Morning did not bring any lessening of wind intensity. We were disappointed because our main objective in being here at Lizard Island was to hike up to the lookout where Captain Cook found his path out through the reefs. After our wild ride to and from Danica the night before, I just could not face going all the way in to the beach in that rolling surf. Captain, being the intrepid Viking that he is, wasn’t daunted in the least, so he kayaked ashore and did the hike. He revelled in following in Captain Cook’s foot steps, and seeing the view Cook had seen. I was sad to miss that, but really accomplished a lot of housekeeping that needed doing. Lars came back for lunch, and at 14:00 we decided we’d had quite enough of the near gale wind on the hook...May as well be using that blow to make some northern progress. We upped anchor, and headed out into the wild. It was quickly apparent that a double reefed Genoa and a hanky of Main were enough to make eight knots of boat speed. We had an enjoyable sail for five hours, then at 19:00 a 30 degree wind shift necessitated putting the Genoa on the pole. This worked for two hours until the turn of the channel was too tight for the angle of the main, so we put it away completely and have carried rocking along navigating between scarily close reefs and huge cargo ships. Never a dull moment on the Sweet Dream!
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