We actively try to catch crabs when we’re on holidays. 🙂
The best place to catch Crabs.
Any river or ocean frontage that comprises of mangroves is perfect for mud crabs.
Lucinda 139 km north of Townsville, Australia, is our family’s favourite crabbing and fishing destination. Passing the 55km mark of Rollingstone, the country turns from dry scrubland to a sugar cane landscape. Further on we pass the Turn Off to The Paluma Range, where the change to wet tropics is really noticeable. Sugar Cane loves rain, preferably without the wind associated with a cyclone though.
As a North Queenslander I think cane looks beautiful at any stage but I particularly like it when it is flowering.
Ingham, the turning off point to Lucinda has a strong Italian Heritage. Italians emigrated to become sugar cane farmers and had a hard time being accepted at first, but that struggle is long over. It must have been challenging for those first settlers to arrive from chilly Piedmont to a tropical monsoon climate. You can read about how it all went down here. The town holds an annual Italian Festival this year’s being 2/3rd August (2014).
The main boat ramp for Lucinda is Dungeness, five minutes from the Lucinda Point Hotel, the Port-O-Call. A pontoon walkway separates the dual lanes of the ramp so that boaties (myself) need not get muddy feet or become crocodile fodder, plus there is a free boat and car washing bay as you leave. The overhead power lines wear flags as a reminder for sail boat skippers to lower masts.
Dungeness boat ramp with a moody Hinchinbrook Island in the background.
Lucinda hasn’t changed much in the 35 years we have regularly visited, but the Dungeness area has changed remarkably. It now has a Cafe/Fuel Outlet and several accommodation options, some directly on the water complete with a jetty mooring. Nice, but I would make sure to pack the insect repellent – it is a mangrove creek after all! Dungeness Creek is a tributary of the Herbert a largish river that swells enormously when in flood.
Once on the water there are creek, river and channel options for fishing and crabbing. Hinchinbrook Island is huge and obliterates the ocean view from Dungeness. Hinchinbrook Channel extends from Lucinda in the south to Cardwell in the North and offers Houseboat holidays.
The Orpheus island Resort tender departs from Dungeness. There are quite a few other islands, the closest being Pelorus, that are accessible by private vessel and the 6km long jetty that transports bulk sugar to waiting ships, points the way. There is no Public Access to the sugar jetty (Gantry) but every fishing boat in the area has their favourite anchorage in the vicinity. Note that it is illegal to tie up to the jetty. Another smaller jetty situated close to the Bulk Sugar Terminal is open to the public.
The Gantry, a 6km long Jetty.
The above photo shows one half of one of the three bulk sugar terminals being re-roofed.
Sunset in Dungeness Creek.
Mud crabs turn from darkest green to brightest orange when cooked.
Crab Meat ready to be piled onto fresh bread with a sprinkling of ground pepper and malt vinegar.
Only Male crabs can be taken. They have a V shape underneath.
Accommodation.
Sometimes we camp or caravan but on the latest occasion we rented a holiday home. Within a day we had met our two immediate neighbours plus dogs and a family from down the road (the school bus stop is opposite us). Lucinda is a small community and everyone is up for a chat. We rented our holiday home from Ray White Real Estate in Ingham.
Have you ever caught and eaten Mud Crabs?
I have linked to Nancie’s Travel Photo Thursday over at Budget Travelers Sandbox, and
Noel’s Travel Photo Discovery for Travel Photo Monday.
Trout for Lunch at Camlihemsin
We caught blue crabs in Florida one time, but I just couldn’t get over having to boil them. haha! So we tossed them back into the waterway. It was still fun to watch them for a bit.
I know blue swimmer crabs too Katie. We don’t get them so much where we live. I know what you mean about boiling them. If you put them in the freezer first they go to sleep. 🙁
Amazing… an delicious 🙂
Good to know you like eating crabs too Lily. 🙂
I loved seeing your photos of Nth QLD. It’s been a while since I’ve been there but having an aunt in Townsville I used to go there reasonably often. Those were mainly back in the days when it wouldn’t have occurred to me to catch crabs (student, young 20s …) Now married to a keen (but hopeless!) fisherman with 2 young boys we often go crabbing. We find bacon works a treat as bait for the crabs in Northumberland (UK)!! Pity they’re not the same big size as your mud crabs though.
