Running away to Rottnest

Destination: WA

Nigel Ridgway enjoys one of Perth's most popular playgrounds - the island of Rottnest, known affectionately to the locals as "Rotto".

Rottnest, or “Rotto” as it’s affectionately known locally, is really the only offshore island in the WA metro area that has a few facilities for cruisers and is Perth’s most popular cruising island getaway spot. There are other anchorages at Garden Island and Carnac Island, but these are rather exposed for overnighting.

We Sandgropers refer to Rottnest as “The Island,” and we love it most of the time. Since my last article in 1997, some changes have occurred. I’ll come back to those later in this story.

Sailing from Fremantle, Rotto is a lovely summer cruise with an easterly to blow you over and the sea breeze to bring you back on a reach. It’s only 11nm and you can be over and anchored in time for morning coffee. From Hillarys, it’s about 14nm and a good sail over on a decent east/sou’easterly. Coming back, the sea breeze is behind and the sails can be goose-winged to take advantage of the lovely sleigh-ride home on rising seas.

My wife Aileen and I’ve been sailing over to Rotto for years, and I guess we do get a bit blasé about it, but when you’ve been away and you return, you do really appreciate that it still has lots to offer.

The island does possess a certain magic. The bays are clean with clear, sparkling-blue water and ashore there is an abundance of activities to participate in. Add to that the easy fishing and snorkelling (although there are severe restrictions in parts of the island now), and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what Rotto is all about. It’s not a tropical paradise, however. The prevailing summer winds are strong and the water is fairly cool, notwithstanding the fact that the island is surrounded by the warm Leeuwin current from the north. Summer winds help keep the swell down in the northern bays which, in the winter months after the sea breezes have dropped right off, can be quite sloppy, making the anchorages uncomfortable. On the plus side, a winter visit, in between the gales which beset the west coast from the Southern Ocean, can be very pleasant with fewer visitors. You might even have an anchorage  all to yourself.

What’s in a name?

So how did the island get its name? Well, the Dutch were the first European visitors to sight it. Ships of the Dutch East India Company had explored the west coast of “New Holland” from 1616 as they plied their trade from the Cape to Batavia. There are no records of any landings on the island until 1658. In that year, the sailing ship Waeckende Boey careened her bottom a couple of miles off what is now Bathurst Point.

A party was sent ashore but failed to bring back a glowing report. Almost another 40 years passed (1696) before Willem do Vlamingh arrived at the island aboard the Geelvink, with two other vessels.

He went ashore and again the island was explored and it is to Vlamingh we give credit for naming it Rottnest. The translation literally means “rat’s nest”. Vlamingh thought that the indigenous marsupials on the island were rats. We now know them as quokkas.

Since British settlement of WA in 1829, Rottnest has had a chequered history. Early attempts to build a township at Kingstown failed due to the poor quality of the soil. The island was then earmarked to become an aboriginal prison. Tension and friction between the early white settlers and the indigenous population — due to totally conflicting values about who “owns” what —  led to the Aborigines breaking “white man’s law”. Rottnest seemed the ideal location for a prison. There was no escape. Aboriginal people had named the island Wadgemup, meaning “land across the water,” but they never made any attempt to settle there.

A visionary superintendent of the prison, Henry Vincent, left his mark on the island. He designed and built many of the old colonial buildings that can still be seen today. Indeed, Rotto boasts the finest collection of early colonial architecture in such a small area to found anywhere in Australia.

After the horrors of being an island prison, another far-sighted individual, Governor Bedford, declared that Rottnest would become a public park and recreation area for generations to come. That killed off any attempts to sell off parcels of land to private owners. Since 1917, Rottnest has been an A-class reserve, owned by the WA Government.

In 1938 a pair of 9.2-inch guns was installed on the island, but they were never fired in anger. Installing them was an amazingly impressive feat at that time because a large sand dune was literally sliced off to fit the guns. A network of tunnels was constructed to service the guns — then the “lid” was placed back on the sand dune, with little damage to the delicate environment. Today, you can take a train ride to see the guns and to explore the tunnels. It’s an interesting activity for visiting cruisers.

