Year 2 – 23 March 2025 – Bundaberg (“Bundy”) – Lady Elliott Island

If anyone reading this and is free from late June to mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew during this period at present.

It was a sunny morning when we woke and we prepared ourselves to leave for Lady Elliott Island which is a coral cay about 46 nm offshore. It has a lighthouse, tourist resort and airfield and is the first link in the reefs of the Great Barrier Relief. We upped the dinghy on the davits and  the upped the anchor and left the Burnett River through the channel markers.

When we could we left the channel and put up sails toward the Island. The problem was the wind direction and we could not sail direct and close hauled (sailing as close to the wind as possible) we were 20-30 degrees off course. I hoped as predicted the wind would gradually move round and bring us back on to course. But where are we sailing?

Lady Elliot Island is the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The island lies 46 nautical miles (85 km; 53 mi) north-east of Bundaberg and covers an area of approximately 45 hectares (110 acres). It is part of the Capricorn and Bunker Group of islands and is owned by the Commonwealth of Australia. The island is home to a small eco resort and an airstrip, which is serviced daily by flights from Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Lady Elliot Island is located within the 'Green Zone' of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which is the highest possible classification designated by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. The island is particularly renowned for its scuba diving and snorkelling, as its location far offshore at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef results in excellent water clarity.

The waters surrounding the island are particularly rich in sealife because of a total ban on fishing or taking anything from the surrounding waters. Manta rays are abundant, attracted to the plankton around the island. The speckled carpetshark is often observed in the waters around the island. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most important sea turtle habitats in the world, with Lady Elliot Island being a key part of that habitat. Every year between November and March the green and loggerhead turtles lumber up the same beach on which they were born more than 50 years ago. These turtles’ nest on Lady Elliot Island up to nine times in a season, laying between 80 and 120 eggs per clutch. About eight to twelve weeks later, young hatchlings leave their nests and head towards the ocean (January to April).

Lady Elliot Island is just north of Hervey Bay, a popular humpback whale resting ground along their migration route. Whales are common in the waters around the island in the winter and early spring from June to October. Regular sightings occur on the flights to the island, and while snorkelling and diving from boats and from the island's beaches. Almost daily during the season, whale songs can be heard under the water while swimming around the island. Lady Elliot Island has one of the highest seabird diversity of any island within the Great Barrier Reef and over 100,000 birds nest on Lady Elliot Island during summer breeding season.

In 1816, the island was officially discovered and named by Captain Thomas Stewart aboard the vessel Lady Elliot on the way to Sydney in 1816. The Lady Elliot was a 353-tonne vessel that was built in Bengal and registered in Calcutta, India. On the return journey from Sydney, it was wrecked on a reef south of Cardwell in North Queensland, and that reef is called Lady Elliot Reef. The first lighthouse to be built on the island was constructed in 1866. It was the third lighthouse built in Queensland and the first to be built offshore on the Great Barrier Reef. The original structure was destroyed by a cyclone six years later. In 1873, another lighthouse was constructed, Lady Elliot Island Light. The lighthouse is on the National Heritage list because it is a timber-framed construction with a cast iron cladding, which was premade in England and shipped to the island in pieces. This lighthouse is 15 metres (49 ft) tall and shone out approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) to sea. The old lighthouse was used continuously until 1995 but became too short for the surrounding vegetation, which was interrupting the beam of light. At this time the Australian Maritime Safety Authority built a new light tower. It is 21 metres (69 ft) tall and its six light beams shine 40 kilometres (25 mi) out to sea. It is solar powered, fully automated and runs continuously. The original lighthouse was placed on the Commonwealth Heritage List in 2004.

This was the first trip for David and Mark and we decided to have 2-hour shifts with David and I on the first shift and Trevor and Mark on the second. They watched as we got the sails out and how we tuned the boat etc David showed Mark the daily checks outside and we sailed well as close as we could to the course. The wind never quite came round enough and at one point reduced so we continued to sail as best we can. We also put up the staysail as well as the genoa and this increased our speed initially. We had some lunch en route and it was a nice warm day with a reasonable breeze of 10-15 kts.

By about 3.30pm we were some 7nm off course from the Island and we could see one large white tower and a smaller one. The smaller one was the lighthouse and the large a radio/antenna tower. We tacked across and headed back on ourselves toward the Island and after about 30 minutes we put on the engine and motored into the wind. We came toward the Island and the picture of the day is the view of what we saw. We could see the waves breaking on the coral on the North and South points of the Island. There were various white markers which said no anchoring inside these cones.

There was a bit of a swell and we could see 3 dive boats off the Northwest side of the Island and a dinghy on the beach. There were some people in chairs on the beach watching the sunset. It looked a lovely magical island and we had some boobies (birds) come and sit on the front of the boat which I moved on as they crap everywhere!!. We looked around and found an anchor spot which was quite rolly so we upped anchor and then moved closer to the dive boats and tried to get behind the reef more and I think it was a bit better. We are still subject to a little roll but at present it is not as bad as we had in Noosa Heads or Double Point.

We had a drink and then I cooked a pasta supper with salad as we had not taken anything out of the freezer. We look forward to exploring the island tomorrow and it had been a good day getting here and David and Mark are more familiar as to how Stormbird works.

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from late June to Mid-July so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com