Hi from Skipper Steve,
We are now just a few hours away from Cairns and the end of this leg from Fiji. As we head north the air temperature is increasing and this evening we are motor sailing along in dead flat seas with a beautiful star light night with the last quarter of the moon just rising in the east.
Since leaving Mackay we have visited the Whit Sunday Islands staying in the exclusive resort of Hamilton Island ,with moorings at 100 Aus dollars per night!! and enjoyed a terrific Sunday Lunch Paella cooked, on Whitehaven beach, which due to its powdery fine, pure white sand, is reputed to be the only beach visible from space. We were all very impressed by the Whit Sunday's the scenery, flat seas, and as an extra bonus, the sighting of many hump Back Whales, some with calf's, some breaching, some just sleeping, but all magnificent.
Robert, Dawn and Admiral North leave Kasuje here at Cairns, they appear to have really enjoyed their time on board and I have certainly enjoyed their company. I will miss them. I also owe a big dept of gratitude to James on Cleone for lending me Admiral North to assist with my novice crew. Thanks James, and I return him to HMS Cleone, I hope, with not to many bad habits!!
I'm off to Sydney later today to meet up with Anne and Jenny for a couple of weeks city based touring and then Philip and his team join us for the passage from Cairns to Darwin.
So I will sign off for now and will be back on line in about two weeks with news on the next leg.
Bye for now and thanks for reading
Kindest Regards
Skipper Steve