Tuesday, 12 June

We are now at a tiny islet called Morris Island. Not much here except a beach 
and a few palms trees and mangroves. It has a large surrounding reef so the 
anchorage is quite comfortable. The weather has stayed clear but the wind has 
gone light. We spent the day sailing and motor sailing in light and variable 
breezes. Tomorrow promises much the same thing, we have another 60 nautical 
miles to go to Portland Roads where there is apparently some civilization which 
I hope includes some internet as the Admiral has not been able to play "words 
with friend" for a few days now and is not pleased about this.
Fishing has been banned until further notice.

Sunday, 10 June

We are at a place called Flinders Island and this area to Cape York really is 
the back of beyond. There is no phone or internet or much of any thing. We are 
traveling up the northern coast of Queensland with five other boats. There is 
not much wind forecast for the next 36 hours so we will probably stay here 
tomorrow and explore the beach and set some crab traps. We had a very nice 35 
lb. Wahoo today so we won't need to fish for the rest of the trip.

lizard Island

mrs. watson's bay Lizard island

Lizard Island



Admiral and I Blue lagoon, Lizard Island



Iron man swimmers

Australian Navy escorting us out of Cairns



Moonrise, Low Islet

four foot reef sharks with attached remora

observing the tarnsit of venus

We left Cairns on the most perfect weather day,our first for a while! The Australian navy on one side of  us as we sailed down the channel and 2000+ triathlon swimmers on the other. Our first stopover was at Low Islets,these comprise of 2 islands, one mangrove and the other housing the lighthouse ,a couple of houses with some researchers who are stationed there.There was a good 3 G connection here. As we picked up one of the 3 public moorings the 4 foot sharks,turtles and some very large bat fish came to circle and shelter under Callisto. We had a good walk around the island and spoke to Jenny who is stationed there for 3 years ,she assured us the sharks were friendly,so the captain and young Ron went snorkeling. Leaving at first light we set off for Hope island,unfortunately we could see that the 2 moorings were already taken and the entrance into the reef was unclear with all the wind waves and white caps ,so we opted to continue on to Cooktown, and as already blogged the entrance was too shallow( not what the chart said), with goose eggs on the depth finder halfway up the channel the captain made a sharp about turn and we anchored just outside the red and green markers,rather rolly! But there was 3G for our Internet ! Setting off at first light ,finding our special glasses ( last used for the solar eclipse in  French Polynesia   in 2010)for the transit of venus along route, we think we saw a once in a lifetime event .Again we had a very quick sail to Lizard island, quite a united nations of world traveling yachts are in this anchorage flying   1 danish, 1 swiss, 1 swedish,3 Dutch,2 American ,4 Australian,2 new Zealand  ,1 german and our British red ensign.The water here is probably the clearest we have seen since New Caledonia. Our first afternoons entertainment was watching a fire creep up the hillside with the strong winds here,then later that evening a 100 foot cruise ship came in ,in the dark and picked up a mooring 2 boat lengths away! We had a lovely hike over to the blue lagoon on the other side of the island,the captain and young Ron needed a nap post walk. A note for yachties following us, we do have 3G here ,but we are anchored the furthest out in the bay. Today has been snorkeling, discovering giant clams ,live corals and cleaning under the boat. We also encountered  a friendly visit from the Oz customs officers who are patrolling these waters. We set off tomorrow for Howick island.

Cooktown, Queensland

This evening finds us anchored up just outside the seaway at  the entrance to the Endeavor River at Cooktown. We could not get across the bar despite the charts suggesting that the entarnce was dredged to 3.1 metres. At low spring tide there was less than  2 metres in tthe channel according to the coastguard so we are stuck outside bouncing about until tomorrow. The tide won't be full untill 2200H and I don't want to try to get in during the night. So we will probably go on Lizard Island either tonight or at dawn. Too bad really as I would like to have visited the Captain Cook museum in Cooktown. James Cook was here in 1770 for two months after putting his ship, the Endeavour, on Endeavour Reef. He jettisonned all of his cannon and left his kedging anchor there and they were found quite recently.
We have a very nice two days of sailing after leaving Cairns and the weather has been excellent. We spent the last two nights on Low Islets, with a full moon a very calm anchorage. We finally got do some snorkelling on the reef. Lots of healthy coral and reef sharks and turtles.
Photos to follow, looks like we will have to give Cooktown a miss and on to Lizard tommorrow where will spend a few days.

Cairns, Queensland, Oz



We have been in Cairns now for twelve days and it's just now stopped raining. Ron arrived two days ago and we have replaced the lower shrouds and repaired the leak in the watermaker. John left at noon today and a few hours after that the rain stopped and the sun came out. Draw your own conclusions! We are about ready to leave tomorrow for the final leg around the top end and on to Darwin. The annual iron man competition is due to start tomorrow with over 2000 competitors. The whole town is buzzing with activities, live bands and markets and the like. The weather looks like it is finally going to stay clear for a while, next bulletin is from Lizard Island in a few days

Ron, already at work in the engine room



the ironman competition starts tomorrow.these are the 2084 $10000 bikes belonging to the entrants

It's...........Monty Python's Flying Circus. A very strange old dude enjoying the music