Year 2 -9 July 2025-Fitzroy Island
I need two extra crew members from Cairns to Indonesia leaving about the 14/15 July 2025. If anyone is interested please contact me as soon as possible.
We woke at a reasonable time and it was a little grey. We had a cup of tea and noticed 3 boats had left early so there were mooring buoys free. As we were having our tea we saw in the distance 2 catamarans and another yacht heading our way so we upped anchor and went across and picked up a mooring suitable for our size of boat. This proved to be a good decision as the yachts all came in an picked up the spare mooring.
William and Nicola cooked eggs, bacon and tomato breakfast on toast which was great. A guy called Bruce came over from Free at Last 2, a catamaran we had seen in Dunk Island. He said they had sailed overnight but had caught two Spanish Mackerel and this eve brought us 4 fillets. We therefore decided to invite them for drink this evening.
We chilled out a bit and then got the dinghy down and decided to head ashore. There was quite a large resort on Fitzroy Island and which was spread out along the beach and Welcome Bay.
Fitzroy Island (originally Koba or Gabar or Goong-Gan-Jee) is a continental island offshore from Cape Grafton, 29 km (18 miles) southeast of Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It is a locality in the Cairns Region.[2][3] In the 2021 census, Fitzroy Island had a population of 85 people. Fitzroy Island is a large tropical island, with some rainforest covering and its own fringe coral reef system. The island has a total area of 11.6 square kilometres.[4] The highest point of the island is 240 metres (790 feet) above sea level.
Fitzroy Island is a 45-minute ferry ride (about 30 km; 20 miles) from Cairns and is surrounded by a reef system that forms part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Nearly all of the continental island is protected within the Fitzroy Island National Park. Four walking tracks have been established to various parts of the island.[6]
The island separated from the mainland about 8000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. There were Aboriginal visits, mainly for visiting hunting trips and recreation. The Yidiny people named the island "Gabar", meaning "lower arm", because of how it was partially submerged. Lieutenant James Cook named the island in 1770 after Augustus Henry Fitzroy. The island was used for a considerable time as a significant Chinese quarantine station for the Queensland goldfields. Subsequently, it was used as a mission school and, during World War II, as a coast watch station. The island has also been a significant lighthouse base, with the last permanent lighthouse structure on the main island still being an important attraction. Since the lighthouse closed, the marine community has been served by an automatic lighthouse, based on the adjacent Little Fitzroy Island. There has been both a giant clam farm at Welcome Bay, and there is now a tourist resort and day visitor centre.
We motored ashore and pulled up the dinghy on the beach. We walled along to the Foxy’s Bar and Café. There were various walks around the island and William and Nicola decided to walk up the peak and back. Mark and I decided to walk to the lighthouse on the Northeast side. This meant going through the forest and bush which had the odd cockatoo squawking. We walked up and across and came to a look out which shows the picture of the day. We then came across a lighthouse which is now automatic. We walked back down and eventually came back to the beach and across the resort. It had been quite a steep and hot walk and so we had to have a cold beer. We stayed there for a while and then William and Nicola returned from the peak and we decided to have some lunch which was a change. After lunch we walked over to Nudey Beach which was a 25-minute walk through the bush and boulders and it was an interesting walk. The beach was lovely and it was on the end of the Northwest side of the island and was a mixture of beach and coral. There were some people swimming and William and Nicola did so. I did not have my full swimming gear with me.
After about an hour we walked back and took our dinghy back to Stormbird. William and I cleaned the edge of the waterline which was hard work. We all showered and prepared ourselves for Bruce, Gail and Damian who came for a drink from Free at Last 2. Bruce is a character and is sailing around the world and hats off to him. He makes his own whisky and had a barrel on board to help him do that. We had a good chat and once they left Mark cooked the Spanish Mackerel which was delicious with ratatouille.
It had been a great relaxing day and we felt we had explored the island.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com