Hinchinbrook to Fitzroy Island

Going up Hinchinbrook's
Number Six Creek

The Ramsay Bay Boardwalk

Haydee at Ramsay Bay

We finished our Hinchinbrook Island tour with a trip around Missionary Bay's shallows to a deep-ish water channel into Number Seven Creek, the seventh of eight numbered, not named, mangrove creeks at the northern end of the island. Swimming in the murky brown water isn't an option (I'm sure I saw some glowing green eyes looking out at me from the water!) and there are very few places to go ashore in the creek complex, but fortunately for us some lovely person has built a jetty and boardwalk that takes you across the mangroves to Ramsay Bay, where we all had a swim. We spent the night anchored in the creek with a few thousand mozzies. When we had enough tide to cross the shallows again the next day, we made our way back out of the creek and made for Dunk Island, stopping in for a swim at Hudson Island, a beautiful deserted island we found on the way to Dunk. We had some anchor excitement as we left Hudson Island - our bow was pulling down rather than our anchor coming up as I operated the anchor winch and no manoeuvering would free us. Shane went diving and untangled our anchor chain from a large rock it was wrapped around and away we went.

Sadly, Dunk Island was badly damaged by Cyclone Yasi and remains closed and, it appears, uninhabited other than some work crews dismantling damaged buildings. We didn't go ashore and continued north the next day to Mourilyan Harbour, stopping on the way for yet another swim at yet another beautiful bay. Mourilyan provides safe harbour but little else, its focus being bulk sugar loading rather than tourism. From Mourilyan it was north once again to Fitzroy Island, 15 miles south-east of Cairns. I have to admit to being a little sick of our recent sail-anchor-sail routine, especially after yesterday's 40-plus miles, and managed to convince Shane to spend today at Fitzroy Island before heading in to Cairns tomorrow. I can currently hear lots of splashing as Shane scrubs the hull and squealing as the kids "help" him; and we'll go ashore to the resort a little later today.