Capricorn Group of Great Barrier Reef

After our gale at Musgrave a window of several days of light winds opened up and we took this opportunity to visit some of the other Coral Reefs in the group. In company with a Hanse 41, Imagin iv, we motored in flat seas to Fitzroy Reef which is only a fringing reef and lagoon with no coral/sand cay. All you see on the horizon when approaching is a line of breaking surf, and then only when you are relatively close. Fitzroy, like Musgrave, is only one of a few reefs in this region with boat access into the lagoon and so after the exhilaration of entering the via the very narrow entrance, no wider than Erica’s 40’ length, with its very fast flowing current (see photo) we anchored in glassy conditions inside the reef. It felt very strange at high tide to be anchored in the middle of the ocean 60 nm from the Coast of Australia (see photo) with no land or anything else in sight. Fitzroy reef has extensive coral formations for the snorkeller but we only managed to see a very small part of this incredible underwater world in our brief stay. No need for Erica’s crew to fish because Imagin’s kept us supplied with an ample amount of superb eating fish.

From Fitzroy we motored on another windless sea, sometimes in the company of dolphins, past the resort island of Heron and on to Masthead Island which has a wooded coral cay but no access to the lagoon. We anchored only metres from the coral in open ocean with the reef providing some protection from the ocean swell.

A fabulous week out at the Great Barrier Reef was topped off with an exhilarating dawn sail to Cape Capricorn on the mainland (see photo) marking Erica’s passage up the East Coast of Australia and entry into the sunny Tropics!