Dugong Bay - rushing water adventures

 We departed from Silver Gull Creek at 05:00 so we would enter the channel between Kolan Island and the mainland at low tide and exit the channel via The Gutter while the tide was still slack.  We have 24 for tidal swings currently and this causes strong currents, great turbulence and whirlpools in the narrow passages.  We passed two moored cruise ships on our way from the creek to the entrance to the Kolan Island channel.  The channel was calm and dawn brought us light as we motored down the channel past the large Kolan Island iron mine and loading docks.  The passage through The Gutter was uneventful because of our timing to reach that point at slack tide.


Dawn light after exiting The Gutter, Koolan Channel

Our passage continued with a very twisty route around many islands often fringed with reefs and rocks.  As the flood (rising) tide came in, the currents became much stronger with small whirlpools pulling True North off course and requiring us to be vigilant steering through the narrow deep channel.  As soon as we arrived at our selected anchorage and dropped the hook, we were greeted by two sandy nurse sharks who have stayed around True North all day.  We suspect they have been fed by other yachts and come immediately when a new yach arrives.  We are the only yacht in Dugong Bay so the sharks are staying near us.

Sandy Nurse sharks mooching by True North.  We could easily pet them as they swam by the yacht.

We set out on the dinghy to explore Dugong Bay.  The cruising guide said there is a waterfall near our anchorage so we headed over there first to check it our.

Dugong Bay waterfall - it is a large drop from the top

It appeared to us that it would be an easy climb up from the water level to what looked like a pool at the bottom of the large waterfall drop.  Paul and I set off climbing up the rocks while Glen stayed near the dinghy to keep an eye on it.  When we arrived at the bottom of the large drop, we did find a deep pool where we jumped in to have a great refreshing fresh water swim.

A nice swimming hole at the bottom of the waterfall free fall drop

It was a great natural shower

 A short video of the waterfall and area is here. https://photos.app.goo.gl/MStAsQFbbACLXf5W9

The view from the waterfall pool.  Note Glen and our dinghy down below.

After climbing down we continued clockwise around the shore of Dugong Bay.  Paul had the fishing lure trolling behind us but only had a few bites and did not catch anything.  We eventually returned home to True North and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening 

Our anchorage in Dugong Bay

The view of our anchorage from my seat while I create this blog entry.  It is currently 21:00, dead calm with a full moon somewhat obscured by a thin layer of cloud.  The frogs are singing, something is quietly splashing and the temperature is perfect.  What a privilege it is to be able to visit and enjoy such beautiful locations!

Time for bed, off the the Horizontal Falls for more adventures tomorrow.


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