Percy Fog Sphinx

Evening before a sea fog rolled inland at Mackay as to be expected it was nice and thick this day. Grasstree Beach ramp up Cabbage Tree Ck has its own hurdles to be negotiated. Low water this creek dries out. We waited for water and daylight getting in the water around 630. I have a little experience in this creek and had some idea of the better passage between ramp and the lateral marker.

Getting out of the creek by 0700 encountering a depth 0.9M back near ramp. With 2.2M tide suggests that this is in the minimum amount of water to safely negotiate for a Jet Ski.

Heading out we are all thinking fog will breakup soon. Not so after 45klms we are still in the thick soup. Navigating solely from our Chart Plotters a course predetermined and plotted with the files loaded on the 3 Skis. Made our first stop at this point (near Knight Island) to marvel at how far out the fog persisted. I moved a short distance away from the others for pee to look back to be out of sight of the others. We were separated. I moved to our track at approximate distance moved. Still could not see them turned off engine and yelled out for a reply of yeah over here. I started off in direction of voice for a short distance killed motor and repeat call. This repeated 3 times before they spotted me going wrong direction. Bit of a scare and lessons learnt.

Continued on our journey with a heavy fog as our close companion. We hadn’t sighted any land sense leaving mainland until Hull Island in the Beverly Group 60klms out. To experience the appearance of a island to seemingly jump out of no where had a bit of wow factor to it. The fog seemed a bit lighter in patches revealing a couple Whales.

Moving through the Beverly’s our hope of getting clear air waned but only for another 5ks or so we broke out to a vista of Islands. Sphinx our aim on all if not Glass as it had been from the start. A object spotted on surface we approached to investigate to find two whales that must of been lying motionless in a T formation.

Sphinx Island is a prominent ocean mark named for its liking to the Egyptian Sphinx’s from a distance. We had to give these Islands a bit of a fly bye being more of a recon due to time restriction.

Slipping across to Pine Peak we drop into Battle Bay to beach. A couple of drones launched that gives a great perspective the circled area noted as possible camp spot.

Quick run over the Hotspur Islands to investigate a possible waterfall that wasnt.

Found a bit of an overhang back tracking to Pine Peak Island

Leaving Pine Peak behind we head to Percy’s.

With a lingering fog we arrive the A frame in West Bay, Middle Percy. We had an hour to get the drones up, add a badge to our plaque and have a bite to eat. Needed to beat out going tide back at Grasstree Beach to get into the ramp before 1430.

Met 5 blokes that had landed at the same time that had been at sea for 2 months traveling from Sydney. I spotted one going up a Palm for some fresh Coconut successfully.

Getting away at 1200 with Fog moving in on Percy.

I estimate that we traveled out in 70% of the distance in heavy fog and returned in 50% of the distance not so heavy fog. Maybe the sun high over head just made it seem that way.

Certainly more clear patches with the occasional Island sightings in the distance. Had our first and only sighting of Knight Island peaking out of the fog. This Island on a normal day is a stand out Marker we see for most of this trip.

We arrive 1350 back at Grasstree Beach after traveling 100klms none stop from Percy that is a first for us. We get into ramp with a bit more water than going out.

I probably banged on a bit about the Fog but that was the domination of our day. A completely different sense of emotions Awe, Cold, Wet, Fear, Relieve, Surprise and Achievement. We handled an unusual environment over a fair distance with a time constraint dealing with a tidal ramp. Thanks Ann and Paul it wasn’t our average day on the water with all of the above Including exploring a new area. Well Done a great journey.

Lessons Learnt:

Tidal Creek Launch ? Use it with a Low tide in the middle of planned trip. This will give you maximum time on water.

Separated in Fog ? If intended Paul suggest we hit MOB (Man Over Board) marker on our plotters of all skis. Unintentional I suggest the same and do a full circuit of that marker with the other party doing the same or at least 1 ski leaving a trail in the water to be picked up. Audio contact is reassuring and deceiving in fog you could relay coordinates ? Different situations/elements may make all this useless or unsafe so use common sense.

Fog alone can saturate you.