the keppels

After our wonderful week with family on board in the Whitsundays it was time to think about heading south.

However … not only did the relentless SE winds continue to hinder our plans, we also wanted to enjoy the AFL Grand Final on board The Bossa with our Magnum friends, so we squeezed in a few extra days socialising around the islands of the Whitsundays.

Our early days of sailing were on trailer sailers – a Southern Cross 23 followed by three Magnum 8.5’s. In fact, we took over the building of the Magnum trailer sailers for a short time in the early 2000’s.  Our last Magnum is now owned by friends of ours, who, along with two other Magnums happened to be cruising around the Whitsundays while we were.

(Remember, you can click on each photo for a larger view.)

It has been challenging negotiating the wind this year, especially if you want to go south.  We spotted a very small window to jump down to The Keppels, so we grabbed it. After a quick refuel (and a mad dash to the IGA) at Hamilton Island where we also said ‘hello and goodbye’ to Bushytales, we were off. 

It was a 200 nautical mile jump which we normally do over at least four days, but we had just over two, so we knew we had to factor in an overnighter … which was to be from Keswick Island to North Keppel Island. We had little or no wind at times and the currents were often against us, lots of motoring, but we also had some really good reaching sails too. Our overnighter was a tad bumpy and certainly too rowdy for sound sleeping, but we made good progress with the sails up all night.

The overnighter proved to be the correct decision as strong SE winds were due to arrive so yes, it was to be five days of sitting out yet another blow.

We had the best time around The Keppels once the wind eased. We had beautiful calm sunny days enjoying Svendsen’s Beach, Leeke’s Creek, Butterfish Bay and Monkey Beach. We also caught up with Serendipity V who had made their way south successfully negotiating the tricky winds also.

I finally got the drone up in Leeke’s Creek. I was suffering big time from photography withdrawal.  I hadn’t used the drone or been in the water with my cameras since early September. Far too long.

A bird’s eye view of Leeke’s Creek, Leeke’s Beach and in the distance, Fisherman’s Beach. You can just see us with our tender on the sandflats.

Here’s a slideshow of more drone photographs …

We then snuck around to the Butterfish Bay public mooring for a snorkel. The visibility wasn’t great after several days of strong winds, but it was so good to be back in the water with my cameras. My biggest find was this Nudi! Only my second for the season.

I’ve seen this type of Nudibranch in The Keppels before. It was slowly moving deeper in to the staghorn coral so I couldn’t quite catch the rhinophores in my photos. Those bumps with yellow tips run the length of the Nudi’s body and its rhinophores are orange. As always, I love finding a Nudi! More please.

One of our favourite spots, Monkey Beach, was next. We tuck in deep where there’s shallow clear water over white sand with the Monkey Beach reef close by. We’ve had big tides recently, so we had to watch our depth, but I do love my snorkels from The Bossa. No timelines but mine. The sun was still shining and the winds gentle. I snorkeled every day we were there. 

This colony of Anenomefish has grown to at least fifty we think …

I also found two unusual creatures in the Monkey reef. A Sea Apple which I’d never seen before and a Tiger Cowrie.

And my favourite clams …

I’m so drawn to these clams every time I visit Monkey. Funnily enough they are in exactly the same places! Their colours really do catch your eye in the brown algae covered coral sections of the Monkey reef, as per the photo below.

They are Tridacna clams and are native to our warm shallow reefs. They have large leaf-like fluted edges and an amazing amount of different coloured and patterned mantles.  No two clams are the same which I can vouch for after spending several snorkel hours tracking them down. They grow to about 40 cm which was the size I was photographing. By day the clam spreads out its mantle so that the mantle’s algae receives the sunlight it needs. It’s the algae (tiny plants) that produces these amazing colours and patterns, which change as you change your viewing angle.

So, every time I visit the Monkey I find myself back with the clams. While my mission is to capture these amazing colours and patterns with clear sharp photos, avoiding as much backscatter as I can, I also need to mix up these clam photos so its not just ‘more of the same’. Getting close is tricky as the clam usually senses my movement and if I block the sunlight, the clam will start to close its mantle, not completely, but nevertheless the shapes, patterns and colours can change. These are all close-up shots.

We enjoyed a day with Vivacious who arrived on our last day. They like many boats, had been somewhat ‘stuck’ further north for weeks. We certainly appreciated their desire to catch up with us before we departed. We had a great farewell dinner on Vivacious with Serendipity V.

Our last night at Monkey on Vivacious, with Serendipity V and The Bossa. Dinner, with lots of catching up on the agenda and as always, a few card games over a wine or two. Serendipity V at sunset.

We are now in Gladstone planning our last few weeks on the water and if there’s a will there’s a way, to get back out to the outer reef one last time.