Posted March 25, 2023
about September 2, 2022
We headed away from Great Keppel Island after another pleasant night in our anchorage off Svendsen Beach. Our route took us past the other “Keppels” in the area: Middle and Miall islands. Middle Island, with its white beaches, looked rather appealing. But again, with the roll problem at Great Kepple Island, I would imagine Middle Island’s east-facing anchorages would be places that Alan Lucas (the guidebook writer) would call “active.” Miall Island, just above Middle Island, didn’t seem to have much to offer as far places to anchor.
Below, photos of the islands–Middle Island is the one with the visible beaches and Miall is the small island. (Click any photo in the following galleries to enlarge.)
We then headed directly towards Keppel Bay Marina. It’s located in Rosslyn Bay on the mainland and adjoins a nature reserve called Double Heads, so named because of its two monolithic rock hills. This area is one in a string of coastal reserves that make up Capricorn Coast National Park.
The marina has a somewhat remote location, about 6-miles from the nearest town of Yeppon (and the reason why 2-hour access to a complimentary car is offered with a berth rental). Thirty-miles inland is the larger city of Rockhampton.
After a pleasant motor-sail in 12-knots of wind aft of our beam, we were approaching Keppel Bay Marina at high tide. This marina is not a typical one. First off, it’s one of those marinas that’s created by blasting out part of a rocky coastline; then boasts a large breakwater to protect the newly created harbor. It’s not surprising that not everyone likes this sort of place. Also, while there were certainly permanent boats and liveaboards, this marina also caters to boats in transit. Which to us, made the place feel energetic and festive.
Before we left Gladstone, we’d asked people their impressions of Keppel Bay Marina and found a range of opinions. Some said it’s not very nice so just plan to re-provision and get in and out as quickly as possible. Others said it’s OK but the owner should really be putting more money into the place. Only one person said they loved it; but hey, that was hope for us to at least like it.
Rich and I had two advantages for this situation. One is that with our instant hot water heater, we shower on the boat and don’t worry about a marina’s shower facilities. Toilets and laundry, yes, but not having to worry about showers is a huge advantage as many marinas fall short short in this department (water that’s too hot or cold, too low in pressure, too short after putting a coin in the box, etc.).
Our other advantage is that we’ve always enjoyed places such as this and just resonate with how they look and feel. Past favorites include Vuda Marina in Fiji, Kona Marina in Hawaii, Stanley Boat Harbour in Tasmania, and Coffs Harbor in Australia. We especially like when there’s an adjoining rock mountain, much like the Nut at Stanley, the Muttonbird Island Reserve at Coffs, and now the Double Heads at Rosslyn Bay. We rather like having a monolith rock looming over us, a familiar and friendly expression of nature standing sentinel over the marina.
Following the channel into the marina was easy, and finding our slip was no problem. The place was instantly appealing to us, really attractive except for the rather oddly-shaped and painted row of condos on the north end (but if people like living there, who are we to argue?).
We were soon tied up and taking a walk to the office. The big rock mountain made a great backdrop, but I noticed this marina also had some really nice trees along its walkway, attracting lots of birds. Tucked amid the trees were the bathroom and shower facilities, and small laundry room. Again, we don’t worry about the showers, but I could see the laundry would take some effort, squeezing in among all the other yachties who probably needed to do laundry along with provisioning.
It was easy to spot the outdoor area of the restaurant with all the tables outside, most under umbrellas or a tent, on lawn areas amid really attractive landscaping. A walkway led into the building which featured the main desk of the marina, a large giftshop, a small chandlery, and the host/hostess podium for the restaurant.
Approaching the large, central marina service desk, it was apparent this place was rather busy not just with yachties but regular tourists. They were very efficient with us–we were given information booklets, told how to reserve our complimentary car, and helped with everything we needed. It seems the tourists come here to book ferries to Great Kepple Island or make reservations for the restaurant. In any case, it’s pretty active in there!
After getting getting set up, we made restaurant reservations for us and two friends we’d made back at Gladstone Marina who were also headed north. I’d been really looking forward to trying this place as it has an Asian-based menu, and I was craving Asian-based food (not having had it since well before we left New Zealand)!
Soon, it was time to meet our friends for an early dinner. There was some confusion at our “boomer” table because of an increasingly common (but new to us) system for ordering: download an app, bring up the menu on your phone, make your choices, enter your order, then pay. When the food is ready, it is brought out to you.
Rich managed it but our friends had more trouble. Thankfully, they provide the option to view a physical menu and place your order at the hostess desk. Actually it’s pretty funny to see those of us customers born pre-1961 with our reading glasses, peering at and scrolling down the screen menus on our phones or holding up the actual big menu at the hostess desk, muttering what the heck is this and why can’t they just do things normally? But the world is changing and we either change with it or, well, we don’t get to go to cool places like this.
The Waterline Restaurant did not disappoint. We started our meal with festive cocktails, then feasted on just the sort food I’d been craving: spring rolls, dumplings, hand rolled sushi, and a noodle dish.
Yep, I could tell I was going to be very happy here. –Cyndi
