Posted May 7, 2023
about September 10, 2022
It was time to head to the beach. The low tide was exposing some rocky areas around the north-facing beach; so we headed to the one facing east. The sand was very soft, but low tide had exposed a lot of shells; so we tread carefully while bringing our dinghy up on the shore.
What struck us first was how beautiful this place is. With its impressively wide beach and verdant green hillsides, it looked like Queensland from out of a movie. The calm bay with its offshore islands and small scattering of boats added to the beauty. The water here was rather dark but also clear. This was the first area we had seen this trip that looked somewhat tropical.
We set off towards the north headland but first had to decide whether to walk on the prettiest sand higher up or down at the shoreline, amid all the shells, looking for treasures. We ended up doing a bit of both.
The large scale here was apparent when other people came ashore further up the way and looked about the size of ants. The sun was fairly intense, making the sea sparkle and the wavelets near the shoreline take on a glowing shine. Yet the light also seemed to have a softness that made the whole scene feel rather mystical. (Click any photo in the gallery below to enlarge.)
After a time we decided to turn around before reaching the headland, glad now to be walking into the cooling breeze. Our final stop was at a single red-leaf tree in among all the greenery, which from afar looked like a pohutukawa, another reminder of New Zealand.
It seems natural at this point that we’d want to take a dip in the water, and in fact the other people were doing just that. But after reading crocodiles had been spotted in the area, we were just not willing to take the risk.
We were now far enough north in Australia that swimming off the mainland (with all its river estuaries and mangroves) was out. The Whitsunday islands should offer swimming possibilities, but even then we’d have to be very shark aware. (And then at some point we’d have to contend with the approaching stinger season, but that’s a subject for a future post.)
Back on the boat later, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.
I was feeling happy about where we’d ended up, hoping this was an indication that the scenery ahead might be more to our liking. It’s true we hadn’t yet been many places on this trip, but this was not our first rodeo in Queensland. We spent a good part of the 2015 summer season in the southern regions of this state, something we haven’t blogged much about yet, and it was a very mixed bag.
Basically now, instead of starting with a clean slate, we had a checkered history to overcome, especially for Rich who would not count Queensland as one of his favorite places. This was one of several factors that would make this trip more challenging than the usual cruise, and this season was already showing signs of being an uphill battle. Thus good experiences in places like Pearl Bay would take on extra importance as we made our way further north.
I had a nice moment later in the night when I stepped out into the cockpit. The bay was so still and glassy, and I could see some small boats had pulled up to the beach and set up campfires, their lights reflected in the glassy water. Later a full moon came up and illuminated the wedge of stripy clouds above us while a few stars remained visible near the islands.
Feeling pressed for time, we would be saying good-bye to Pearl Bay and the Capricorn Coast the following morning and heading further off the mainland into a new group of islands: the Northumberland Islands. –Cyndi
