We saw the Lizard.
It is easy to get distracted when you are working hard and playing hard. But we realised that if we stayed much longer in Cairns, we would take root. So, and bearing in mind we are one of the slow-coaches, we left Cairns slightly ahead of the pack. To get back into the swing of it, so to speak, we had a short first day, spending the night at the little town of Port Douglas. It is a charming place, mainly given over to the tourist trade, but it is not until you leave it that you realise it's the most northerly real town on the East Coast of Queesland; after that you are on your own. Our friends from Andante helped us into the very friendly but rather shallow marina, and we spent a quiet night. Next day, we had a lazy start, hoping to have lunch on the move after refuelling. But come the time, we were unable to leave - Cleone was stuck fast in the soft mud! So we had lunch and then refuelled, before setting out down river and across the bar.
It was a great sailing day - the wind was abaft the beam and there was plenty of it. As the afternoon wore on, and Andante emerged from the river behind us, the wind freshened, and soon it was blowing at over thirty knots. The navigation inside the Reef is demanding, and we kept a careful plot. Short, steep seas soon built up, and in the early evening, we tied down the third reef and furled the genoa completely. And we were still making over seven knots. By this time, Andante had overtaken us, and when we began to reel her in, and her lights changed from white to red, we knew they had met a problem. There furling gear had broken. In the rising seas there was nothing practical we could do to help them, and so they diverted to nearby Bedford Bay to retrieve the situation as best they could. But as we discovered later, they could only furl their mainsail by cutting it off the mast, leaving them with a very difficult repair on their hands, the solution to which is as yet unclear.
We arrived in the shelter of Lizard Island at about ten the next morning. Friends from Windflower and long-lost Calli Due were already there; we were delighted to see them. We slept a couple of hours after a Norfy Special Breakfast, before setting out to explore this delightful haven. It's a quiet but well-developed place. There is an unobtrusive and rather exclusive resort, a government research station (part of the Museum of Australia) where they carry out serious research on the reefs, a decent, tarmacked airstrip, and lots of well-marked footpaths leading to interesting sights and glorious bays. We visited the research station, and the next morning Nicky and the Skipper trekked to the top of Cook's Look, on the descent meeting one of the famed lizards, a smallish specimen of some two feet long. He was quite unafraid of us, sitting very still whilst we took a couple of photos, hoping to catch his long red tongue as it flickered out, presumably in search of insects for lunch. This mountain (hill?) is famed as being the point to which the young Lieutenant Cook ascended in order to find a way out of the tortuous reefs in which he had become trapped. At the top, some 1000 feet up, is a compass which points out, amongst other things, the direction and distance to London (and New York) and indicates the location of Cook's Passage, through which he eventually made his escape before having to re-enter the reefs in order to find shelter again! The surrounding reefs can clearly be seen from this magnificent vantage point, and Cook cannot have been disappointed by his discovery.
The island is also famous for a failed commercial enterprise led by a young Mr Watson in the 19th Century. Following an outbreak of ethnic violence amongst his staff whilst her husband was away, his young wife Mary fled the island with her baby and a servant, pushing a large iron tank into the sea and climbing into it. Needless to say, the trio drifted away Northwest through the Barrier Reef, landing on a small island where they starved before finally dying of thirst, their bodies only being found some three months later. Mrs Watson was a native of St Newlyn East, in Cornwall - apparently there is a tablet to her memory in the village church there. Despite this tradgedy, the island is a beautiful, quiet and happy place, with magnificent snorkelling to be had amongs the giant clams (5' across, some of them) and abundant tropical fish. We've been told this is the last place where we will swim - north of here are abundant large crocodiles. We spent a quiet night aboard; although not far from the Equator, it was a chilly evening, and we were glad of long trousers and fleeces.
We have still plenty of miles to do, and time presses. We have to be in Thursday Island by 20th August. Nicky has a plane to catch, and we are meant to cross the start-line for the leg to Darwin. So this morning we stole away before dawn, the Skipper managing to sleep his way through his alarm, set for 3 am. But after a fight with the anchor chain, we were away by four am, and hoping to be in or around the Flinders Islands by nightfall. We will keep you informed of progress!
All well with us, and best wishes to everyone.
James, Chris and Nicky
Yacht Cleone
14o25'S 144o45'E