Osborne Islands – early September

The following morning we left for the Osborne Islands. These are uncharted and full of Pearl Leases so are a little off the beaten track – our kind of place. It sounded good in theory but when facing a sea of pearl lines I started to panic. Simon, as always, cool as a cucumber spent 5 minutes looking through the binos before stating, “I can see a path”. I was in such a flap I resigned myself to sitting up the front and called it keeping a forward look out while Si calmly weaved us in and out of the miles of lines without a hitch.

Once thru the pearl lines we selected an anchorage behind 3 rock arches in a small bay. The next 3 days were spent exploring the mangrove lined creeks and rock formations, fresh water streams and pools, fishing, oystering and croc spotting. The first creek we visited we arrived a little early for high tide and were confronted with a wall of rocks. In a matter of minutes while we were deciding where to tie the dinghy, a rapid formed – in reverse! The tides are so big we were able to motor over the rocks and tie up to the tidal rock bar.



One of my favourite places so far, despite the fact that after days of trying we still didn’t manage to catch the elusive barra. It may not have the dramatic beauty of King George, but for solitude, many bays and creeks to explore and heaps to do, the Osbornes are great.

Despite no Barra, I did catch a good size Queen fish who up an excellent fight jumping out of the water – once again using my little baby eggbeater with a small soft plastic grub (sound like a pro don’t I? – I’ve been reading up with Simon’s books– you would too if your dinner counted on it!).
I must confess… Simon has somewhat redeemed himself on the fishing front. Even though this catch was not edible, it was by far and away the biggest catch we’ve ever landed. At least as tall as Si and 20-30kgs – the biggest Barracuda I’ve ever seen. The teeth on this thing were horrid – just as well we can’t swim up here!