Matey's musings: Marooned at Lizard

We departed Cooktown with barely a breeze blowing so initially progress was slow, but within an hour the wind had increased so much we were at times travelling at ten knots. This meant we could reach Lizard Island before sunset, so we bypassed capes Bedford and Flattery to anchor at Watson’s Bay, Lizard Island. Captain was excited to catch a large mackerel on the way, which kindly provided dinner for the next week.

There were already around 12 boats at anchor and we discovered over the regularly held sunset drinks that many of the couples visited Lizard Island each year, or regularly anyway. (This is an unusual anchorage in which almost every boat has a woman on board!) Being quite large, Lizard Island is an easy place to become entrenched, and it’s not hard to see why some boats move in for weeks if not months at a time.

The island has a good supply of fresh water via a bore with a hand pump so running out of water is not a concern, though carrying it back to the dinghy inspires frugality with its consumption. At the ‘phone box’, about 200 m above sea level and around half way up the ‘Cook’s Look’ trail (from the top of which Captain Cook allegedly found his route through the reef to deep water) it’s possible to get up to three bars of internet reception and make phone calls. So, isolation is not complete.

If fishing floats your boat you don’t have to go too far to avoid the ‘green zone’ (in which it’s prohibited). We’ve also discovered foraging to be rewarding as there is an abundance of bush passionfruit, coconuts are available on the other side of the island and delicious yams are plentiful in the swamp area. (They are tasty roasted anyway – we’re yet to try other cooking methods.)

Snorkelling is a delight, with a variety of corals and fish to be spotted on clear days with good ‘viz’. Matey is honing her underwater photography skills with the Go-Pro. She is discovering close-up shots work best though convincing the fish to pose for portraits is proving challenging. We spent a night at nearby Eagle Cay and Matey was excited to see her favourite coral-based friend, the Moorish Idol, once again.

Eagle Cay, the site of last year’s near sinking of Ebb Tide (then Total Care) nearly took us out once again. Captain wasn’t eager to leave the cay but with the tide going down and the wind predicted to howl later in the day Matey had to hurry him along. While Capt and Matey were ‘discussing’ mainsail raising and good communication the port rudder became intimately acquainted with some coral, and the rudder shaft was slightly bent. Of course, if you have absent-mindedly (!) drifted over shallow coral with the sails up what better way to get out of it than sail over the top! With Matey gesticulating from the front of the boat to indicate what she hoped was a path over the deeper coral we managed to sail though without further incident and be on our way. It’s at such moments one is reminded of the skill of the crew of the Endeavour. We were convinced Ebb Tide must have suffered serious damage and that we were jinxed at Eagle Cay, so it was a somber trip back to Lizard Island. Miraculously though, after investigation back at Watson’s Bay, apart from being slightly bent the rudder and its compartment seemed fine, as is steerage. Matey can only hope the coral also was relatively unscathed by the encounter!

Lizard Island has some memorable walks. The Australian Museum’s marine research station is located here and they offer tours on Monday mornings. It’s about 4 km to walk to the station over a sandy 4WD track. The beach route around the island is more pleasant if you don’t mind clambering over rocks. Or, you can of course dinghy around. The tour of the research station is informative and gives a sense of what is currently being studied. It also highlights the very large gaps in our knowledge of many marine species.

The Cook’s Look walk to the top of the hill at around 350 m above sea level provides great views in all directions, including of the Great Barrier Reef. There’s also a track across to the lagoon on the southern side of the island, which is bordered by the smaller Palfrey and South islands. The lagoon embodies tropical island paradise. From this track you can also access a ‘trail’ (marked by the occasional blue thong and sometimes evident by slightly trampled grass) to Coconut Beach, a south-east facing windswept but beautiful beach. Accessing the beach requires scaling down a long rock wall, aided by a rope and buffeted by the relentless wind, which gives it a barren feel, yet the coconut grove and patches of lush vegetation in this valley indicate otherwise. The fine grains of densely packed sand rival Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays. We were warned at sunset drinks that climbing down the rock face to Coconut Beach was challenging, but it was definitely worth the effort and mild anxiety resulting from looking down.

The wind blows hard most days at Lizard Island and Watson’s Bay beach is wide with a gentle slope so Ebb Tide is anchored close to shore. This enables rowing ashore, a minimalist’s joy we’d almost forgotten while anchored in the shipping channel at Cairns.