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Graptolite - North to the Torres Strait



11:57.35S 143:12.12E Tuesday 19th August, Margaret Bay, Cape York, Great Barrier Reef

There is something up with my engine.  It seems to know when there is a situation where it is indispensable and then stops working until it has had a bit of attention.  It always works at other times but twice recently on entering narrow channels under sail it has let us down.  Duncan and Tom have got good at sorting it out before we pile up on rocks.  I said I would 'mention you in dispatches' Duncan, so here it is.  An extra ration of grog for the men, huzzah!

This Cape York coastline is bleak. I don't remember seeing anything quite like it. There is no sign of human activity for hundreds of miles. It seems worse somehow than being thousands of miles from anywhere in the middle of an ocean. And it's windy with 20 to 30 knots of SE Trade Winds all day, everyday. We have been anchoring by night in the shelter of little islands and reefs but it's been spilling our sundowners.

We caught a big yellow fin tuna today (in a Light Blue Zone - for any officials reading this). Sashimi prepared minutes after landing is very good although unexpectedly warm from the fish's exertions. Later we were buzzed by an Australian Customs plane that was probably checking up on any illegal use of wasabi and soy sauce.

M



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