Hello from Cooktown

Had a romping sail to Cooktown this morning. Hitting 9 and 10 knots sometimes with the wind behind and sun shining. Cooktown is, as we knew, a bit shallow, but the local volunteer coastguard recommended a spot to anchor very close to the jetty and town. There weren't as many boats as we had thought there might be luckily as with fairly strong winds and a 2 - 3 knot tidal flow we dance around and need plenty of room. Didn't do too much dancing, as at low tide we touched on the soft mud/sand bottom so didn't move for an hour or two.

It is a delightful little town, making the most of the fact that Cook called in here to repair the Endeavour after hitting a reef. He had put a sail round the hull to cover the hole, and then careened her on a beach here for repairs. It is hard to imagine anyone sailing up here with no idea where the reef was, it gets pretty close to the mainland with various patches to be avoided. He was trying to find a way through the reef when he came to grief. This is the last town before Darwin (still about 1,000 miles away), so we did a load of laundry, got rid of our rubbish, and filled a few can of water as well as stocking up with fruit and veg from the only small supermarket.

So we are ready to go at first light tomorrow, and hope to get to Lizard Island before dark. We are looking forward to Lizard which is supposed to be a lovely place with good walks (including the climb up to Cook's Peak from where he spied his passage through the Barrier Reef.)