Wow I bet crabbing in Northumberland is way different to Lucinda crabbing. We use the head and backbones of fish that we have filleted as bait, or maybe beef bones. Do you place a big piece of bacon in the pot?
I’ve never had mud crabs but I adore crab and your picture is mouthwatering!
A 6 km long jetty blows my mind.
What type of crab have you eaten Leigh? They say the jetty is so long that it curves with the earth!
Hi Jan, crab is one of my most favorite things in the world! I grew up in a town in the Philippinres which had one of the best crab harvesting in the country. Although I haven eaten them a lot I never really tried catching them. I guess it was just easier to buy them:)
Lucinda looks like a lovely town to visit. The Dungeness Creek looks beautiful and sounds really crabby:) Your sunset shot is stunning. I like the circular image created by the reflection. And ahh….the photo of the crab meat made me drool.
My mission has been accomplished Marisol. I have eaten enough crab in this week to last me a while. 🙂
Ok, those crubs are massive and the cooked orange ones look so inviting. I have always been afraid of crubs because I was told they pinch, so iv never attempted catching them.
Beautiful sunset in Dungeness Creek.
They definitely do pinch Rachel. There is a method of picking them up so they can’t grab you 🙂 I Agree that was a beautiful sunset. What I like about sunsets is how they change in front of your eyes. Like Nature on fast forward. 🙂
Oh wow, the crabs look absolutely delicious!! I really like crab, but I can only eat them from restaurants because it breaks my heart to see them being boiled alive 🙁 :(. I wonder why only the males can be taken?
Anna if they are put in the freezer first they just go to sleep. Females are left alone to breed so there are still crabs in the future 🙂 Thanks for commenting. It is funny because I prefer to eat crab that I have cooked and peeled myself 🙂
Jan, Ooh I can taste those crabs now. I’ve only been crabbing once in my life and would so love to go again. What fun!
It has only been a year since we have been. We use safety pots which we leave in. They are checked every morning and night and it’s so exciting to pull up each pot and see what it holds. 🙂 Thanks for commenting.
I went crabbing once when I was little with my grandma, great memories!:-) Your photos are simply amazing!
I suddenly have some cravings for crab. We love eating them and your picture is making my mouth water. We’ve never caught crab but certainly buy a lot of them when in season and the price is good. Lucinda and Dungeness Creek look so beautiful and relaxing. Beautiful photos!
I certainly ate enough crab in that one week to last me a while Mary 🙂
6 km is incredibly long for a jetty. I can barely imagine it even after looking at your photo. My kids like to catch crab off the pier by their grandparents house. It’s rather easy involving baiting the crab traps with raw chicken necks. My hubby says that when he was a kid, they would just tie the chicken neck to a stick and try to catch the crabs as if they were fish. Your photos, especially the one of sunset, show off what a wonderful, scenic location this must be to catch crab. But crocs, too? Yikes!
Are they mud crabs that your kids catch? We used to catch yabbies in the Murray River the way your hubby tried catching crabs, except we put the bait in a ladies stocking and dangled it in the water on the muddy banks, then when we pulled it in the yabbies (fresh water crays) would be clinging to it, lol. 🙂 Although we have seen crocs in other rivers we fish in this was the first time we actually saw a croc at Dungeness, although other people had seen them. It makes you think twice about hanging out of the boat. A man was taken out of his boat by a croc in Kakadu just this week. They killed two crocs and one 4.7m croc had human remains in his stomach. That is the first I have heard of a croc taking someone from a boat.
Your photos make me want to go back and catch some of these big mud crabs. I went to Magnetic Island and Townsville 3 years and loved this the dry-tropics area.
Hi Michela, Thanks for commenting. Magnetic Island is a wonderful place to relax. I love the gum trees, koalas on the Fort Walks, beaches, pubs and the big boulders and the bird life. I guess you will be back to Australia again. 🙂