Monday, 16th August 2010
01.00hrs The moon had disappeared over the horizon as we passed some large working ships close on our port side.
We also passed a good number of fishing trawlers, busy doing their thing. We passed Endevour reef on our starboard side, This is the reef that Captain Cook grounded his Sailing ship and very nearly met his maker. The weather was obviously mild, otherwise they would have been totally wrecked. so they jettysoned their cargo and all their guns to lighten the ship and once she was floating again sailed her to the mainland to carry out the necessary repairs, all of which took 3 months to complete. and then sailed back to England.
Its wonderful to sail past such historical places, we could almost smell Cpt Cook.
03.00hrs We passed less than 1 mile away from the dangerous group called the " 3 Islands" however, they had a single light flashing away merrily all night, warning navigators like us. Actually , navigating here in the dark through all the reefs is tricky enough stuff, Gosh! It must have a nightmare during Cpt Cooks time. No charts, no knowledge of the area, no idea of where the reefs are located, (and these can only be seen during the day when there is plenty of sunlight) so at night, ohhhhhhh scary stuff!
05.30hrs Dawn began to break, we had plenty of wind and not a ship or boat in sight.
09.30hrs We rounded up into " Mrs Watsons Bay " on Lizard Island. This is a very interesting Island historically. This is where Cpt Cook climbed up to the top of the hill and at midday, was able to observe a passageway out through the Great Barrier Reef, and so once he had repaired his ship, sailed out through this gap and off home..
Mrs Watson (in the 1700's) settled here with her husband and baby, one day while he was out fishing, she and the servant were attacked by Aborigines (who used the Island as a sacred place) she escaped by jumping into a metal fish curing box with her baby and injured servant, She drifted for days before landing on an uninhabited island, but alas, there was no food or water on the Island, so they all eventually perished. However, she did write a very detailed diary every day, and when their remains and the diary were discovered a long time later, they were taken back to the mainland and interred. The metal box and diary are now on display in a museum.
We had a long lunch in a beautiful setting, and the fish and gulls really loved the leftovers. Then Skipper, Aileen, and Mary went ashore to do some exploring, The mango swamps were fantastic, as were the flying Fox's (bats) and sand lizards.
15.00hrs We returned to the boat, lifted the rib out of the water and set sail NNW again. This time for Thursday Island, a distance of 460 miles. The wind was blowing hard, like 30 knots, so we pur 2 reefs in the main, and used the staysail up front. We sailed along merrily at 8.5 knots, this is way more than we want, our calculations for getting to our destination in daylight were based on an average of 7 knots.
21.00hrs We were still barreling along at 8.5knots, and Mary did a reheat on one of her lasagna and it tasted great. Another beautiful starry night, with a half moon shining brightly up there.
The nighty watches:
21.00hrs, / 00.00hrs Aileen and Mary
00.00hrs / 03.00hrs Skipper
03.00hrs / 06.00hrs Niall
06.00hrs / 09.00hrs Mary and Aileen
Thats all
Signed :- Stephen Hyde (Skipper)