Thursday 16 June 2011

THURSDAY THURSDAY ISLAND 17june2011 21nm


thursday island



quarantine



customs and school buses

makes dinghies go faster !
 departed seisia first light to use ebb tide going west to help us sail across to,and up east coast of horn island,and then flood tide going west ,to go down boat passage between thursday island.lovely anchorage between the  two islands in bright pale blue water.R&R kindly gave us a lift over to TI in their dinghy(saves getting ours off deck-so much easier on their cat,+cat has other attributes like spac&speed,so have googled catamarans-hadn't previously considered them,but I digress).bought some CDs by seaman dan,a now 80 yo torres strait expearldiver.lunch (our last meal out before darwin said tom).then cultural centre,customs office,walk the 2 main streets-some nice old hotels and churches,bought a colourful teatowel,postcards,yesterdays Australian newspaper(PK) ,library and postoffice.back to jetty-big customs boats,lots of motor dinghies,water taxi taking island schoolchilderen home.dinghies home and then r& r ,&tom and barbara suddenly sped up as a big croc slid into water near their boats!cooked 4 stirfry meals for trip to darwin.

WED16JUNE2011-SEISIA

14JUNE2011 CAPE YORK 4 WHEEL DRIVE











13 JUNE 2011 escape river to SEISIA

leave before sunrise to get tidal flow thru albany passage.beam reach 8.8 knots-we are having fabulous sailing up far north queensland coast,with favourable tradewinds and the reef providing calm water-our overseas cruisers tell us this sailing is unusually good.
albany pass-deep green flat fast flowingwater .no wind=motor-9.9 knots with 3 knots current-quite a ride-but short.lovely scenary-orange clifs with green vegetation on top,and nice little beaches.
then barren eborac island with lighthouse,just oo cape york=we are sailing around most northern tip of mainland australia.
SEISIA-lovely anchorage between little island and wharf-yachts at anchor,trading ship Trinity Bay .at jetty.dropped anchor at midday.dinghy to beach-took jery can to start refueling-diesel not cheap.
A local called greg gave us lift to servo and on the way detoured to give us a town tour.at the servo we ran into tom and barbara with 6 jerrycans of diesel-so greg drove the women and fuel back-right onto the beach to the dinghies-nice guy
chilly mornings

big current going into albany passage

chartplotter-albany passage


albany passage

seisia

not cheap

its along way(bamaga is next to seisia)
that evening a yachties bbq on shore and we met 3 yachts from uk.

12JUNE11 Shelburne bay to ESCAPE RIVER

11JUNE11 margaret bay to SHELBURNE BAY

10JUNE11 Portland roads to CAPE GRENVILLE=MARGARET BAY

09JUNE11 morris island to PORTLAND ROADS 61NM

08JUNE2011 ninian bay to MORRIS ISLAND 92NM

07june lizard island to NINIAN BAY

06 june LIZARD ISLAND

COOK SUMMIT WALK.met peter and gisela on beach at 0700 and started steep climb to island summit(as did Cook).great views.several big lizards.
SNORKELLING.after quick coffees on haven,collected peter and spent a lovely hour snorkelling on reef.then some proper coffee on Comodo.national parks came over and said they were doing a burnoff of most of island next day and we should thus leave tomorrow.so back into sea for another snorkel-this time over the Clam Gardens-giant clams were impressive.
lovely quick walk over to blue lagoon and back in time for sundowners on beach with yachties -great view of yachts and sunset

05june2011.cooktown to LIZARD ISLAND

Nice 50 nm sail.about 10 yachts already in watson bay.into shore on dinghy to stretch legs-did short mrs watson walk and a little od cook summit walk giving a lovely view over yachts and bay.

Saturday 4 June 2011

04JUNE Hope Island to COOKTOWN

Another magic day.left hope island after.....,,carefully avoiding the reefs,leaving the island deserted.
nice sail.dropped anchor in cooktown harbour 1230.Dinghy up  Endeavour river to shore.Filled gas cylander & outboard fuelcan,.then walked along waterfront to town.saw captain cook statue overlooking spot where he repaired his ship Endeavour after it holed on a reef.we watched the locals practicing the re-enactment of cooks landing which they do every year on june 17.nice murals on footpath.
bought the weekend australian newspaper to see what is happening in the world.
captaincook museum is up the hill in a lovely old convent-highlight was seeing a cannon and anchor from the Endeavour.bought a book called H.M.Bark Endeavour  which looks like a good read,and this cartoon postcard..
bought more fresh fruit and vegaes-the farmers market stuff didnt last well at all.back in time for sunset sundowners looking at waterfrot and boats moored in endeavour river

03 june Low Isles to HOPE ISLAND

02 JUNE Port Douglas to LOW ISLES

01 june WAGS

29may2011 cairns to PORT DOUGLAS

Nice sail.port douglas very pretty as entered via river to marina.afternoon river walk.pretty church.live music at waterfrontThe Tinshed,then at popular courthouse hotel

Thursday 2 June 2011

28may2011. CAIRNS

Up early to Rusty markets for fresh produce-apples and oranges,tropical fruit,chinese greens,trendy eggs(4 doz),persimmons only $4/kg,and bananas only $5/kg($12 at WW).beth leonard,a cruising guru, says in her tome that farmers market = lasts longer.
then taxi to the chip shop.our last one stopped atbowen,.the new one goes to darwin.also got two for indonesia.they go in the cockpit chartplotter.walked the 3 km back intotown for tthe exercise.
next a big shop at WW-enough to last totdarwin
then some alcoho-got casks and cans this time as create less rubbish on boat.
sundowners on haven with the rally crews from simanderal,landin and lucid dream

27may11 Fitzroy island to CAIRNS,. 16nm

In the morning we went snorkelling at fitzroy island,.we hired stinger suits (which also covered feet,hands and head)and also wore our shorty wetsuits ,boots and fins-several hours viewing coral and fish.we got cold but not bitten
middat off to cairns-lovely sailing,nice coastal scenary,then sailed down long shipping channel intocairns.in to Marlin marina.big marina,lots of big tourist boats.bert from sweden,on panacea helped us tie up.

Wednesday 1 June 2011

26may11 FITZROY ISLAND


resort

welcome bay

Classic island view for cockpit breakast.long bushwalk to lighthouse and summit.late lunch on boat,relax,then kerrys mackeral for dinner

25may11 SAIL TO FITZROY ISLAND 47NM

departing mourilyn harbour  at sunrise
beach fitzroy
fitzroy island
Off in time to see sunrise thru narrow heads as we left mourilyn harbour.lovely sail.kerry caught another fish! another 60 cm mackeral for dinners.
kerry on coral beach fitzroy island

sunset Nudey beach - kerry on mobile to a Phillipa
Fitzroy island = the classic tropical island-2 peaks with thick vegetation,wide bay with coral beaches,palms,and anchored yachts.launched dinghy and zoomed over to shore.learnt how to secure dinghy=tie one end to jetty,throw dinghy grapnel anchor on rope out the back,then up steep ladder.lovely bushwalk to Nudey Beach.back for sunset sundowner in cockpit.listened to state of origen match on radio-.(good result as twins and I go for qld)dinner=nannygai fish cooked with lots of ginger and herbs by kerry=one of be
Preview
st fish meals I've ever eaten