milln reef

Once we decided to not venture further north from Cairns, we chose to use the approaching calm weather to explore some of Cairn’s neighbouring reefs instead, while also keeping in mind we needed to keep moving south. 

Milln Reef is approximately 30 nautical miles from Cairns (and just over 20 nm SE from Michaelmas Reef).  It’s close to the Continental Shelf and probably as close to the Coral Sea as The Bossa will ever get. 

Milln is known for its clear waters, vibrant marine life and interesting reef structure with gullies and crevices to explore.  There’s only one public mooring and with so few cruising yachts around, we were quite confident it had our name on it. Apart from a few commercial operators, we had Milln Reef to ourselves.

Milln Reef did not disappoint!

The water was so clear. It’s such a thrill to snorkel in crystal clear water as it provides such great visibility. The clarity makes the colours of the reef and the fish really pop. I hope my photos do show how clear the water was.

While the tides were against us at Milln (it’s such a bugger to have a high tide in the middle of the day and they were big tides too), I did manage to make my snorkels work. A low tide means I have less water underneath me and more importantly, between me and my subject, hence better natural light for my photos and of course, it’s always more pleasant to snorkel and easier to keep still, with less water movement. A low tide is perfect for a snorkeler, especially one with a camera! I usually jump in 1 hour before low, anticipating a 2 hour snorkel. This is why the Captain needs that umbrella!

While Milln does offer some deep snorkels where there’s bigger fish hanging around the gullies and bommies , it also has some shallower areas where there was also a lot of lively activity below the surface. I snorkeled both, but not too deep as my photos need the natural light (and my snorkeling technique definitely needs some work). 

My first photo on my first snorkel was of this turtle chomping on some dead coral on the side of a deep bommie. Not bad for a first photo on a first snorkel.

I had read a few articles and I also contacted our friends on Anui about the snorkeling options at Milln Reef before we chose this reef to visit (Flynn Reef was another option near by). The Three Sisters at Milln seemed to be a ‘must-see’.  They are three large colourful bommies, with the peaks of their pinnacles rising to a few metres below the surface. I snorkeled one of these bommies.  While the water was a tad deep for photos, it was such a stunning sight below with gorgeous fish life, including schools of Sweetlips congregating on the bommie’s edge, Surgeonfish cruising by and a variety of fish life around the top of the pinnacle. Sometimes it’s about the experience and the moments, and not the photos.

These Yellow-banded Sweetlips (often called Blubberlips) congregate around bommies, often just chilling. Of course as I get close, they disperse, but usually quite calmly. They never seem to be in a hurry.

Parrotfish on the other hand are always on the move and when they’re not, they are grazing on the reef’s coral and algae. It’s a healthy sign hearing those chomping teeth at work while under water. They are a very important cog in the reef’s eco system. What goes in, then comes out as sand. Those big Parrotfish teeth are some of the strongest teeth in the world and yes, we have the Parrotfish to thank for our sandy beaches.

Here’s a slideshow of a few photos I took in the shallows …

We really enjoyed our time at Milln Reef. It was a tad bumpier than perhaps the outer reefs closer to the mainland might be, but the high tides and the proximity to the Coral Sea deep waters possibly contributed to this.

We’ll hopefully be back and maybe a visit to Flynn as well.

… and back to beaver …

After our fabulous time at Milln Reef it was time to move on, especially when we woke to some rather bumpy seas. We stopped by Flora Reef and I did have a quick snorkel but while our anchorage was perfect, a depth of 4 metres over sand with plenty of room, the reef nearby was quite dead and sparse.

We then moved on to Beaver Reef, to our favourite little lagoon near Beaver’s coral cay, crossing our fingers the birds had moved on since our previous visit. We fortunately had a great reaching sail with our screecher to Beaver. It was hot so the breeze was appreciated. We had Beaver to ourselves and after a visit to the cay, it was time for a snorkel and definitely a few swims. It was hot.

Low tide was now in the morning, yay. (The tides were a tad crazy around our Milln and Flora visits, and my different sources didn’t agree, so it was really doing our heads in. So, yes, why did we have a morning low tide so soon at Beaver? Ask the moon.)

We have been surprised about how many Marine Parks boat visits we’ve had this season. We think it’s six. Another here at Beaver Reef. It’s great to see them out and about as their focus is about educating us all about looking after our Great Barrier Reef, particularly with fishing. While Marine Park zoning maps do cover the fishing zones, there have been closures this season we’ve only found out about from the Marine Parks boats or by word-of-mouth. They also clarified the coral cay and dogs ruling. We’ve seen so many dogs on the cays this season. These cays are home to the local bird life so the two do not mix. If it’s a Marine Park Green Zone, it’s definitely no dogs/pets.

I got my drone up again, but with no scares this time.

Our private little lagoon. It was like being anchored in a swimming pool and only about 4 m deep. You can just see the bommie I snorkeled for the photos below on the RHS of this drone photo.

This bommie was such a pretty one.  No big fish, but lots of colourful coral and juvenile fish darting around. Here’s a slideshow of several wide angle photos I took. I have two Olympus TG cameras, one for close-ups and the second with a wide-angle lens attached to a housing for these types of shots.

And … I found Dory once again (several actually) and in the same Beaver location in the shallows. I’ve just discovered that Blue Tangs often browse the reef in pairs or threesomes as per my photo. Their colour is so vibrant they hard to miss, yet, until this season, I hadn’t seen any.

To top off our great stretch of brilliant weather of gentle northerlies and our recent reef adventures, we caught a Spanish Mackerel on the way to Goold Island, near Hinchinbrook Island.  We were completely out of fish and there was a Spanish Mackerel closure coming up, so it was quite timely. There’s plenty of feeds in this one! 

It’s now back to Townsville for the Captain’s last doctor visit, then south.