Hello all from Philip and the crew
We are now at anchor at Stokes Bay in the Flinders Island Group enjoying a cold beer some 80+ miles North from Lizard Island where we spent last night, and about 240 nm south of Thursday Island our destination for this part of the journey.
Andy's birthday party on the beach yesterday evening was wonderful, all crews form the six WARC boats attended and various musical instruments were employed in recreating sounds of the 50's and 60's, Steve on his didgeridoo proved an instant hit. The party went on quite late given the intentions of the following day.
However a little blurry eyed, Kasuje's crew were up at 5.00 am to give us a good start to the days passage, the morning sun followed us out of the bay up and has stayed with us all day. The southerly trade winds have been with us speeding us along at a steady 8 knots, at one stage when rounding a headland we were subjected to winds gusting 50mph, Kasuje handled them impeccably giving us great confidence for the ocean sailing to come. Other yacht's are starting to join us in this idyllic anchorage but some may not be here until after dark.
All swimming and snorkeling has now been stopped as we have been advised there are no more known safe places from the dreaded "salties" up to and including Darwin, This bay has a wonderful beach approx 1 mile long punctuated with mangrove trees and the mud flats associated with them, we have not yet seen any crocs but are not prepared to take chances!!
Larissa is now preparing beef in red wine for our evening meal to be followed by a blockbuster movie from Steve's collection, Richard is planning the passage up to the Thursday Islands which we plan to do in one hit with our first full overnight passage including, proper watches etc. We will let you know how we get on!!!
Best wishes
Philip and crew