MENZIES MONTEBELLO MADNESS

The Monte Bello Islands

5 July - 8 July

by Jeremy

The Monte Bello Islands, so we were told, is a must see destination on any cruise to the north of Australia.

We had a quiet layover in a protected bay on the south western tip of Serrurier Island and set off on a track to take us around the top of Serrurier and set a course north east towards the west coast of Barrow Island. It was a very pleasant overnight sail and as dawn broke we saw the west coast of the Monte Bellos looming in the distance.

Rather than risk the perilous western entrance through the reef, we decided to sail around the top and approach from the northern entrance between North West Island and Pansy Island. The waters were calm and the views spectacular. Low lying islands with rocks tumbling down to the sea and every minute a changing perspective of these ancient islands.

The lighthouse on North West Island

Passing Pansy Island

All I had ever heard about the Monte Bellos was the nuclear test stories and I was expecting a barren and forbidding landscape. I was unprepared for the subtle beauty of the ever-changing vistas.

We had planned to follow the anchoring recommendations in The Cruising Guide and headed for Main Bay on Trimouille Island. It looked the least scary of the anchorage points given that Moonshadow has a 1.8m draft. When we arrived it seemed rather exposed and rolly so we decided to go to Chianti Bay on Alpha Island. While we were in Exmouth we had met Terry who was a veteran of these parts and had assured us that Chianti was the place to be! He had allowed us to take some photos of his tracks on his chart-plotter through the channels into the bay so we were pretty confident to take the (slight) risk and follow the photo!

It was, as Terry had assured us, easy to navigate although we did take the precaution of ensuring we approached on a high tide just to avoid the numerous ‘bombies’.

Chianti Bay was beautiful! The water was like glass and the bay embraced Moonshadow in its gentle curves. It was like some kind of pirate’s retreat with a little feature called Aden Cove that at any minute I expected a Captain Jack Sparrow on the Black Pearl to emerge from.

Suddenly, Margie spotted a large orange buoy on the adjoining Chartreuse Bay and as we love to use a mooring instead of the anchor, we went to investigate. It was certainly solid and heavy duty so we eagerly picked up the lines and secured ourselves to the buoy.

Time to relax! We spent a restful Saturday recovering from the night sail and just enjoying the calm and the scenery. On Sunday, I was cleaning up on deck, just doing the routine maintenance and contemplating a swim in the tranquil water when I looked over the side of Moonshadow into the clear water. I could hardly believe my eyes when this ten-foot monster fish emerged from under our hull and circled the boat with a malevolent eye. He was huge and I thought it must be a whale shark. I urged Margie to come and have a look at ‘the monster’ and skeptically she climbed the companionway thinking, I am sure, that I had lost my mind!

 

The lurking monster

Emerging on deck she was astonished to see this huge fish lazily swimming under the boat from one side to the other. I went to the bookshelf and consulted our ‘What Fish Is That’ manual to try to identify the nature of this beast. It looked nothing like a whale shark or any kind of whale or shark as illustrated in the book so we were flummoxed! We were sure that he didn’t seem the least bit aggressive and he even had an entourage of brightly coloured small companion fish swimming with him. Margie got in the dinghy to have a closer look at him and the ‘monster’ approached Margie for a closer look at her. Brave, she was, even putting her arm in the water to try and stroke him! Meanwhile I had a brilliant idea! I would get out the GoPro and mount it on a pole so that I could get some video of him swimming underwater. This all went well except he kept swimming in the shadowed side of Moonshadow, lurking in the semi dark. At one point he swam towards the GoPro and went to bite it and I was lucky to pull up the pole complete with camera in the nick of time.

He really seemed quite friendly and every time we looked over the side, there he was, lazily hiding in the shadows. We thought that he would soon get bored and seek pastures new.

It was time to explore our desert island so we courageously loaded our equipment into the tinny and headed inshore to Alpha. Landing on the beach we set an anchor in the sand and took a hike up the hill through the sweeping treeless landscape. The rocky outcrops we had seen from Moonshadow turned out to be huge anthills and when we reached the top of the hill we found a cairn that had obviously been built by previous visitors to Alpha Island. We added our own stone to the very top as we admired the 180 degree views of these spectacular islands and bays that looked like something out of “Boys Own Stories’ (for those of a similar vintage to ourselves!)

