Nothing can prepare you for the beauty and immensity of the island. It looms huge and green with mangroves rising to the forest along the mountain range that runs along the island's spine. After puttering around the edge we realised it was too large to make it round to the west side within one day (our motor is only 15 horse power). Instead we decided to venture up an estuary into the mangroves for a spot of fishing. This proved to be true swampy mangrove country, complete with spooky noises, ferocious sand flies and murky water.

We passed a magical three hours casting our lures off into the mangroves.(Unfortunately I ended up casting my lure onto leaves and tree branches more often than into the water! If it weren't for the RID (popular brand of insect repellent that protects one from sand flies, mosquitoes, and other creepy-crawly nasties, it would have been particularly painful!)

ALAS....ALACK......to no avail- the fish were too clever for us. Unfortunately we failed to catch a fish but did spend a magical day cruising around the mangroves and island waters. For all avid fisherman or boating people, Hinchinbrook presents a myriad of different and varied fishing spots and is truly worth a look around.

After lunch on a deserted beach we suddenly noticed the rapidly diminishing tide. The tides around the islands are severe and change very suddenly. As we dodged the sandbanks and headed back to shore we noticed a yacht who had not fared so well

Unfortunately she had run aground and was precariously perched and anxiously awaiting the next tide.

A spot of late night fishing on the jetty by moonlight was a fun end to our stay at Lucida- however a new family with three noisy kids had moved on to the site next to ours so we decided to on y va (leave) on to the next destination!!!!!