Cairns to Cape York

Sunday 2nd June, Mt. Adolphus Island (off Cape York).

Safely at anchor now here at (pretty much) the very tippy top of Queensland (and Australia) but I'm afraid I have to report that we were again driven to check the level in the rum bottle after a scare coming in. If this keeps going we may have a rum drought. I also think we broke the previous record for early morning drinking. The scare was that the anchor windlass (the thing that drops and raises the anchor) didn't seem to want to work. Karl asked me to buy him some time circling the anchorage while he tried to problem-solve (we both independently had thoughts of having to set off to Darwin for the closest Marina!), a couple of things didn't work, then the windlass just started working and all was good. (Karl would like me to point out that “it didn't just start working, I trouble-shooted it and problem-solved it”. Including deciding the problem was with some bits he had previously meddled with, so he got his spanners out, removed them, but weren't the problem.)

Top of Australia, yay, time to celebrate. Our position looks very cool on a map. 

We were heading for Horn Island to anchor for a few days and get the ferry across to visit Thursday Island ('cause that seems interesting). Getting into the Horn Island/Thursday Island area though is only feasible with a favourable tide due to the strong currents. Given that it's a bit of a lottery as to whether we'd arrive at an appropriate time we needed a Plan B: somewhere to hang out while awaiting the tides. So we looked at the charts and found an island that bears a striking resemblance to scAwful Island and we just couldn't resist. Also, the name's pretty good. And Captain Cook noted it in his log as he passed: "On the N.W. side of this island seem'd to be good Anchorage, and Vallies that to all appearance would afford both wood and fresh Water." We were sold. Though not so concerned about the wood and water situation.

So what was the trip from Cairns like? Highs and lows. Highs and lows.

We left Cairns on a beautiful sunny day, light winds but enough to move (slowly), calm seas and beautiful coastal scenery of lush, forested hills. Now this is sailing! We even had a beer at sunset, something usually reserved for anchorages and marinas. (High)

Now, navigating through the Great Barrier Reef (Cook would no doubt agree) is pretty hard work actually. It was like playing boat-pinball bouncing between the mainland, the reef, islands and shipping. And reading Cook's log as we passed Endeavour Reef (where he ran aground) and further north (where he almost smashed against the reef) did help to focus the mind on the task in hand. It's quite nerve-racking how close you get to islands and reefs as you pass through the channel and even worse at night, in the dark, alone on nightwatch seeing the warning lights pass what seems like within touching distance of you (Karl will kill me if I run us aground!....just how would you break that news to the person sleeping below?). 

 We're the little black ship, big triangle is an even bigger cargo ship. Not much wiggle room between the reef on the right and the ship.

Lots of navy ships around here too.

Had a great watch one night distracting myself from all of this listening to Karl's copy of Fanning's Fab 50 from 1996....ah the memories. (High) But the constant vigilance and attention is tiring. (Low)

We did have time to relax though. (High) Now that it's sunk in a bit that we're on a very long holiday I broke out an enormous biography of Marie Antoinette, the kind you'll only get through if you don't have a day job (the dots go all away across the Kindle screen, the only other thing I have that does this is the entire Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series). It's been talking about her journey from Vienna to Paris to her new husband which happened in 1770 - just as Cook was sailing up this coast. We're properly in the tradewinds now and they're just amazingly constant and coming from the right direction (behind) - literally "fair winds and followings seas". On the first day of Winter I was enjoying my breakfast in the cockpit watching sunrise and wearing shorts. Ha hah, we escaped Brisbane just in time. (High and smug)

Had a couple of miracle wins. (High) Karl's satellite antenna (the two-splash one) that he didn't think was working is working now! And one of our cockpit speakers that wasn't working just randomly started working. And then the other one stopped working.

And then we had to negotiate the channel around Cape Grenville which meant sailing a bit more into the wind for a bit which reminded us of the old days when that was all we did (bash, bash, bash) and confirmed our resolution to stick to downwind sailing from now on. Morale was pretty low for a couple of hours there. (low) But in all fairness there's a very picturesque lighthouse on the cape which was actually almost worth it.

Karl tried trolling a line in the hope of catching some fish as we skirted the reefs. No luck. (simultaneous low and high)

Yesterday (up the far North Queensland coast) we were pottering along, minding our own business, nothing and no-one in sight when a plan flew over at a very low altitude. Seemed weird but it looked like a small Qantas plane so were started wondering what airport it was headed to. A few minutes later it came again and really buzzed us at low level this time, I thought it was going to take the mast off, and we could see it was Border Force. Just after this they called on the radio for the "white-hulled sloop below us". Karl and I looked at each other. I guess that's us. Are they trying to Stop the Boats? I called them back and had a very polite chat with a Sir who called me Maam and just wanted to confirm our identity and destination. Whew. I'd make a joke here about thank God they didn't know about the drugs but they're probably monitoring this and that would be the nail in the coffin of my already ailing citizenship application. Jealous of my little radio chat Karl decided to call up a big cargo ship that was ploughing up the channel towards us (to confirm who would pass who where, without fatalities). The lovely gentleman who called back pronounced Grainne Mhaol perfectly straight away and turned out to be Irish. (High)

And now here we are, another anchorage all to ourselves and time to rest. (High)

Safely anchored at Mt. Adolphus Island.

Massacre at Mt. Adolphus.