Australia, Queensland, Brisbane: Caution if entering Moreton Bay from the South

The southern stretch of Canaipa Passage, which runs up the western side of North Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay, appears to be silting up.

Published 7 years ago, updated 5 years ago

See full report at http://www.mysailing.com.au with chart showing channel areas of concern.

My house on Russell Island overlooks the area and in the past two years, I have noticed that two sandbanks have been growing steadily. While this is no surprise, given that North Stradbroke is the second largest sand island in Australia, it is now having an effect on the navigability of the channel.

In the past two weeks, I have seen six yachts run aground at two keys points. I have highlighted them with arrows in the chart below. The first is at the red marker near the Slipping Sands fishing huts, which has always been a problem for deep-draft yachts at low tide. However, I have also seen three yachts run aground, and turn back, in the short stretch between the last green marker and the first red marker directly off Sandy Beach, where you can see a dozen or so beach cats parked.

All six yachts were able to back off the sand into deeper water, but all turned back to the south, deciding not to wait for a higher tide.

My boat is in the Krummel Channel at the north end of the island and I haven’t been through Canaipa Passage for 18 months, so I can’t give you exact depths.

However, even at the lowest of tides, catamarans have no problem at either point. The yachts I have seen run aground looked to have a draft of 1.8 to 2 metres so I’m assuming that there is about 1.5 to 1.6 metres at these problem points on low tides. If you have passed through with a depth sounder in recent times and can give some more definitive depths, that would be appreciated.

The tidal range in this area varies from around 0.8 to 2.0 metres, depending on the phase of the moon. (Use Brisbane tide times in your calculations.) So my suggestion to owners of deep draft yachts wanting to transit from the Gold Coast to Moreton Bay is either to use the passage up the western side of Russell or time your run – come through Canaipa Passage on a rising tide and at least two hours after low tide.

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  1. May 3, 2017 at 11:08 AM
    Data Entry5 says:

    Yachts should transit this area by using the well-marked channel on the western side of Russell Island. This should be done on an incoming tide and care must be taken when passing under the overhead power lines near the mount of the Logan river which have a clearance of 20 metres at HAT.

    This route is however not suited to vessels with a draft of more than 2.2 meters without first having sought to advise from those with local knowledge. Vessels with an air draft of more than 20 meters and a water draft of 2.2 meters who do not have the benefit of local knowledge should make the voyage south from Mooloolaba or Brisbane on the ocean (eastern) side of Moreton, North Stradbroke and South Stradbroke islands.

    The Down Under Rally provides all vessels who join the Go West rally from the SW Pacific Islands to Bundaberg Australia with the opportunity to attend our east coast cruising seminars during the rally Welcome Week and gain valuable local knowledge. For more info go to https://www.downunderrally.com/about-go-west/.

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