Through The Narrows

We left Boyne River early on Wednesday morning to catch the high tide over the shallow sandbar entrance.  Note how well we have learned this technique since Round Hill Creek.

The previous evening we went past ex-pat Andre and Cathy to say goodbye.  And Robert fetched yet another load of fresh water in Jerry cans

We will remember the colorful characters of Boyne River mouth, old Ben and off-beat Sock and the man living in his  tiny homemade trimaran on the bank.

Moving from south of Gladstone to north of Gladstone Harbour is a complex route with dredged shipping channels for the huge ships and shallow areas for everyone else.  As we left Boyne River, a big coal carrying ship sailed out in front of us. We got across the shipping channel as quickly as we could before the next big vessel came along.

There was no wind and we motored all the way to Graham Creek, slowly against a 2 knot current. A distance of 20 nautical miles took us four and a half hours.

There were many big ships berthed along the way and we kept a constant eye on them in case any started moving.

Graham Creek is a very pleasant anchorage, quiet and peaceful.  It is so easy to imagine crocs lurking on these mangrove banks that we didn't venture into the water.

In the late evening we saw a catamaran had anchored at the mouth of the creek. We were up at sunrise  the next morning to ensure we got maximum high tide over the shallowest part of The Narrows. The catamaran left a few minutes before us on the same route and we stuck behind the cat all through The Narrows with constant checking of the very useful Beacon to Beacon Guide. Navigational aids are plentiful through The Narrows but still require careful watch on the depth gauge.

The Narrows is a calm, very narrow waterway between Gladstone and Keppel Bay approximately 15 nautical miles long. The central area of about 6 miles dries at low tide to approximately 2 meters height making it too shallow for most keel boats.  Even Pegasos can only navigate this at maximum high tide. Another factor is that tides flood from each end, meeting in the middle and varying in time from one end to the other. Timing of tides is crucial and Robert did his sums perfectly and we made it through The Narrows without a problem.

This is what it looks like on Google Earth. We went from bottom right to top left. 

Following a tight route from beacon to beacon through the mangroves.

Although Pacific Creek is the popular anchorage, we dropped  anchor in nearby Maria Inlet as Pacific Creek requires high tide to cross the sandbar at the entrance and we did not want to sit and wait for the next high tide which would mean entering the creek in the dark.

Much like Graham Creek, Maria Inlet is comfortable and calm and lined with croc-friendly mangroves on both sides. Too wary of crocs we lazed about in the sun on deck. Robert took the opportunity to extract his newly acquired collection of power tools and built a ladder which he hopes will enable madam to get out of the water back onto the boat (if we ever reach  croc-free clear water).