moving yacht but Rob got close to pulling off. Good night from Island Head Creek. |
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We love Island Head Creek. We spent quite a few days both north and south bound in there this year. Both times strong wind warning for SE winds. We were shocked at the devastation from the cyclone, and also the dead trees washed down. The first creek on the stbd side has changed a lot and has a lot of dead trees at low tide. If only the internet access could be made better it would be perfect, we read a lot of books, and some days were not able to get off the boat.
ReplyDeleteThanks Catherine. The place looked very nice. Unfortunately we only had a short stay this time as the area was closed by the military on our way up and we were making the most of a northerly weather window on the way back. We'd love to spend a bit more time exploring in our dinghy next time. Cheers.
DeleteSounds devine...will get there in about 2 years.
ReplyDelete