CLIENT: Sail and Walk Voyage
VOYAGE NUMBER: 20250531
FROM: Townsville To: Townsville
DATE: 3 June 2025
POSITION: Northern end of Hinchinbrook Channel
REPORT: Blue Watch
Awoke at Goolde island to a cloudy sky which gradually cleared to a hot sunny day. The knot competition as usual preceded breakfast – clove hitch today. We put up the sails despite a glassy sea and motored to Dunk island where we anchored off the public jetty at 11am.
After a wrap lunch we prepared to head to shore thanks to chauffeur Pete (some swam – further than it looked.) A plucky team of 8 was lead up the hill to Mt Kootaloo by Tony while others stayed on the beach, swam or did small walks in the rainforest. The hill walk was through cool shady rainforest with the occasional birdsong. At the top we were rewarded with a magnificent panorama of the Family Islands archipelago and the mainland. The site is overgrown now but was an observation post during WWII, a plaque lists the officers in charge during those years (no mention of the men, who would have built the track).
Then back to the beach for a cooling swim under the jetty followed by a hot shower in the renovated toilet block before chauffeur Phil took us back to South Passage.
Dunk island was extensively damaged 12 years ago by cyclone Yasi which wrecked the resort and took down a lot of the trees. The resort has been sold back and forth (current price was $24M – seemed like a lot for some beach shacks but there you are) and is now up for renovation by multi-billionaire Annie Cannon-Brookes. There are still a lot of damaged buildings although one seemed new.
The camp site was in the process of being redone and wasn’t open. That, coupled with it being mid-week, meant we had the island nearly to ourselves which was pretty lucky.
In the evening we hoisted the sails after a fish tea (thanks Rana) and motor sailed across to the top of Hinchinbrook Island channel. A half moon in a mostly clear sky made for magical sailing when the engine was turned off for about an hour. There were crowds on the foredeck looking for a particular navigation light to mark the end of the island. That it proved hard to find was not surprising since it didn’t exist as specified. Despite this we anchored under a starry sky and peaceful sea. Sally and Chris