Wavebreak Island is a small island just North of the Spit on the Gold Coast. I had heard there was good diving there and had looked across at it a few times and thought about how to get there, the huge amount of boat traffic and obvious current has put me off. When a trip came up with a local meetup group I paddle with occasionally to paddle across for a morning snorkel I jumped at it. It also gave me a reason to put my partially neglected sea kayak on the racks and go!
We started from just South of Jacob’s Well which meant we are able to avoid the dozens of jet skis off Southport. The paddle across was short but gorgeous, not too hot, with a gentle breeze and tide cooperating in the direction. After a couple of hours admiring the normal, strange and exceedingly weird boats on the water we reached the island. The island is very popular with boaties so it does take a bit of juggling and some quick pushes over busy boating channels, not hard but not a beginner’s paddle.
The Island
After some exploring around and snacks it was into the water, the current here can be very strong so you really need to time it to a slack tide, high tide was perfect. In the water was a treat, so many fish! The Gold Coast is too far South for most coral but there were many very colourful tropical fish swimming around the rock wall. For less than an hour from Brisbane, it was really impressive, the current meant visibility wasn’t terrific but the fish were close so it didn’t matter to look at, sorry about the cloudy video though.
I have been playing a little more with video and took my GoPro along for this trip.
Finally, after some more snacks we got back in the water for the trip home. The party split, as meetup groups often do, depending on when people needed to be back. I decided to join some others for a paddle across to Stradbroke Island, it is a very pretty beach to follow along and explore. After a couple of hours paddling easily in no rush we decided it was time and headed back to shore.
A great trip, easily reached with surprising rewards. I really need to get out in my kayak more often!
The Map
