St Helena Island Dugong Encounter

I took off early for a solo paddle out to St Helena Island with a view to capturing some images in the morning light before catching up with some fellow paddlers out on Green Island for our yearly "Green needs a clean" day out.

It was an uneventful paddle over and the sun was moving quicker than I was so I shot a few images on the north side of the island before heading off towards the prisoner cemetery.

I noticed a "rock" in an unusual place as I was walking past the picnic area.  After further investigation, the rock turned out to be the back of a dugong browsing along the foreshore.  I got some shots of him from shore doing some crocodile impersonations.

By this time I was running a little late so ignored the myriad of birds on the south side of the island including the Rainbow Bee-eater colony and took some quick shots of the cemetery and the lime kiln before jumping in the kayak and heading off to Green Island to lend a hand in the clean up.

Dugongs in Moreton Bay are usually very shy, and though we see them on the water, we rarely capture images of them apart from a splash and resultant swirl of water as they dive away to hide from prying eyes.  This dugong came to check me out as soon as I launched the kayak and was happy to continue swimming around the kayak allowing me to get some images as well as some hand held video.

So guys, the dugong was my excuse for being late to the clean up!

Bribie Island to Moreton Island Return

This is one of my favourite day paddles, even better when you can stay a few nights on Moreton!  It involves a 16 km crossing, including the main shipping channel into Brisbane, so around 2 hours each way.

You need to watch your tides as there are a number of points where the tide runs between 3-5 knots at peak flow, and in heavy swell, the banks on the other side of the shipping channel will have breaking waves on them.

We were on the water around 6:40 am and at Bulwer by 8:45 am, pushing into a slight headwind and the remains of the swell generated by Cyclone Marcia and the subsequent low pressure systems which past by last week.

The wind dropped off near the shipping channel and we were left paddling in glassy conditions for part of the crossing.

This seems to be a replacement beacon (opposite the M2 beacon) which makes the shipping channel wider than it has been in the past.  The shipping channel markers are a little north of a direct line to Bulwer, but it is advisable to cross at the markers so you know where you are in terms of the channel.

We took some shots of the Bulwer Wrecks before heading into Bulwer for second breakfasts (closed on Tuesdays!).

We headed around to the North shore of Moreton for a surf after breakfast just to ensure we were completely exhausted before crossing back to Bribie giving us 42.7 kms of paddling.

We saw plenty of dolphins in the water today as well as a shark which jumped out of the water a couple of times creating a large splash on the surface - couldn't make out the species as all we saw was the silvery grey colouring and the resultant splash. 

Swan Bay and Jumpinpin Bar

We had an early morning start from Cabbage Tree Point at Stieglitz to wind our way out to Jumpinpin Bar for a surf and a wander around Swan Bay.  After a week of south easterly trade winds around 15-20 knots, the bar was a mass of white spray and mountainous lumps of moving water a long way out to sea so we took the safer option and surfed the slowing tidal race and the break on the inside bank which formed as the tide dropped.

The surf was a bonus as the main point of today was to have a paddle and an explore around Swan Bay which is situated on the south end of North Stradbroke island.

The bay is very shallow and partially empties at low tide.  We did in fact come across a few swans in the bay but they weren't feeling particularly photogenic.  This is a protected zone which doesn't allow any motorised boats so it is worth a visit on the high tide - and maybe a paddle up the mangrove lined creek (north western corner) if you feel inclined.

We were happy to wander along the peninsular which forms part of the bay and view the amazing array of wildlife that either call this area home or were stopping by on their yearly migration.  The bay would appear to be full of stingrays that feed on the yabbie banks on the west side of the peninsular.

We walked/paddled our kayaks across the entrance of the bay to walk over to the surf side of the island to have a closer look at the action that was happening on the outside banks of the bar.  We may have got  little distracted along the way, but it was a very scenic location - certainly worth a visit if the conditions for off shore aren't attractive!

The paddle was around a 27 km round trip which includes the surfing and bit of exploring in and around the bay. Thanks to Phil and Jono who joined me for the kayak/photography session.