Hayman Island - Whitsundays

After two excellent days sailing with north east winds between 10 and twenty knots Reflections iV raced along and delivered us Hayman Island at the top of the Whitsundays at 4am this morning. A full moon and Emily worked together to sight a mooring which we picked up and now after bit more sleep we are off for a snorkel.

The sailing as I said, went well and the girls were a big help furling sails as several unsuccessful strikes on the fishing lure broke up the day. Yesterday we passed close to a large reef quite a way offshore and anchored adjacent to go for a swim/snorkel. The tide was high and with no reef or land visible, it was quite an unnerving experience for the girls to swim out off the boat in the open sea, so to speak.

Last night had stronger wind and we reefed down to slow the boat down to arrive just on light, but the boat seems to be in a fast sailing mood as we still held 6 knots with two reefs in and the cutter flying in only twenty knots.

Will deliver the girls to Airlie either this afternoon or tommorrow and then look for some crew to go further south.

Fitzroy Island and crew!

After two pleasant days sailing from Hope Island to the Low Islands I came into phone range and made contact with Ali, a Canadian girl who with her friend Emily from Ireland were interested in sailing to the Whitsundays.

I sailed into Yorkeys Knob at the northern end of Cairns and met the girls and the next day (today) we sailed out of the marina and had a very relaxed cruise to Fitzroy Island just south of Cairns. All seem to go well and now the plan is to sail, most likely non-stop to the Whitsundays.

The weather forecast is for light and variable but with a bit of luck there will be sufficient land and sea breezes to keep us moving. I am finding it very enjoyable to have company aboard after such a long stint on my own.

We did several tacks and had to furl the sails and the girls were really helpful and made my day much easier than normal.

We met up with many other yachties on the beach at sunset today and met Peter Long who I worked with at TAFE. Small world.

Looking forward to getting some miles done over the next few days.

Out of Cooktown and at the Hope Islands

And the hope is for some wind to sail by.

The Hope Islands are two small cays twenty miles south of Cooktown. Punched into 15 knots of SE all morning to get here and decided that was enough. Not real rough, but not real comfortable either. The forecast is looking better for tomorrow. I feel quite desperate to get further south and get into some NE to NW wind.

Ten days in Cooktown was about nine days too long. The SE wind was up hard and there was no chance of leaving. I placed a sign at a backpackers and had a girl lined up who didn't show when it was time to leave.

The Endeavour river at Cooktown is very shallow and I spent as much time sitting on the bottom as much as floating. The big drama was saved for my last day there. Going over to the fuel jetty I went a little wide to enable me to turn into the jetty. The boat slowly bumped onto a sand bank and as I went into reverse to back up the motor stalled. It stalled again and then going forward I felt the engine load up and stall. It was either going to be the gearbox or a line wrapped on the shaft.

In the next few minutes the boat is laying over on the sand bank with the tide racing in pushing it further into the shallows. Brent off Playground, who has been going south as well, came to my aid and took the anchor out to deep water and I was able to put some tension on it so that it wouldn't ground further as the tide rose. So then with the water swirling madly around the broadside boat I spent half an hour diving down to cut away the culprit.

It was my fault, as it was the end of the dinghy line, known as the painter, must have fallen over the side a few days ago and, while running the motor to charge batteries/cool frig, got itself around the shaft. The shaft turns with the current when the motor runs. I always check the painter is clear before moving but didn't notice the painter had become shorter.

During the diving effort the tide came in enough for the boat to swing back into deep water and the motor started and propelled OK with no damage done. Now I am away, full of fuel, water and fuel, and now just wanting weather to get me south.

Getting very tired of this trip!

Cooktown

My window of good weather has just closed.

With accurate coastal waters weather forecasts I was able to know two days ago that the SE would kick in hard on Saturday and was able to adjust my runs each day and made it to the Cooktown and am now anchored in the Endeavour river, which is very shallow and begs the question:

How much water did Cook's Endeavour draw?

For those that don't know, in 1770 James Cook ran the Endeavour onto a reef a few miles south and came in here to make repairs. Luckily for him the coral head he hit snapped off and formed a plug in the hull. For me it was a serious of shallow! - stop - back up - turn - try there - shallow! - stop - etc... A smart ass comment from one of the twenty or so game-fishing boats choking up the waterway was really helpful. Luckily Brent off one of the boats I have been travelling with, came in his dingy
and showed me the way, which still entailed pushing through sand until getting to slightly deeper water.

Cooktown is similar in size to Thursday Island (two or three streets wide), but connected to the rest of Queensland by a reasonable road. History and the reef trips are the big things here. with a few museums and lots of Cook monuments and murals depicting indigenous life before and after his visit.

To add to the historical theme of the arrival into Cooktown I passed Bounty, the replica of Captain Bligh's Bounty a few miles out. It was heading north, using a non-authentic motor.

For me its now a wait for the SE to drop off again and continue south. Most of the trip from the Escape river was a motoring affair in calm conditions. The last afternoon coming in was a different matter, with a stiff NE sea breeze coming up and we sailed along at 8 knots to charge into Cooktown. Lets hope the there are more days like that.

Expecting no change in the weather for four or five days.

Finally out of the Escape river

It was starting to feel like the 'No Escape' river. The lousy conditions I encountered on the way in reinforced my patience and I have sat in here for ten days waiting for the weather to improve. Finally it's arrived and this morning I made the break and am now about ten miles south and so far have a light sea and moderate winds.

The forecast is for several days of these conditions so now the job is to get as far south as possible while the break in the south east trade winds last. The further south the lighter the trade wind is.

My time in the Escape river was broken up by visits from a couple of boats heading north who were both very welcoming and allowed me to 'talk the their heads off'. The last two days have seen three other southbound boats arrive and three of us are now out here,

I did a bit of fishing to break the monotony up and had a bit of luck one day, landing a large queenfish. It was very pleasant in the early morning motoring along the mangroves. Mind you the thought of crocodiles is ever present, and I must say I felt quite vulnerable in my little soft dinghy.

If the weather stays calm I will aim for Cape Grenville today with an arrival in the evening which will be OK as it is an open bay with no reefs. Due to the shipping traffic and tighter waterway I won't be doing any overnight trips for a while.