Tropical Cyclone Debbie ran straight over the Whitsundays in March 2017 and Hamilton Island, in particular, suffered a lot of damage. While much of the debris has been washed out, there remains the need for caution on waterways particularly with regard to keeping a low speed. Many navigation aids have been destroyed, channels have shifted and there are underwater hazards present.

Published 8 years ago, updated 6 years ago

As reported by www.whitsundaytimes.com.au

SUNDAY was just another normal day on the Whitsunday water for Illusions owner and skipper Josef Concy, but then something went horribly wrong.

Sailing the same route he has for the past 14 years, on a tour between Hayman Island and Stonehaven off Hook Island and travelling at around 6 knots, he heard a loud bang and knew something wasn’t right.

“I knew we hit something,” he said.

“What we hit… nobody’s seen. Passengers were sitting at the front of the boat (but) nobody saw it.”

The 42ft tour boat, with 13 passengers and three crew on board, was hit on the starboard side and that’s about as much as Mr Concy can tell.

“We had a diving instructor go down to see if we could patch (the hull) and come to the mainland but water was coming in too quickly,” Mr Concy said.

“We tried to find a mooring in Black Island (but) we eventually had to make the decision to ditch the boat.”

Mr Concy put out a pan-pan call on radio and soon another local diving charter came to their rescue. The boat was towed back to Airlie Beach last night.

Following the incident, both skippers agreed that all vessels in the Whitsunday waters needed to be careful in the wake of underwater changes after Cyclone Debbie.

“I’ve been doing the same route for 14 years,” Mr Concy said.

“(But) since Cyclone Debbie, all of the Whitsunday waters have changed a lot. A lot of stuff is not the same.

“There’s a lot of debris, a lot of sunken boats around. Nobody knows where they are, nobody knows what’s happening.

“What I hit put a hell of a dint on my boat

“Debbie will strike people for quite some time to come.”

Mr Chatteron agreed.

“I have seen a dramatic change in some of the locations out there,” he said.

“There’s coral heaped up on the shore… underwater it’s quite likely things have changed.”

A spokesperson from Maritime Safety Queensland told the Whitsunday Times last week that many of their navigation aids had been destroyed and said they would be undertaking a survey of underwater hazards and shifting channels.

“While much debris has been washed out, there remains the need for caution on waterways particularly with regard to keeping a low speed,” the spokesperson said.

“We are working as quickly as we can to do this but we can’t identify every risk so there is a need for common sense.”

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