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Yet more Mischief : Log 72 Further adventures of S/Y Mischief through the eyes and ears of Chas Baynes



Monday, 13th August 2018 - Marlin Marina, Cairns
Went for a run for an hour with Neen, then had a shower, we washed the boat, did the laundry and went ashore to Woolworths to re-vittle for the long passage to Darwin in a few days' time. Woolworths is a major supermarket chain here in Australia, but you will not find the good old 'pick and mix' which was the specialty of our own defunct Woolworths.

We have been planning the remainder of our Australia voyage today: we are to head north east a bit to Lizard Island, one of the not-to-miss places about 142 miles; then on to Flinders another 82 miles; then an anchorage on the mainland near Cape York at the top of the horn of Australia called Seisha 274 miles; then on to Darwin a further 732 miles. So, in total only about another 1,230 miles to go to arrive 26th August in Darwin! Seems just around the corner after the number of miles we have already covered.

I spent the afternoon doing 'office work' and catching up on this blog, when I had a call from Dave who had gone shopping with Neen and Wendy, to say they were in the Bavarian Beer House along the promenade. Without another moments delay I was off to have a few German beers and a Wiener schnitzel mit frites all served by a girl from Munich wearing her dirndl which made it very difficult for Dave and I to look her in the eye!

Dinner done we made our way boat but passed a shopping arcade on the way so had to go in there and found all sorts of small shops and massage parlours etc. including an opal dealer who spent a good half an hour explaining the values and cuts of opals to the girls, sensing a sale. It was interesting and somehow Dave's wallet was not troubled on this occasion.

This little interlude meant that we were not back on the boat until gone 9 pm - so much for our participation in party town, although the noise from the bars on the promenade went on until the early hours.

Tuesday, 14th August 2018 - Cairns
Neen and I went for a short run early morning and on the way back we gave some chaps from Cairns Yacht Club a hand to lift their 8 man outrigger canoe into its cradle, which weighed an absolute ton which was surprising!

We were told we had to be away from our berth by 10am so we prepared the boat and said cheerio to Smoke and Roses and to Misto, whom had just arrived. We seem to be forever leaving as they arrive, a pure coincidence of course! They helped us to slip our lines into a 20 knot breeze gusting more, making it a bumpy ride out of the channel and into deeper water.

It was blowing between 20 - 28 knots from behind with a quartering sea but the sun was out and great sailing at 7-9 knots albeit we were rolling about a lot. Because it was so windy we sailed with two reefs in the main and two in the genoa, then three in the main, then no genoa at all mostly due to the beam sea as we rounded a reef, headed up and needed to reduce speed to ensure we arrived at Lizard Island in daylight. It was however really uncomfortable with the beam sea and only half the mainsail up as the boat lurched about violently making sleeping below almost impossible - I managed to spill half a cup of hot coffee over my only pair of long trousers as the boat bucked after being hit with a broadside. The highlight must have been passing by Yorkey's Knob, if only for the name.

2400 Position: 15 deg 20.1' S 145 deg 24.1' E C: 060 W: 20 knts SE SOG: 6-7 knts DR: 100 nm

The passage was really interesting at night as it required sailing in a busy shipping lane through narrows and close to rocks, which although lit the lights look as if you could reach out and touch them albeit they were half a mile away. Then there were the trawlers of course, not many of which were on AIS so a good look out was essential.


Wednesday, 15th August 2018 - Lizard Island

We arrived in 'Mrs Watson Bay' on Lizard Island at 0740 and dropped the anchor over sand. It is sheltered here from the SE swell but the wind howls over the hills.

Interestingly, in 1881 Mrs Mary Watson, wife of a sea slug fisherman who was away hunting sea slugs was left with her two Chinese servants and her baby and was attacked by Aborigines and forced to escape in a sea slug boiling tub which floated away and landed ultimately on a subsequently named Watson island where they died of thirst a couple of weeks later. She left a diary of events, so the story was preserved. Latterly, it was discovered that the island was a site for Aboriginal ceremonies which it was realized was the explanation for their aggressive behavior.

