I
magine hooking up to a mooring
line in temperate tropical waters,
with the shape of the reef below
creating a hundred shades of
sparkling blue in the midday sun,
seducing you into your bathers like a
siren does a wayward sailor toward the
rocks.
Below, schools of metre-long
yellowtail kingfish terrorise tropical
species, who share their pristine coral
home with turtles, rays and reef sharks.
You’d be forgiven for thinking you were
sailing the Great Barrier Reef – save for
the kingies, of course – but the jagged
volcanic mountains that stretch 800-
odd metres into the sky above your
vessel, give it away.
You’re at Lord Howe Island, 600km
east of Port Macquarie on the Mid
North Coast of NSW. From Sydney,you’ve sailed five days into a headwind
to arrive in a subtropical paradise.
But don’t expect the water to be as
chilly as the Harbour City; it’s more
reminiscent of the tropics thanks
to the convergence of five major
ocean currents. Home to the world’s
southernmost barrier coral reef, the
island benefits from the East Australian
Current which brings warm water
down the coast of Australia from the
tropics and kicks out to the east around
Newcastle, enveloping Lord Howe
Island and fostering the growth of
coral and survival of many tropical fish
species. It also makes for near perfect
swimming conditions for nine months
of the year.
Cooler currents from the south
bring with them southern species
like the aforementioned yellowtailkingfish, snapper and trevally. The
marine ecosystem also benefits from
Lord Howe’s isolation; it’s part of a
cluster of lonesome structures that
attract big ocean roamers like manta
rays, whales, sharks and turtles. The
result is an incredible abundance of
marine life, with more than 90 species
of coral and 500 temperate, tropical
and subtropical fish species, many of
which are endemic to the area, like the
double-headed wrasse. The island’s
southern location has meant the effects
of coral bleaching have not yet reached
it, and the coral here is some of the
healthiest and most pristine I’ve ever
encountered. All of this amounts to a
veritable paradise for boaties with an
appetite for fishing, snorkeling and,
most of all, scuba diving.
The latter was the primary reason52 tradeaboat.com.au