Cape Capricorn is the north-eastern tip of Curtis Island and is an exposed headland, bordered to the south by exposed, east facing beaches. A lighthouse sits atop the 90 m high grassy cape, that has shaley sides which produce steep, unstable cliffs. While the western side of the cape offers quiet waters and a safe anchorage, the eastern side is exposed to all easterly winds and waves and has the highest energy beaches between Mackay and Round Head. On the southern side of the cape is a series of four near-continuous beaches totalling 9 km in length. Halfway along the beaches, the trend of the shoreline bulges slightly eastward as a foreland in lee of the two Rundle Islands, which lie 4 km offshore. The first beach (1406) is a 60 m long pocket of sand and cobbles wedged in at the base of the cape, slightly protected by 200 m long, protruding eastern rocks and by facing south down the beach. It has a cobble high tide beach in amongst the lower rocks of the cape and a sandy low tide bar that merges with the main beach at low tide. A trough and second bar lie past the inner bar, with a permanent low tide rip against the rocks. read more

Beach Length: 0.06km