 

Arriving at the beach to explore Alpha Island

The cairn at the pinnacle of Alpha Island

Sweeping spinnefex covering dried coral

Views across to Crocus and Hermite Islands

View of Moonshadow comfortable in Chartreuse Bay

One of the many anthills

We returned to the dinghy and set off to explore the passageways between the archipelago headed for a bay called Turtle Lagoon on Hermite Island, an almost circular bay with a very narrow entrance. Once through the entrance the bay was a perfect paradise of mangrove lined banks and crystal clear water. We turned off the outboard and let the dinghy drift in the silence, enjoying the peace and tranquility.

 

Beautiful Turtle Lagoon

Wildlife was surrounding us; birds and flying fish were all over the place. Huge turtles came for a look at these strange intruders to their sanctuary and raised an inquisitive eye before hurrying away on their urgent business. Margie had the foresight to prepare a picnic and there we sat, drifting in the dinghy in this tropical paradise enjoying a feast fit for a king. (Neptune?)

 

The wildlife displaying for us

We reluctantly restarted the motor and found our way out of the lagoon heading to the east side of Crocus and Alpha Islands passing the pretty Burgundy Bay on the east of Alpha Island. This was one of the sites of the nuclear tests and we resolved to explore this bay the following day. We arrived back at Moonshadow and had a peaceful night, totally isolated with no other company except of course for the continuing presence of ‘the monster’ still lurking under Moonshadow.

The following morning was bright, clear and peaceful and we set out for Burgundy Bay, landing the dinghy on the beach of Chianti Bay. A large sign is on the beach warning visitors of the dangers of continuing radiation being bad for the health and advising that we avoid camping or extended visits. We hiked up the hill to the highest point and again were impressed by the vistas of all the surrounding islands. In the distance we could see another yacht anchored in Main Bay where we first passed on our entrance. The peace and tranquility were broken by the sudden appearance of a helicopter, buzzing overhead and hovering over Campbell Island for twenty minutes. We walked over the hills towards Burgundy Bay and discovered a pyramid shaped concrete monolith that marked the site of one of the British nuclear blasts in the 1950’s. It was a strange ambience, standing looking at this thing that marks a time in history where governments cared more about the cold war than the environment. Has anything changed I ask myself! Sadly not it seems.

 

Landing the dinghy on the beach of Chianti Bay

The radiation hazard warning sign

Exploring this bay further, the obvious man made cutting through hillside from Burgundy Bay to the site of the explosion was the only evidence of the desecration of this land. It must have been where the supplies and equipment were hauled up the hill to build the tower for the bomb. This, for me, was a sad and poignant moment that caused me to reflect for a while on man’s capacity for destruction.

 

Burgundy Bay, site of the second nuclear test

No words needed!

We walked slowly and silently back to the beach, both of us lost in our thoughts.

It was comforting to see our beautiful yacht bobbing patiently on the other side of the bay as we crested the hill and our dinghy safe on the pure soft white sand on the little beach with only our footprints for company. It was time to head back and prepare for our departure on the mornings high tide.

 

Heading back to Tinnie

Just as we settled back on Moonshadow we could hear the unusual sound of an engine in the distance and coming into our tranquil bay were two large motor boats headed straight for us. One of them dropped his anchor not 50 metres away and the other motored up right next to us. They were charter fishing vessels with paying passengers. The skipper called out to us from his flybridge and was really friendly, asking us if we had been here long. Margie told him that we were leaving in the morning and that they were welcome to use our mooring after we had gone. He replied that it was actually his mooring but we were welcome to stay on it tonight and he would anchor overnight. Hmmm. Margie apologized with effusive thanks for the ‘loan’ of the mooring!

While looking down from his flybridge he said,

“I see that you have been adopted by Kodak.”

This then was the name of our ‘monster’. Kodak.

“Why Kodak?” we asked.

“Someone was filming him and he swallowed the camera.” He replied.

“He’s a giant Queensland Groper and he always hangs around the visiting boats hoping for a feed.”

And with that mystery solved he bid us goodnight and headed off to rattle his chain.

 

Our last evening in the Monte Bellos

Tomorrow we leave this paradise for the excitement and adventure of Dampier.

Life is good!