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Firefly - North to Cape York



The 'Champagne Sailing' got a bit 'bubbly' over the last 2 days with the trade winds reaching 35 knots. Both going into Cooktown, and on from there to Lizard Island Firefly was absolutely flying, just about keeping her grip in a short choppy sea.

Arriving in Cooktown we made the decision to keep sail up until we entered the small harbour and got shelter from the wind. The plan worked fine but we did wonder as we raced down the dredged channel to where we could see a calm area behind 'Cook's' hill, just before we reached the calm patch there was an enormous gust just to make things even tighter. Sails down and under control we motored a short distance to Thomas's quay and tied up alongside his new pontoon, avoiding anchoring in the tricky, shallow Endeavour River. Thomas was a real Aussie Character who while building the pontoon to replace the original one lost in a cyclone - had made friends with the local 'Groupers'.

The business Thomas runs also includes a fish and chip cafe right by the waters edge. At 1900 he had scheduled a feeding session for his 'Groupers'. Peter and Marian from Exody joined us for fish, chips and a glass of wine while Thomas waived the bones, head and guts of a fish (that we were probably eating) at the waters edge. With the tide rising there was just enough water for the first Grouper - all 100kg of him, a huge fish, 2 meters long, to swim up to Thomas and take the offering with a serious snap. The show went on with about 5 more turning up for a feed. Not the best looking fish, they can apparently reach 300/400kg and have been suspected of possible attacks on humans!

The next day it did not take long to cover the 50 miles to Lizard Island especially as we also had a favorable current. Another close encounter with a few whales and another 3/4 breach right up close! As well as being breezy it actually rained as we reached the anchorage. The rain was short lived and having checked the crocodile situation (apparently none and lots of people snorkeling earlier) we dived off the boat and swam over to the large reef in the bay. The water was clear and the coral was superb. We have not done that much diving and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, really only in a few places due to limited time, but what we have seen has been stunning. We agreed that Lizard Island is the 'World HQ' for the Giant Clam - there we so many of them, really beautiful.

Up at 0550 this morning, Sunday 16th August, we were underway by 0600 and heading north. Currently we are goose winged and sailing at 7.5 knots in about 20 knots of wind. The sea is flat and the sun is out again and we have 50 miles completed by 1300. Progress does need to be good as we still have 250 miles to Cape York. We are trying to achieve this in day sails and we need to cover 75 miles a day to stay on our schedule. The scenery is so good and the anchorages very memorable so it would be a shame not to stop, this being such a wild and remote cruising area.

Cape York is where the Torres Strait separates Australia from Papua New Guinea and it is also the meeting place of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Apparently it is also the area of the world with the most consistent trade winds and this added to some very strong currents means that we will need to get the transit well planned. Timing is important, in order to make sure the tide is with you on passing some key places. Once past the Strait we will go into passage mode and won't then stop until Darwin, some 800 miles on from there - this will take about 5 days to cover.

Paul and Susie

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