Death-wish duo tackle croc-friendly waters in tiny canoe

A FISHO is in shock after watching two men paddle off on a small yellow canoe and head into croc-friendly waters

Two men paddle off on a small canoe and head into croc-infested waters.

A FISHO is in shock after watching two men paddle off on a small yellow canoe and head into croc-friendly waters.

Steve Repacholi saw the duo load fishing supplies into the small vessel in Buffalo Creek about 2pm on Tuesday.

“I saw them take off from the boat ramp — I was in shock,” he said.

“I thought they were crazy.

“I thought they’d be lucky to make it back — I don’t know if they made it back.”

Mr Repacholi said it looked like a father and son duo — one in their early-40s, and another in their early-60s. “They looked like they’d done it before — didn’t look like tourists,” he said.

The canoe was smaller than the boat croc attack victim Bill Scott, 62, was snatched from on Bill Dean Billabong in 2014. Mr Scott was in a 3.5m aluminium boat at the time.

The inquest into his death, handed down by coroner Greg Cavanagh, recommended education, not regulated minimum boat sizes, as the most practical way to prevent future croc death tragedies.

Rangers told the inquest a good size mimumm boats for big croc waterways was about 4m-4.2m.

Mr Repacholi said the canoe he saw this week would have been about 2m long.