Cairns And Cape York Private Sailing Charters

Australia’s last frontier, Cape York is pure wilderness and adventure. Some of Australia’s most spectacular dive sites are to be found in the hundreds of nautical miles of offshore reefs and cays.

At the tip lie the Torres Straits; a cluster of islands tossed like pearls in the ocean between mainland Australia and New Guinea. Gateway to the Far North region is the cosmopolitan city of Cairns, home port to Mustique and the embarking point for this section of cruising.

As the waters of the reef warm with the spring tides, the corals produce a spectacular annual display. Coral spawning is an event not to be missed by serious divers and is best seen on the remote reefs at the edge of the Continental Shelf around the end of October.

The Cod Hole, Lizard Island, Pixie’s Pinnacle, Steve’s Bommie, Wreck Bay, the Great Detached Reef and the 1890 wreck ‘MV Quetta’, - these sites are renowned the world over for teeming marine life, excellent visibility and the variety of hard and soft corals thriving in the clear, healthy waters of these magnificent reef systems.

Divers can’t speak highly enough of Osprey Reef, a stand-alone location 80kms east from the main Barrier Reef. It’s remote isolation has given rise to huge schools of pelagic fish and sharks, crystal clear water and walls that drop to depths of 3,000 feet and more.

If diving – and fishing – feature on your agenda, this is the perfect environment. Mustique follows an itinerary, which frequently includes – but is not limited to – Princess Charlotte Bay, Cape Grenville, Shellburne Bay, Turtle Head Island, Lizard Island, Osprey Reef, Cape Melville, the Flinders Group, Albany Passage, and Thursday Island and Horn Island in the Torres Straits.

Australia’s history and culture are a feature of this segment – Possession Island is where Capt James Cook claimed the continent for the Crown of England and indigenous culture and the early history of pearling and beche de mer fishing are showcased in the Torres Straits.