Northern Great Barrier Reef- Torres Strait

[Potter]

Did an overnight trip out to the Yorke Islands from Thursday Island, Torres Strait. Was a 5 hr trip (7hrs getting there in rough weather) as it is much closer to PNG than the tip of Cape York. It is another world with the waters being crystal clear, the coral amazing and the islands surrounded in the whitest of sands. We arranged to stay with a friend on Yorke island but the weather turned on us and we had to punch for hours into the washing machine that pushes through the straits. We were unable to pull into the the wharf with the strong NW blowing so we had to anchor off the back of a nearby island and wait it out.. cooking up a feed of fresh mackerel. Luckily at around 5.00pm the weather began to settle and we were able to hit a nearby wreck. First drop hand everyone bent over the side and this was to be the pattern for the next 4 hrs with the boys hooking large mouth nannigai, small mouth nannigai, cobia, fingermark, sweetlip, trout, barracuda and of course sharks. Our mate who lives on Yorke dropped his boat in and came and found us…. and found us he did ..bent over to a 3 way hook-up of Nannigai. We fished side by side until about 10pm and then headed in on a glassed out sea lit by a full moon.

Thankfully the weather had settled enough for us to anchor off the the front wharf… being careful not to anchor in the path of the the barges (sea swift) that service the islands or also go dry on the many huge bombies. After a long, rough day on the boat and a couple of hours of filleting the boys were relieved to have a shower, toilet, hot meal and bed.. so was I. i let the boys sleep in whilst I checked the boat and sorted extra fuel in case we encountered more rough weather. We hit a few spots in the morning fishing around 130ft with paternoster rigs and using fresh spanish mackerel as bait. The large mouth were chewing hard and we picked up some nice sweeties, mackerel and the odd trout…before deciding to make the 5hr journey home around midday. All was well until a storm front hit us and the seas suddenly turned between Coconut and Warraber Island. We pushed on to Warraber and refuelled… putting together a game plan. We decided to stick our nose out and if it was too rough we would pull back into warraber for the night. I punched directly into the swell for about 20mins until I was able to turn and ride it side-on directly for the tip of Australia. We had plenty of fuel and it would be less stress on the boat and a much more comfortable ride. As we got about 30nm from Thursday Island the seas began to completely glass out..which was a relief …until I lost my steering. We managed to pull our way back into T.I. ramp and there was certainly a feeling of relief and victory as we took on the best and worst of the Torres Strait. An Epic trip in an amazing part of the world. We will definitley be heading back out to this amazing area at the end of the year when the doldrums kick back in (of course you need to seek permission from the traditional owners and council before visiting). We have decided we will will put the boat on the barge and fly out there as it a lot less stress on the boat/outboard and just as cost effective.

[Old Scaley]

Epic trip. Thanks for sharing.

[Bi_polar]

Guys that's an epic report and definately one to remember. Congrats on getting out there and doing something that most of us only dream of.