Great Keppel Island - Unexpected poetry and Hermit Crabs

Riding the sand dunes of Butterfish Bay - Great Keppel Island

Great Keppel Island exceeded expectations and we ended up staying for 6 days exploring and swimming in the beautiful clear sandy bays.

A pre-dawn start to cover  the 40 nautical miles from Northwest Island brought us back towards the coast. The afternoon snorkel around the coral on the drop off at Northwest Island promised much, but after four days not setting foot on land, the crew were becoming restless, we didn't want to risk another wind shift leaving us stranded.



The loom of Cape Capricorn lighthouse was visible to the southwest, as the mainland reappeared out of the darkness. We had crossed the Tropic of Capricorn some days before, at about the time our engine went on the blink somewhere south of Erskine Island, and in the distraction we had not celebrated our official arrival in The Tropics.

We made our way into Keppel Bay, full of steep rocky islets of continental origin, a sharp contrast to the flat sandy coral cays of the Capricornia Cays National Park. These old mountain ranges were cut off from the mainland only relatively recently - about 6 000 years ago.

Great Keppel is the largest island in the Keppel group and from a distance appears a bit barren and scrubby. However once you start exploring, the island is incredibly diverse. The name conjures images of mass budget tourism from the marketing days of the defunct Contiki backpacker resort, abandoned for some years now and slowly being reclaimed by the jungle on the western side of the island at Fisherman's Beach. The rest of the island remains quite rugged and wild apart from a small safari tent retreat at the appealing looking Svendsen's Beach, a family who have been resident on the island for several generations.

Walking Trails Great Keppel

The trek to Fisherman's Beach.

We anchored at Long Beach on the southern side to shelter from a predicted north westerly wind. From here we wandered across the ruins of a timber boardwalk to Monkey Beach, then over the hill to Fisherman's Bay and the abandoned resort. A faded information board noted that the last "great flood" of the Fitzroy River to affect the coral had been in 1991, giving a hint as to how long since any of the island "infrastructure" had been maintained.


We had heard that there was a general store at the ferry landing at Fisherman's Beach, and thought the crew might be coaxed to walk across the island if ice-creams were on offer. The walk took us past an aboriginal midden and then through the lush  "Lost Valley", with views out across Keppel Bay towards the mainland.




Harvesting coconuts

Fisherman's Beach seemed relaxed and low key with a few modest  holiday rentals and private dwellings nestled on a postcard white crescent beach. Behind the coconut palms lies the ghost town of empty and disintegrating resort buildings. Signposts amongst the undergrowth still point tantalisingly to the resortwear boutique, poolside bar and Movenpick Icecream Outlet. Like many other developments now lying abandoned along the Queensland coast, Great  Keppel Resort is a monument to a different economic climate, before floods, cyclones and the strong Australian dollar led to everyone heading offshore to beaches in Thailand, Bali and Fiji.

Not to dwell on the lessons of history, apparently government approval has been obtained for $600 million dollars of investment to build a new apartment development including marina, golf course and airport on Great Keppel - eternally hopeful "if you build it, they will come."

We harvested a coconut from the stand of coconut palms, and cooled off with a dip in the bay.  Sadly no ice cream was to be had as the general store opening hours seemed to be delightfully sporadic, with a sign informing us that they would be open at 4pm - whether that was today or some other day, who can say?

The stowaway Hermies in their Crabitat

We spent two nights at Long Beach before a south westerly change in wind and swell sent us scurrying for shelter on the ocean side of the island in Wreck Bay.  This bay was certainly off the beaten track and didn't rate a mention in the Gospel of Lucas. Most of the time it would be an uncomfortable anchorage in the normally prevailing easterly and south easterly ocean swells, but we were lucky.

Some stowaway Hermit Crabs had somehow found their way aboard Arjuna from the rock pools of Long Beach and research was hastily conducted on how to ensure their survival. A "crabitat" was devised and cobbled together using materials at hand. They seemed happy feasting on some rolled oats and left over pork sausages, which Google reliably informed us would be acceptable fare. 

Wreck Bay was desolate and rugged and particularly appealed to the third mate who was ploughing through Ballantyne's The Coral Island. 

The south eastern section of the bay is barred by some fearsome looking rocks over which the lighthouse presides on a high stony headland. Feral goats roam about, the descendants of those left on the islands in the nineteenth century so that shipwrecked sailors would have food to survive on.

The beach was littered with interesting flotsam and jetsam washed up on the ocean currents. We explored the rock pools, found fossils in the rock clefts, and ate oysters off the rocks.

There were a number of disused tracks leading off the beach, not marked on the map. As we ventured along them, we started to discover  lovingly handcrafted signposts, as well as mystical black stones, inscribed with poetry and clues by some imaginative local spirit.





The first one we happened upon walking across the headland, inviting us to "rest under the ancient quinine tree". Searching about off the track, we found a beautiful gnarled tree tucked into a secluded hollow. After this we were on the lookout for them and the crew loved being on a treasure hunt.

This stone marked a casuarina glade full of hundreds of blue butterflies between Wreck and Butterfish Bay.

The last 2 nights at Great Keppel were spent at Leeke's Beach, after yet another wind shift. Over five days the wind had come from all four points of the compass, to our favour. It seemed there was an inlet or cove to cover most combinations of wind and swell on Great Keppel and we had been able to experience many parts of the island.

Water was starting to run low and the coffee situation was unresolved, so we reluctantly decided it was time to head in to Yeppoon, a trifling 9 nautical miles away.

Before departure, a lively debate occurred regarding the fate of the hermit crabs.  A decision was reached that they would probably lead a happier existence free to roam the rock pools of Great Keppel, even though much effort and thought had gone into recreating a "crabitat" for them. A suitable location was carefully selected in the rock pools at the eastern end of Leeke's Beach, and we bid them fond farewell as they waved their little hairy legs at us.





Wreck Bay - Red sky at night, sailors' delight.

http://media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/14/weather-proverbs-and-folklore/