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Luna Quest - Sunday, 16th August, 2015



Noon Position: 10.46S 142.40E

Daily logged run: 144 miles

The turquoise blue waters of the Coral Sea are now behind us. At 1pm today we rounded the top of Queensland to enter the pale green waters of the Arafura Sea. Whereas we had planned to enter the Torres Strait further north, we were lucky enough to have a good fresh breeze, a cooperating tidal stream and day light not to worry about random islets strewn about in these treacherous waters. We cut the corner and by taking the Endeavour Strait into the Arafura Sea, we avoided the busy shipping channels and benefited from a shorter distance to our destination of Darwin, some 725 miles to our west. One of the many islands ahead of us was enveloped in smoke and later appeared entirely ablaze.

Since Cairns we have had glorious sailing weather, strong breezes and full sunshine day after day. How different from the weather we experienced on the way from Vanuatu to Mackay. Another member of the Rival Owners Association, Steve Litson in Wandering Dream (another Rival 38), happened to be on the same pontoon in Cairns as we were. He told us that Wandering Dream had been knocked down on the way from Vanuatu to Cairns by the tail end of the Cyclone that obtained just a couple of days before we set off from Port Vila in Vanuatu.

Eric

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