At 9 am we pulled up the anchor and headed for Port Hinchinbrook marina. We went through the entrance channel about 30 minutes before full tide, so had the maximum benefit of the tide. To my surprise we had nothing under the keel as we entered the marina and only 0.2 m in some sections just before the entrance. When we got inside the depths improved but were only deep enough to accommodate low tide under the berths themselves. Black & Tan registered 1.7m total depth on the way in (they draw 1.6m) so we must have been dragging through the silt.
Anyway, we tied up in our berth, checked the high tides for the next few days (which were going to be lower than the tide today) and made the decision to turn around and go back out whilst we still had the benefit of the high tide, as the next reasonable tide wasn't until Wed 1st September. After some hasty farewells to Ross and Marj we headed back out and motored down to Reis Point where we had anchored on Thursday night.
The entrance to Port Hinchinbrook
If conditions improve, we will head out of the channel tomorrow morning and anchor at Orpheous Island. The forecast does not look encouraging, so we may be here for a few days.
Peaceful afternoon at Reis Point
We put the crab traps out again, this time hoping for better fortune. Fishing didn't yield anything useful.
Mike
ReplyDeleteReis Point looks great!
Given the depth challenges in Qld, you may have to consider buyin a Southerly 42RST which sports a swing keel.
Good luck with the fishing perhaps some "cubing" may bring them in to Mica.
Safe sailing and better luck with the weather.
Mike