Living and Birding Gratitude: Torres Strait March 2024- Part One

One of the beautiful sunsets in the Torres Strait

I have been to the Torres Strait. On 3 March my buddy James and I flew to Cairns and then continued on to Horn Island where we stayed at the Gateway Torres Strait Resort. The staff is very nice and the motel is convenient, comfortable and clean. It is a bit dear, but that is understandable. It is remote. The next morning they shuttled us down to our boats that took us to our catamaran motor yacht home for the next week. The boat is named Tropic Paradise. I absolutely loved it.

Tash our captain in the wheelhouse (photo Carol Suter)

Tash in the salon giving us the welcome aboard talk

James and me in the Cairns airport, the photos load backward as technology does.

The boat is owned by Joe, of Eclipse FNQ Charters. His old catamaran-yacht was the named the Eclipse, hence the name of his company. I was never on that boat. I’ve heard that it was very nice but that Tropic Paradise is a little bigger and a little better. The captain for our week was Natasha or Tash for short. The engineer was Scotty (yes just like Star Trek) and the Deck hand was Billy. All of whom were wonderful to us and to just be around.

L to R Joe, Tash, Billie, Scotty and our chef, KB (photo Carol Suter)

Our incredible chef was named, KB. And she was both a fabulous chef and delightful person. She produced consistently excellent food from the galley. And we ate on a hobbit-schedule. After the continental breakfast at 5am, there was second breakfast about 9:30 when we got back from the morning birding. And then, schedule permitting... there were elevensies which was much like an early lunch. Then there was actual lunch in the early arvo followed by an afternoon tea then a full-on dinner (with dessert). I ate far more than usual but I only gained about a kilo and a half. I suppose I was pretty active. Sometimes there was a bit of walking birding those islands.

As I usually do on trips, I was up quite early, somewhere between 3am and 4am and coffeeing hard before most of the others were up. Each morning we climbed aboard the Zodiac and or, the aluminium boat at 5:30am to go birding. Lack of sleep is often an issue for me. Yes I do like an afternoon nap if at all possible.

My bunk and my stuff. I did get a nap there a couple of times

I am using the dates on my photos in an attempt to get my chronological order in these tales correct. At times I will still get things out of order.

First we made a stop on a small island without an official name that was not very far from Horn Island. It was a beautiful little uninhabited tropic island. It felt very ‘Survivor-like’ there A few times during the week the scenery looked Survivor-like. We called this island, Little Thursday Island because it was nearby Thursday Island. It was a spot where Richard had success with Ashy-bellied White-eyes in the past. These birds are similar to our mainland Silver-eyes but they are incredibly quick and very flighty. But we saw them several times. I did not get a photo but James managed a recording shot (younger faster, well done buddy). My first Lifer of the week! Tick!

Fist Lifer of the trip Ashy-bellied White-eye (photo James)

Then we went back aboard the big boat for dinner and an overnight sail up the Torres Strait. We motored for about twelve hours. I slept well and awoke in the calm waters on the north side of Boigu Island. We were there. We left the big boat and went ashore to bird.

We walked past ‘town’ in the dark and continued down a road to a the stakeout spot near the edge of the mangrove jungle. We sat there and watched for birds. The second Lifer of the week for me, flew in and perched in the tip top of a tree in full view for us. It was a Collared Imperial Pigeon. We were to see several more of them flying about, but this was the only one that I saw perched. We spent another couple of hours sitting there just watching for birds. By the way, I love my comfortable, well-made, Walkstool folding stool. They are dear but worth every penny. We were gathering ourselves to head back to town when Richard called, “Orange-fronted Fruit-Dove!” as one of these gorgeous pigeons landed in a tree top once again out in front of us (I was seeing why this was one of Richard’s stakeout spots). Lifer number three of the trip and not necessarily an easy bird. Unlike the Collared Imperial Pigeons or the White-eyes, Orange-fronted FD are not always seen on these tours.

Yes, that is Lifer Pie (cake and ice cream)

James and me on Tropic Paradise

Boigu Island

Collard Imperial Pigeon 2nd Lifer of the trp

Orange-fronted Fruit-dove 3rd Lifer

We walked back to town to the council building where Richard brought out the sign-in book. We all were required to sign-in to the island and keep the little receipt with us (not that anyone ever asked to see it, but we did. I still have mine).

While passing the book around, I had my best views of the week of Singing Starlings. We had seen one fly over at the stakeout but I hadn’t counted it yet. They were a few of them perched on the power wires. They are one of the species that are expected on these tours. They look a lot like Metallic Starlings but have shorter, blunt tails. Lifer number four of my Torres Strait trip.

Singing Starling on a wire. My fourth Lifer on the trip (I am having Lifer Pie for each bird over the coming weeks. As I write this, I will have it tonight for the Collared IP.

Multi-bird Lifer Selfie at the Boigu Island council building

We headed back aboard the Tropic Paradise for second breakfast (or elevensies I am not sure which) before taking a short trip in the zodiac into the jungle of Boigu. Then after lunch we motored back ashore and went birding from the dyke surrounding the airport. It was a walk and then a lot of sitting and looking. Just on dusk, Richard saw a very probable, Papuan Spinetail but it was only a very brief look and no one else got on it.

The dyke by the airport

Dusk falls quickly in the tropics and we needed to get back to be picked up. That proved more difficult than we anticipated (to say the least.

It was the ‘Night of Mud’.

The tide had fallen further than expected and neither the aluminium boat nor even the zodiac could get to shore. Our boats were only 8 or 9 metres from the boat ramp, but the mud was waist deep. However, there were two Papuan ladies in a long wooden boat nearby the ramp. Their boat was about 8 metres long and if it could be pulled around to the ramp and then pointed toward our zodiac, it could possibly be used as a bridge for us. We would still have to get through some mud and into their boat, climb through and across it, and then get onto the bow of the zodiac but we did it! Some of the group got muddier than others. I ended up only sinking about thigh deep in the mud (see photo). I was one of the first across the wooden boat and I literally slithered on my belly over the bow and into the zodiac. Then I did my best to help others into the boat. I did not take many photos as it was a precarious place to have my iPhone ‘out’. But you get the idea.

Standing around the end of the boat ramp (photo Carol Suter)

Hosing off the mud on the aft deck (photo Carol Suter)

I also did not take any photos back at the big boat where many of the group stripped down to their underwear to get hosed-off on the aft deck. It was quite the experience. Everyone kept a wonderful attitude throughout this ordeal. I reckon we will all remember the night of mud getting off Boigu Island. Sadly, the tides made it impossible to go back to that airport stakeout to be there at dusk the next day again as planned. We never saw the Papuan Spinetail. The next morning Richard gave those helpful Papuan ladies a bit of cash by way of thanks. We would have had to wait about four hours for the tide to rise enough.

Carol Suter took this photo and it is now my FB profile pic. It is me how I want to be (and sometimes can be)

With that I will close Part One. Except that I need to mention the blisters on my big toes from walking kilometres in gum boots. One had rubbed raw and bloody. Things can get infected very easily in the tropics so I kept them clean and dry as best I could. They did not get septic. One unsuccessful thing that I tried for keeping them dry was using blue trash bags as tall ‘boots’. I will always wear two pairs of socks with gumboots. I am including photos by my new dear friend, Carol Suter. She and her husband Allan were two of my favourite people on the tour.