More recently

All Rotto’s flora and fauna are protected. Fishing is only permitted in certain areas and only with rods and hand-lines. At times it’s easy to pick up a feed of herring (tommy rough to eastern-states readers) while anchored in the bays. Spear-fishing is banned in reserves, but that’s a good policy because some divers have no idea of conservation. Boat owners can apply for a rock-lobster (crayfish) licence, which allows you to set two pots. There are great celebrations on our boat when we catch a feed of crays.

Snorkelling among the limestone reefs is one of our favourite pastimes. As mentioned, the island is washed by the warm Leeuwin current, which means that colourful coral formations can be found. It’s fascinating swimming with the fish — there are 450 species and of those, 135 are tropical. Amazing, isn’t it? Huge stingrays can be seen swimming under the anchored yachts, and you can swim with them but not too close, of course.

Offshore, there is a chance you’ll see humpback whales as they migrate south in spring. Pods of dolphins will often come screaming over to play in the bow wave too. Sea-lions do occasionally come unto the bays.

Another delight is to sail round the island, setting off early in the morning with the easterly then cruising down the south side with the afternoon sea breeze.

Commercial shipping shares the waters to the north and east of Rotto, so keep a good lookout.

The mooring situation

This is always a controversial subject among all boat owners of whatever persuasion. Indeed, Sandgropers are renowned for their conservatism and dislike of change and any change proposed for Rottnest always stirs up angry debate. Moorings at Rotto are no different.

How it works at present is that most of the moorings are leased to licensees, who can lease more than one mooring and it’s theirs for as long as they pay the annual fee. Licensees can share their mooring with other “authorised” users, who also pay an annual fee for the privilege. (This is called the shared mooring system  — SMS.) Hopefully, the parties concerned work out who wants the mooring when, and they don’t all converge on it at the same time. Authorised users and licensees can use other vacant moorings on a casual basis but someone has to stay on the boat in case the licensee turns up and the boat has to be moved. This makes for a very nervous stay, obviously, and it means that someone is going to miss out on a shore excursion for a coffee, beer or lunch. (Other casual visitors, us included, are not permitted to use vacant moorings. This is very annoying and frustrating, especially in heavy weather.)

Next, there are some moorings which the Rottnest Island Board rents out. These are scattered around the main bays — Thompsons, Longreach and Geordie. They are excellent moorings, but cost $39 per night. Add this to the landing fee of $12.90 per person and you begin to realise that Rotto is quite expensive.

Anchorage is free, except for the landing fee mentioned, but limited to an area near the Army Jetty in Thompson Bay, and to a small section of Longreach Bay. Better anchorage can be found down towards the west end at Stark Bay and around the south side at Parker Point.

Anchoring and mooring

We tend to anchor at Rotto and occasionally grab a rental mooring if it looks like it’s going to blow through the night. We love Longreach because it’s only a 15-minute walk from the settlement and only a few minutes to the facilities at Geordie Bay. Longreach does get very crowded at popular holiday times, and it’s often wall-to-wall boats then. One really annoying aspect of this is the tendency for people to put out an extra “easterly” anchor.

This often ends up a hazard for other boaties because floating anchor lines foul props.

So to my proposal: get rid of all the moorings in Thompson Bay, put in a really good all-weather marina (which would need a sea wall) and rent the pens out on a first-come, first-served basis for a max of one week. The pens could be booked on the internet. Ashore, let’s have some really good restaurants and coffee shops and maybe a five-star hotel. Let the rest of the island stay pristine and rationalise the mooring situation elsewhere so that they are available to all.

That is what Europeans would do for cruisers and the island would become a top-notch destination for both the well heeled and shoestring sailor.

Facts & further information

Weather

Rottnest is subject to the normal summer pattern of easterly winds in the morning, followed by the SW sea breeze in the afternoon. Summer winds can be very strong, although they gradually ease in late February and March. Calm weather is the norm in winter — in between nor’westerly gales. The popular northern bays are untenable in strong northerlies.

Moorings

These are all colour coded for boat size and are maintained by the licensees, who can share expenses with other users. Visit www.rottnestisland.com for more information.