Orpheus Trip

26th July to 3rd August, 2021
John and I had never been north of Magnetic Island so we left Horseshoe Bay, excited to be sailing into new waters.

Our destination was Orpheus Island in the Palm Islands group north east of Townsville. There are 16 islands in this group. The term “Palm Island” often refers to the main island Great Palm Island. It is the largest in the group and the only one with a significant population, an Aboriginal community with a population of around 2,500 people. Like other former missions, people were brought in from other places,

in this instance from north Queensland, the Torres Straits and Melanesia resulting in 57 different cultural groups and languages. Today there are about 27 clans or family groups. At one time Palm Island was a penal settlement.

Orpheus Island has a private luxury tourist resort and in the next bay, a research facility. In the early 1900s Fantome Island was used to isolate sexually transmitted diseases then later it became a leprosarium. They really knew how to do lock downs in those days. Nearby Rattlesnake Island was used for air force bombing practice.

As there wasn’t much wind, we had to motor the six hours to Orpheus Island. We passed Palm and Fantome islands and latched onto a mooring ball on the west side of Orpheus Island at Yanks Jetty which is a jetty and covered floating pontoon. It was named as a reminder

of the Americans based there during WW2. We spent a rolly night and were visited by the water police the following morning. We’re always paranoid about getting caught with Tallis in a national park but on this occasion, they only wanted to warn of us of the war games on for the next 3 days.

Wanting to be a little further from the action John and I motored past the resort and research station and tied onto a mooring ball in Little Pioneer Bay where we stayed for the next week. It’s a beautiful coral fringed bay with 4 mooring balls. Fish were jumping around everywhere as they tend to do in green zones. We set up our bed in the saloon. We spent our days visiting the beach, checking out the coral and fish and one day a whale and calf spent a significant time hanging around the entrance to the bay. There were a few flipper slaps but unfortunately no photos Sandi.

We knew there was a path to a lookout at the top of the hill but it was very hard to see and I’m not keen about walking through long grass unlike Dave B. Eventually we found the path, up hills and across creek beds. I complained all the way up. It was quite interesting – there was the ruins of a hut where a shepherd had lived. It is frustratingly difficult to find any information about this man and his life on Orpheus. We picnicked looking over the ocean on the east side of the island and John bought a little tick home with him as a souvenir. It was quite a delicate procedure to remove.

Tallis, who doesn’t care if he is allowed on an island or not, still required a few toilet trips to shore every day. It had to happen eventually. One morning when John and Tallis were on shore National Parks pulled up to our boat. I desperately hoped John wasn’t out in the open or on his way back to the boat. I initiated a

totally inane conversation hoping they would leave the crazy lady… Great job, what do you like the most? How long have you been doing this? That’s a big outboard. Where are you based? Still, it took 20 minutes for them to go. John and Tallis hid in the trees on the shore hoping to avoid the one thousand dollar plus fine.

There were other visitors to the Bay of course. South Passage, a large old gaff-rigged schooner, that is usually docked at our marina in Brisbane turned up one night. In Manly they used to do sunset tours and school groups but on long passages they take people who learn how to operate an old boat probably paying a lot of money for a very uncomfortable trip. We had a couple from The Beach House, a mono, over for drinks one afternoon. Another evening we went over to Zophia, another mono. This couple from WA had been sailing for 8 years and they knew how to party – lots of tasty wine and very good

cheese. Remember Zilzie Pinot Noir for an inexpensive quaffing red.
On the return journey to Maggie, we planned to anchor at Rattlesnake Island which we discovered was only used by the RAAF to triangulate not to directly bomb as we’d been led to believe. Steve B would know the true story. When we got there the roll was coming right at us so we moved to Herald Island a tiny island to the south east.

John and I spent two nights on Herald Island, an idyllic spot, apart from the slightly intimidating sign stating DANGER RAAF Firing Range. We walked on the beach, ran the dog off the leash, had a picnic and planned for our next visitors.

Next: The Chapmans