Kiting off-shore Cairns region

sand banks off cape flattery are amazing. they are only exposed on low tide.

also check out archers point, cooktown and cape bedford.

How big is your boat mate?

Mate, I wouldn't even go anywhere in a 4m car in FNQ! Go straight to archers/cook town/elim.

Hi Grant, I definitely recommend Archer Point, close to Cooktown. I just came back from a second 4 day trip in the last month. Had an absolute blast both times. The wind there is blowing 24/7, it just doesn't stop! so you can kite anytime from sunrise to sunset. The lowest wind I've seen there was about 12 knots, and the highest about 35 knots. I could be wrong but I think this place benefits from some sort of wind compression from the landscape around. The wind meter out at cooktown is pretty much unreliable and doesn't represent anywhere near the real wind you get at Archers. On any given day you would get at least 10 more knots than what is blowing in Cairns or Port Douglas, etc. So even if the wind is bad (5-10 knots) around Cairns/Port Douglas you're pretty much guaranteed to get going at Archers.

It's also one of the best free camping spots I've seen traveling around Australia, you can camp right next to the beach. Lots of people warned us about crocs although we haven't seen one yet. We were more pissed off about the dingos stealing our food, so make sure you secure your food inside the car and keep the doors closed while you're away.

Also be careful at mid to low tide there is a lot of reef around.

I was thinking of traveling further north but was so pleased by this spot that I thought it was just better to stay there and don't bother. Not sure how a 4m tinny will help you access better locations up there. The other good spots like Low Isles and Lizard Island are pretty far off-shore and the swell can get quite big if the wind is up.

Have a great time!

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bennie said...
Cbulota,

A couple of Q's:
is this where the cooktown locals kite? or would you be most likely kiting by yourself if you rocked up most days?
Do you need a 4X4 to get there and how long does it take to get there from cooktown?
Is there much to do around cooktown for the mrs and kids?

Also have you kited the beach behind the golf course? looking at google maps it looks like a possibility for a decent location

I'm actually not sure if that's where Cooktown locals kite? I've been around Cooktown and haven't seen anywhere decent to setup or kite and the wind wasn't as good there. I'm sure there are Cooktown locals on here that can answer that question. they can probably inform you better about what do to there with the wife and kids...I haven't been spending much time there myself, seemed pretty quiet. Also not sure about the golf course location...I haven't been kiting anywhere other than Archers.

You're not very likely to bump into any other kiters there. Although a month ago another group of 3 came down for two days.

no need for a 4x4 at this time of year to get there. At the moment the road is as good as it gets as it hasn't been raining for a while. There is only one creek crossing that can potentially fill up quickly if it rains hard for a while (completely dried out ATM), but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Seen plenty of 2WD cars, buses and caravans down there, no worries...just a slower drive.

The access road is 15 km south of Cooktown and signed posted so you can't miss it. The dirt road is about 9km long and gets you straight to the beach.

Hope this helps a bit, Hopefully some locals can answer your questions better