FNQ in winter looks great, but enjoy those stinger suits!
Winter = no suits - not even wetsuits
FNQ in winter looks great, but enjoy those stinger suits!
Winter = no suits - not even wetsuits
I never ever wore a stinger suit or wetty at Green Island, gee I miss sailing there.
I only wore a stinger suit on the coast in summer which is the off season anyway.
Yep stingers , crocks , sharks, killer toad fish , cone shells , tropical fungi and diseases , never any wind , muddy brown water , killer razor reefs, man eating giant groper fish, deadly stingrays, vibrant hospitality offering in town, boring tropical rain Forrest , crappy waterfalls and swimming holes , not to mention crap mountain biking , fishing , diving and , sailing you'd hate it probably best to avoid.
Looks and sounds awful Mr Jones ,its on the list, by the look of those wind forecast looks like you could just take the small board 105 rocket ,5 ,6 & 7 .
Looks and sounds awful Mr Jones ,its on the list, by the look of those wind forecast looks like you could just take the small board 105 rocket ,5 ,6 & 7 .
Yep that we would cover the typical windy week, i reckon you only need two sails ..ive often done it with just one.
The forecast is generally pretty reliable 4-5 days out.
Arlington reef, is best guide for GI..its quiet amazing you can be in Cairns and swear there is no wind ....and as soon as you head out past the bay , its like a switch has been flicked.
Often over looked is you can easily just bring a FSW a 6 and 5 m and just blast all around the place , find some bumps around the island , smaller fins open up more areas for longer periods ..because the tides do matter , IMO best to sail either close to full high or low tides , takes the depth guessing out of it, leave that for the local knowledge experience.
Smaller the fin the better, bring spares and sand paper!
Unless it was a rare light wind week forecast , Id pack small ..any lightwind days become rest days or tourist other activity days .
The other Tip is Safety: wear a life jacket , make sure you're gear is good , spare rope , uni, Epirb is a good idea , have some sort of check back in system for safety arrangement ....it is on the reef, it is way out to sea, and the wind and currents will have you heading towards Cooktown quick smart , and no one there is responsible for looking out for you, they are all busy with their own island work so Self Safety Management is paramount, as unreal as it is it can easily go pear shaped.
Polarised sunnies , i like to use for better vision of reefs, depth etc , some prefer not to know! For me booties are a must in NQ.
There are a few rules when you go,
It's a National park so absolute care an attention to that has to be first consideration, stay on the paths, stay off coral bombies, tread lightly in the lowtide reefs when heading out , (you will see the common entry area to the drop off ) do no damage.
Don't sail pass this same spot above as you are heading into snorkelling / resort area .. those crazy Japanese pop up in the most random places some times generally where they are told NOT to go snorkelling ! They some times even come in close to the top of the island where the speed run ends ..so another reason to wear sunnies...they are clueless on where the coral is!
The other horrible thing is you're likely to spot turtles and whales out there when your sailing also , and the remote sunny beaches tend to encourage Euro's to remove clothing when sunbathing ..all terrible stuff, be careful you could go blind. :)