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Mischief - Yet more Mischief : Log 71 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes



Friday, 10th August 2018 - Day sail to Orpheus Island

A beautiful day again, just not enough wind as we motored across flat seas to the island of Fantome. Smoke and Roses, who where trailing us spotted some whales leaping which started a frantic search of the horizon, but we failed to see any on this occasion. Neen was sat on the foredeck armed with her enormous telephoto lens for an hour or so but returned forlorn.

Juno Bay when we arrived mid-afternoon was not terribly inviting with a fringing reef all the way around the bay, so it would have been all but impossible to go ashore there at low water, so we went around the island and on a further 5 miles to Orpheus Island, which would also not give us a lee shore if the wind came up. We dropped anchor in Pioneer Bay but had trouble setting the anchor as did Smoke and Roses as it was mainly rock underneath. The anchor was graunching away as it dragged until it hit something solid and stayed put eventually.

Dan and Agnes came across for dinner of beef stew I had knocked up for the occasion and we enjoyed a really pleasant evening, then we retired to bed listening to the anchor chain creaking as it twisted and turned - I stayed awake for ages looking for signs of us dragging, but we stayed put thankfully.

Saturday 11th August 2018 - Orpheus Island to Cairns

I was outside doing a crossword puzzle early morning and took a closer look at the Hanse 445 that had anchored next to us after dark in Pioneer Bay. The name 'Charm Offensive' looked familiar as I recalled her being a brand new boat in St Katharine Docks during the period of the London Olympics in August 2012, when I had my own boat in there directly opposite. They were due to do the ARC in 2012 then on to Australia (they were Australian), quite a coincidence. We met the guys later in the morning on the beach and confirmed it was the boat in question, although the then owner Nick Black had sold the boat on arrival in Australia to the present owners in 2013 and here she was.

We were ashore to walk along the beach and to do some snorkeling as this was possibly the last opportunity to do so given the prevalence of 'Salties' further north. We saw some small reef sharks in the shallows and a few sting rays, before we headed off to the edge of the fringing reef to snorkel over the reef itself, which was great.

Back on Mischief, we had lunch whilst a huge Manta Ray swam passed - very elegant even if it was the size of our dinghy, if not bigger!

We set off mid-afternoon bound for Cairns which was about 120 miles north again in beautiful sunny and warm weather although there was not a great deal of wind. We set the A5 asymmetric spinnaker as we were on a beam reach doing 7/8 knots. We passed Agnes Island but could not see any Agnes's, only the one behind us in Smoke and Roses.

There was an emergency call out on channel 16 late afternoon, a "V Sheet", which we did not really understand but it meant a fixed winged aircraft was dispatched in conjunction with the local coastguard - it was interesting listening in to the dialogue on VHF. Basically, it came down to a tender getting into trouble and the mothership was searching for it, so the rescue services were standing by.

We had Red Emperor fish for tea on the barbeque with a rice salad which was really good as we sailed into the dusk. Fish steaks on the barbie are great.

Going into the night the wind eased off and we started to motor until around mid-night when the wind shifted about 180 degrees into the NW and came in at 12 knots, so we had the genoa out again and were sailing at 6 knots again on port tack. Really pleasant sailing although it did start to get cold with the new breeze.

Sunday 12th August 2018 - Passage to Cairns

We arrived at Marlin marina, Cairns at 11.30 and went into the marina with a strong swirling tide to moor up and were met by the marina lady who checked us in there and then on the dock, so convenient.

We all went into town to find somewhere to have a beer and ended up in the RSL, similar to the Royal British Legion in the UK where we watched some great rugby league in the sports bar. At 6 pm sharp the tellies were all turned down and the 'Last Post' sounded followed by everyone standing up and chanting "We shall remember them", which happens every day here rather than the once a year back home on November 11th.

A very nice Thai curry and we were back on board and asleep by 8 pm. Neen was keen not to let her daughter Sophie know we that we were in bed so early as Cairns was 'Party Town', and we should be out on the tiles 'til late! Never mind, I hope she doesn't read this as it will give the game away!


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