Fraser Island, Queensland And the Great Sandy Straits

Great Sandy Straits

15 April 2013 | 25 25'S:152 56'E, Fraser Island, Queensland

Passage through the Great Sandy Srait from the south mandates a crossing of the Wide Bay Bar, near Inskip Point. This bar is made up of sand deposits from tidal activity at the passage between Fraser Island and the peninsular point just above Rainbow Beach. Transiting the Wide Bay Bar takes skill in determining the line of passage, marked on shore with large white triangles and on the charts with position lines. And when the swells are well over 3 meters from the SE, the breaking waves make the passage more daunting. As Sea Child approached this passage, we were under mainsail alone, as the winds had gone light and variable. The swells were another thing, to truly catch our attention. As we neared the passage, we noticed another catamaran coming out of the passage, climbing over each wave with her bows well out of the water. As we were entering the bar, however, the swells were with us, and as we transited Wide Bay Bar, Sea Child surfed down the waves, at one point up to 18.5 knots, as the waves on either side of us broke over the bar itself. Once inside the passage, another set of triangle markers were positoned on Inskip Point, and we aligned Sea Child with them for the 4 mile journey towards the main channel between Fraser Island and the mainland. We paralleled the bar itself, and as the waters were deep here in the inside passage. The water itself was chaotic and sloppy and unorganized. Once we were clear of the rough water, the calm Great Sandy Strait laid out before us and we found ourselves at anchor at Pelican Bay, just around the bend of the Inskip point. We paddled to the shore in the retreating tide, and walked around the Wide Bay Bar beach to the triangle markers on land. Even at low tide, the bar itself broke with an impressive array of waves, and we even noticed other vessels approach the passage at low tide. We transited at high tide, but with local knowledge, it seems that its possible to enter the bar at any tide.

We are now motoring through the Great Sandy Strait toward the white cliffs of NW Fraser Island. Winds calm, seas flat, temps in high 80's. We hope to reach Lady Musgrave Island by mid-week.

Please visit this page:

www.sailblogs.com/member/seachild

for information about our passage of Wide Bay Bar at Fraser Island.