Water travel can be soothing at the best of times, but cruising at sunset on a calm tropical estuary is magic, particularly when you have the benefit of a seasoned guide. Pat Toomey knows the waters of Trinity Inlet well. He has been sailing them off and on for most of his life and most recently, almost every day for the past six years as skipper of the 69-passenger Crocodile Explorer.
Cocodile Explorer captain Pat Toomey and protege skipper
The Trinity Inlet/Marlin Coast Marine Park is not big, a mere spec of around 520 hectares compared to the nearby 345,400 square kilometre Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, off the coast of Cairns. But its unique environment is equally important and access to it is just a short boat ride from Cairns.
Heading out from Marlin Marina, which has doubled its moorings over the past three years from 115 to 250 in a $43 million upgrade, the tiny Crocodile Explorer is dwarfed by the ultra-luxury cruise ship, the 400-passenger Silver Shadow. On a day visit, the Shadow is moored adjacent to the Cairns Hilton International in an iconic display of the kind of wealth tourism brings to Cairns, a port of call for more than 200 cruise ships every year.
The Silver Shadow
The Explorer skips past the heritage-listed sugar sheds precinct. The sheds were built between 1912 and 1914, the southern shed having undergone an $11m upgrade in 2011 with the northern shed next on the drawing boards. The arched roof of the Cairns Convention Centre dominates the skyline, recognised as one of the top ten convention centres in the world, designed to replicate the curves of a giant clam. The big clam is an iconic sign that tourism has well and truly taken over from agriculture and sugar as a key income earner for the region.
Sea plane on Trinity Inlet
But once you are past the Cairns Navy Base and the sleek, imposing grey outline of the patrol boat HMAS Glenelg, the mangroves crowd the edges of the inlet, sea birds wheel on the light evening breeze and nature again reinstates itself as a governing force. The 90km of winding waterways hide a host of surprises. On his estuarine travels, Captain Pat has seen more than a few big saltwater crocodiles, some up to four metres long, dugong, river dolphins, giant stingrays mating and snakes up to 3m long lazily making their way through the warm waters.Pat has seen white bellied sea eagles and osprey in an aerial dogfight over prey and big-eyed green sea turtles following the trail of the masses of jellyfish that drift up the estuary.
Trinity Inlet
Trinity Inlet, which is a tidal basin, is a magnet for marine life, its waters boasting a diversity of species prized by anglers, including barramundi, mangrove jack and fingermark in summer and queenfish, flathead, estuary cod, bream and grunter in the cooler months. The inlet is a prime fish breeding and nursery area, patrolled by marine park officers to ensure anglers keep to their size and catch quotas.
The mangrove forests and the associated build-up of flood plain silt in the 300 square kilometre maze of waterways that make up Trinity Inlet are the “environmental kidneys” of the region. The system filters the massive run-off of water from the Great Dividing Range, helping to protect the delicate environmental balance which supports the vast underwater expanses of sea grass which are vital to the marine nursery which nurtures everything from schools of growing prawns to foraging dugong.
Dugong grazing
There is almost 800 hectares of seagrass habitat on the seabed beneath Cairns Harbour and Trinity Inlet, the only major seagrass environment between Hinchinbrook Island and Cooktown. The seagrass meadows are a nursery for prawn and fish species and feeding ranges for dugong, green sea turtles and wading birds.
On the return cruise to the marina, the Explorer passes the green and white hulk of a Sydney Harbour ferry, originally named the Baron Joey, built in 1930. The aftermath of a stalled tourism venture, it is a rusting blight on the banks of the waterway, a stark reminder of the impact of entrepreneurial tourism.
Sydney ferry – Trinity Inlet
The 90-minute Cairns Sunset Cruise, which departs at 5.30pm, costs $39 for adults and includes a welcome onboard drink and savory nibbles. The cruise is an inexpensive way to get closer to nature and learn a little about the environmental significance of Trinity Inlet and its place in the Cairns hinterland.
Photo Credits
Sydney ferry – Trinity Inlet by Vincent Ross, All Rights Reserved
Silver Shadow by Vincent Ross, All Rights Reserved
Yachts on Trinity Inlet by Vincent Ross, All Rights Reserved
Sea plane on Trinity Inlet by Vincent Ross, All Rights Reserved
Crocodile Explorer captain Pat Toomey and trainee skipper by Vincent Ross, All Rights Reserved
Trinity Inlet – Credit Pending
Dugong grazing – Wikimedia Creative Commons
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