From time to time, boaties come up with some interesting ideas to challenge themselves. This time, the plan was to take on the Pumicestone Passage, the channel between Bribie Island and the Queensland coast from the northern end of Moreton Bay to Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast. The Pumicestone Passage is notorious for being particularly winding, narrow, and shallow, to the point where it actually dries right out in places at low tide. It is already a challenge to navigate in a small open boat; so to attempt the passage in larger boats would certainly be an adventure.
Some ‘serious’ planning ensued by Dennis Fountain, Blair McDonald, and Lloyd Abbot to enable their boats – Justus, a Riviera 35 Flybridge Cruiser, Mystique Princess, a Fairway 36 Flybridge Cruiser, and Wine Down, a Larson 36 Sport Cruiser – to have any chance of negotiating what lay ahead. Each boat had a draft of approximately one metre, so tide calculations were critical.
The beginning of the journey
Dennis and Jill’s Justus, and Blair and Dianne’s Mystique Princess began their trip from the Gold Coast, stopping for one night at RQ Canaipa Point on Russell Island. With a forecast of 25-knot wind the next day, the boats encountered white caps and rising sea after Coochiemudlo Island.
Lloyd and Barb, and their boat Wine Down were waiting at their home in Aquatic Paradise in Wellington Point to host the two other boats for the night. With strong winds and rain, the three boats took a couple of days before deciding to head out to Moreton Bay.
The three boats ventured north to the marker beacon off Deception Bay in sloppy seas before turning east for Bribie Island. The 2.7nm easterly heading had the whole of the Moreton Bay swell smack on the beam. Some motor boat “tacking” was required to prevent the possibility of a capsize until heading back north again to the entrance of the Pumicestone Passage. The short trip up under the Bribie Bridge in brilliant sunshine to the Banksia Beach anchorage was so wonderfully calm after several hours of battling the Moreton Bay chop.
The fleet had an early start the next morning to Mission Point. Mystique Princess, with the protected prop and rudder, was tasked to lead through the shallows. Unfortunately, during a ‘back off’ manoeuvre in a shallow area about halfway to Mission Point, the ‘floating’ rope to the towed dingy was sucked under Mystique Princess and jammed around the prop and shaft. The propeller chopped the rope, which sent the dingy (with a brand new motor attached) floating away in the strong tide, and the Mystique Princess was dead in the water. Anchors were deployed and Dennis arranged dingy transport to retrieve the errant dingy.
Donning the snorkeling mask and togs, Blair dove into the water to untangle the rope that was tightly wrapped as steel wire around the shaft. After 10 dives in a strong tidal flow without being swept away, Blair cut and prised away the rope. A skin fitting for the lazarette bilge pump was smashed in the dingy incident, so more repairs were made.
After a hot shower to wash away the anti-fouling paint off Blair’s battered blue body, a few drinks were in order at Mission Point, as the red sun set behind the magnificent Glass House Mountains. An easy cruise? Maybe not that day.
The notorious three
The three notorious sections of the Pumicestone Passage are The Skids, The Narrows, and The W’s. The whole stretch is only one and a half nautical miles from beginning to end, yet the high tide varies by one hour and 20 minutes across this short section, being later at the beginning of The Skids. The tidal flow is influenced by Moreton Bay at the southern end and the Bribie Bar at the northern end.
The three boats upped anchor just after dawn planning to arrive at The Skids about one hour before high tide hoping to be able to negotiate all three sections in succession. The day was clear and calm. The small fleet approached the beginning of The Skids with some trepidation, with Mystique Princess leading the way.
Constant radio contact kept the boats informed of the depth below. Pulses rose as Blair radioed that the depth had dropped to just 0.17m (6 inches) below the keel. Justus strove to find a slightly deeper channel one side of the trail stirred up ahead, and Wine Down attempted to raise the stern legs only to find that one leg would not budge. This did cause some concern as the propeller on that engine had begun to ‘feel’ the bottom.
Boats in the past have grounded in this area and have taken days to kedge themselves free before returning unsuccessfully back south. With this in mind the fleet pushed onward, slowly ahead. The sigh of relief was brief after having exited The Skids. The green markers ahead looked to be right among the trees on the shore. It looked impossible to pass between the markers and the shore. Blair and Dianne double-checked the chart. They were entering the aptly named The Narrows. Branches virtually brushed the starboard side of the flybridge for some 500 metres as the boats edged their way forward into the wider channel beyond.
Near the exit of The Narrows, Mystique Princess touched bottom. Justus managed to slide across. With one fully deployed stern leg, Wine Down came to a halt. Lloyd was not happy. Words could not describe Barb’s disposition. However, with some power juggling, Wine Down was freed and the voyage continued north into The W’s. Each boat had to concentrate fully on the port and starboard markers through this section, as at times the leading boat would completely disappear around several corners before becoming visible once again in a wider channel.
With the tide already beginning to ebb, the exit of The W’s had begun to shoal considerably. With depth sounders showing zero and ground trails stirred up, the fleet entered beautiful clear deep calm water at Roy’s and dropped anchor for a well-deserved coffee aboard.
The intrepid fleet pushed north. One hour later, the boats were anchored up at Blue Hole on the very northwestern end of Bribie Island in Caloundra. A well-earned “holiday” ensued for two days at anchor.
The fleet left Caloundra with a sense of confidence on a bright sunny morning for the voyage back south. With the same 2.17m planned tide as the trip north, and the earlier high tide at The W’s, it meant a rising tide as they negotiated the shoals ahead. This confidence was soon dashed as Mystique Princess came to a halt right at the entrance to The W’s. More power was required to slide across the shallow bank and Blair advised those following to ‘power up’ prior to the entrance. Both Justus and Wine Down were able to power over the shoal without damage. Another two ‘power-overs’ were encountered through The Skids, with a lucky break for Wine Down as it came off a “sticky” situation.
The voyage continued down the passage relatively incident-free. It became quite clear that navigating the markers required some “channel interpretation”. Another two-day celebratory holiday was enjoyed alongside the beautiful Banksia Beach shore before crossing Moreton Bay and heading back to home ports. The fleet had ‘conquered’ the Pumicestone Passage.
By Blair McDonald
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