Also, Lizard island is the site of Cooks Lookout, a hill of 358 m from which he discovered at long last a route through the reefs to the open ocean. They were really struggling up until then and were even contemplating as a last resort sailing back the way they came into the prevailing trade winds as they thought they had reached a cul-de-sac at Cookstown.

We went ashore in the dinghy to see Mrs Watson's house which was nothing more than a pile of stones but the jury is out as to whether it was her house or not as her writings would suggest that her house was made of reed walls, but at least there was something to look at. We then went for a snorkel off the reef nearest to the boat from the beach where there were several giant clams, named as such as they were truly ginormous and really colourful. There were loads of colourful reef fish too as well as some larger fish in the deeper water. The water here is so clear, some of the clearest we have seen so in the sunshine it brings it all vividly to life.

Whilst we were ashore we met some staff of the resort swimming off the beach so I asked if we could go into the resort for a drink later on, but it is 'exclusive' and not open to the public. However, there was a bar that opened on alternate days, today being one luckily and that was open to ourselves - the Marlin Bar. They also did a dinner menu but closed at 8pm so we made sure we were there when it opened at 5 and had a steak as the sun went down. It meant returning to the boat across the reef in the dark which is always fun when you don't know the way but made it without incident. 


Thursday, 16th August 2018 - Lizard Island
Neen and I had an early start to get up to the top of Cook's Lookout, the highest point on the island and the path to which started from the beach nearest to our boat. The information board at the base warned that this was in places an extremely difficult climb but whilst it was steep in places and occasionally was a scramble, it was not difficult at all. In fact, it was impossible to get lost as there were white arrows and signs pointing the way so Captain Cook wouldn't have had an issue at all finding his way! It took us only 50 minutes going up and 40 minutes coming down again, but we spent half an hour at the top looking out - unfortunately it was a bit cloudy so couldn't see across to Cooks Passage, the exit he had seen from this very spot. We did sign the visitors book though at the top in the name of the boat and World Arc, for posterity. We didn't see any wildlife really on our climb, least of all any lizards for which the island was named by Captain Cook. They burn the shrubs regularly apparently and have managed to kill off most of the lizard population as a consequence, which is very sad.

We had a barbeque on board for lunch as we had been invited by local live-aboards to sundowners on the beach at 5pm. The fatty scraps were thrown over the back of the boat and caused a feeding frenzy of all sorts of fish which were soon joined by sea gulls making a real racket - the competition was fierce! There were a few reef sharks about too which were then joined by two absolutely enormous black fish, each of at least 200lb - we found out later that these were Groupers who lived in the bay and tended to sit under people's boats waiting for scraps of anything; they were really eerie just sitting there. We were going to go snorkeling but decided not to after that!

We went ashore again armed with a few tins of beer for the sundowners later on and walked the 2km over to the Blue Lagoon on the south side of the island formed of shallow water between the island and two small off-lying islands and fringing reefs. The bottom was sand, so it gave the water a light blue/indigo colour which gave the lagoon its name. The hard-packed brilliant white sand along the beach and the stunning rock formations made this a really special location.

We were back on our own beach for the sundowners and met some of the 'locals' off the boats in the bay at anchor next to us whom were interested in our travels and related some of their own. There was one chap Paul with his wife Marleen who lived on a motor yacht who had been here for 8 weeks so far (5 months last year!). He was 74 and had been there and done that and had all the T-shirts from along this coast and elsewhere, with endless stories to tell one of which was of Nara Inlet, Hook Island where we had mentioned we had visited. A few years back there had been a quite famous huge Red Humped Rass living in the inlet which mysteriously disappeared according to the local press. But Paul knew exactly where it was to be found: "In my freezer!" he was proud to confess.

We were back on board the boat soon after the sun had dipped so we could haul the dinghy back on board as we were leaving very early in the morning for the Flinders Group, about 82 miles off north west. This place is the site to see Gugong, or Seacows which live on sea grasses and can grow up to 900kg! That must be some advert for a vegan diet?

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