Hi All,
I am planning to spend a weekend at Tangalooma. Sailing from Mooloolaba, what is the best route to minimise shallows: through the west, very close to bribie island and then cross east once inside moreton bay; or coming through the north-east and east channels and then south?
My boat's draft is 1.2 mts.
Thanks for the tips everyone.
Cheers,
Edward

If the weather permits, I would be coming down the inside of the NW channel almost to Skirmish Point on Bribie Island, then head SE toward Cowan Cowan, then south to Tangalooma from there.

Your route will depend on the wind direction. It's a great trip if wind is from the east.
The screen shots below show the options. There is also a shot of 'cutting the corner' from NW Fairway mark back to the shipping channel. I've taken this route many times as it is a direct line from Pt Cartwright and never had less than 5m of water.

It can get a little shallow to about 3mts to the north of the Western Banks if you take the direct route shown below.

If you come in on the NW channel stay on the eastern side outside of the main shipping channel to avoid ships.
Many sure you plan to travel down on the run in tide and go back on the run out tide, it will make at least 3kn difference to boat speed.
If you arrive and leave Tangalooma 2.5 hours either side of high tide you will be able to come in beside the wrecks where the MiCat comes in. This will save running back down past the resort to enter via the channel near Tangalooma Pt.

Was there a few weeks back and the resort was closed to boaties. Had dreamed of leaving some cash behind in exchange for a few Corona's. No luck :( Maybe they have a bit of a problem with being over-run by free loading locals using the facilities during the Christmas period. Could be business as usual now :)

The anchorage can be a bit rolly due to the passing ships if you aren't tucked in close to the wrecks. If you have a mono hull, a 'rocker stopped' might come in handy. Also a bit crowded on weekends if the weathers nice.

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NowandZen said..
If the weather permits, I would be coming down the inside of the NW channel almost to Skirmish Point on Bribie Island, then head SE toward Cowan Cowan, then south to Tangalooma from there.

I know this area off the back of my hand and I would not even consider NowandZen's advice. You can run across there in a speed boat if you know exactly where you are going. Take the advice of Seabird. If you decide to use the NE channel be cautious if there is any swell running as you can get large breaking waves at the entrance. I have come through there a few times when racing the Surf to City race and it has been a bit on the hairy side. My advice would be to play it safe and come straight down the main shipping channel.

Thanks guys for the advice. Seabird the routes you plotted are great, I will wait for a good weather window and try going along the shipping channel with the right tide direction. I have sailed from Scarborough to Mooloolaba at nightime and the tide made a huge difference, there were only around 6 knots of wind from the West still I was sailing at 5 knots around skirmish point!

This is getting silly and dangerous.
A few facts of life.
The entrance to Moreton bay is not a natural channel but a maintained channel at about 13m.
So it moves a lot.
Datum in the channel is very good and surveyed often as there is commercial justification.
Outside the main channel there is no commercial justification and in the northern end the last good datum is about 1979 and before that it was 1867.
In my lifetime the Hamilton banks have been less than 3m and have been 8m.
The bottom of a paper chart will give you the accuracy of the datum.
Vector charts generally don't give this information.
Next as a barred entrance everything depends on the swell direction.
Autumn sees south easterly come off a ridge so some east in the swell so really only the northern banks are an issue.
Low in the Coral Sea will see a lot of north in the swell so surf even south of Spitfire.
Winter sees a lot south so not much gets around the corner into the banks.
A 20 knot southerly and a good low in the Coral Sea real danger.
While 40 knots from a south west front pose little danger and indeed the swell of Mooloolaba will have abated to almost nothing by Caloundra.
So check the swell direction.
Especially before heading over Hamilton patches or getting on the east side of the main channel.
You will also get surf on the west side of the main channel as the swell hit the bank of the channel.
This can be disconcerting to a newbie.
As to the tide, remember this, 20 knot southerly and a big flood tide the seas will be crap all the way to NW12 with some cross swell.
So fast and very bumpy.
On an ebb tide the opposite applies, slow but flat water.
Your call.
As you would only be going in good swell conditions I would go NE channel time your run at the start two hours before high tide.
it is a nicer trip.
Also don't discount a night on the north west beach of Moreton island.
Just near north point, it is a lovely open roadstead then use the inner freeman channel the next day.
Tangalooma is about the worst anchorage in all of Moreton bay.
Roll from the ships, poor holding, open to the katabatic breeze and crowded with idiots.
Just round the corner at Lucinda Bay you have one of the best.

There is some youtube video of a spacesailer 27 and the Redcliffe Coast Guard Sharkcat doing loops at the end of Pearl channel where it comes into spitfire when a coral sea low was pumping is some northerly swell into the northern approaches.
Great surfing that day though.
Full close out at Moffatts.

Found the video but can't post it, but the notation is wrong it was not on South passage Bar as stated.

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lydia said..
There is some youtube video of a spacesailer 27 and the Redcliffe Coast Guard Sharkcat doing loops at the end of Pearl channel where it comes into spitfire when a coral sea low was pumping is some northerly swell into the northern approaches.
Great surfing that day though.
Full close out at Moffatts.

Found the video but can't post it, but the notation is wrong it was not on South passage Bar as stated.

Thank you Lydia for the great info! Indeed the shallows at the entrance can move a lot, and the strong tidal currents do their job moving sediments all the time. The night I sailed from Scarborough to Mooloolaba I was following the beacons and shortly after the last one north of gilligans island I could see a narrow white breakers line with the moonlight, very strange as I was sailing with enough water under the keel. I think it was due to the tidal current, otherwise I am not sure why those bumpy breakers were there.