Duncan Reef is 25 nm north of Kelso, approx’ a 4-hour motor. We decided on an 8.30 am departure. Late enough to see our way out of Kelso with the sun and following our entrance track, but also early enough to arrive at Duncan Reef for an early afternoon snorkel of course.
The weather was amazing with more days of sunshine and calm conditions.
Neither of us were familiar with Duncan Reef, so we were all quite excited. It was also close to some nearby familiar reefs, so only short hops were necessary for any subsequent reef stopovers.
Duncan Reef was like a U shape offering some good northerly protection (what little breeze we had was coming from the north). We both had located similar possible anchorages for two boats on our sat’ programs, but sometimes reality can be quite different.
It was quite tricky to anchor, both of us taking a good hour or so with a few attempts. It was very calm and visibility wasn’t a problem, there were just too many coral heads every which way. We finally both decided on some deeper water, 11 metres. We settled on a spot with darker bommies nearby (meaning they were deep), but seemingly surrounding us on all four points. We did manage to pick the middle though! (You’ll be able to spot them in my aerial photographs below.) We had such a calm weather forecast over the next two days, so we were both comfortable with our choices.
It was finally time for a snorkel.
We checked out an inside spot while Anui headed for the entrance. Unfortunately the inside reef where I jumped in was quite dead. I don’t recall taking one photograph. We then visited the entrance. We found lots of plate coral and a variety of bigger fish here.
Time for the drone!
Chris on Anui very kindly passed this photograph on to me. It was taken at dusk. You can just see the Palm Island group on the horizon. I must get the drone up at dusk!
The following day we decided to check out the northern side of the entrance but found the coral state and fringing reef not what we were looking for. So we exited the Duncan ‘entrance’ and found a long elongated bommie some distance off. There was much healthier coral here, predominantly plate coral again.
Next stop … Walker Reef.
Walker Reef was only 16 nautical miles from Duncan. It was in a more southerly direction and only 26 nm from Hinchinbrook Island. We’d visited Walker Reef before. It’s a fishing zone and a popular reef, both meaning less fish life but there’s very easy access with a sweeping stretch of shallow sand offering a lot of clear space to anchor. Easy!
Anchoring at Walker is like being in a very large swimming pool. The colour of the water is beautiful.
Once again, the plate coral dominated this reef. These two photographs were taken with my wide-angle lens. While there’s not a fish in sight in these photographs, there were fish. They were just a bit camera shy.
We had planned to spend two nights at Walker Reef. We’d been regularly checking the weather forecasts with our Starlink so we could plan our southern departure but unfortunately, it became obvious we had to make a call on heading south. There were consistently strong SE headwinds predicted for the next 10+ days after this calm patch and we had to be in the Whitsundays for a family visit mid-September. So we decided we to depart one day early from the reef. We had the smallest window which meant an overnighter of motor-sailing.
Not realising we were about to leave the following morning we had postponed our roast dinner to the following night. Unfortunately we missed sharing our roast, but I did get the drone up at dusk.
Anui went north, we south. We had a wonderful week out on the reef and sharing it with likeminded friends is always a treat … and … we will definitely return to Kelso Reef one day soon! I think the expression, “is it as good as Kelso?”, might come in to play with future snorkels.
It was 146 nautical miles to the Gloucester Passage. A long passage but we made the right call. We are now at Airlie Beach waiting … for these strong SE winds to disappear from our long range wind forecasts.
Always nice to see the images you took of the places we enjoyed together. Totally agree Kelso is now a point of reference for other reef visits. The big outside bommies at Duncan were pretty good too, but less varied. Well done on the dusk aerials too. It is good to mix it up a bit.
A great week for underwater photos! I have to be a bit more adventurous with the drone, sunset and maybe sunrise (I’m not really a morning person!). Not sure I’ve got the courage to fly it while moving though. I do hope we get another reef opportunity before heading south. Enjoy your time north!