Made good progress yesterday and last night, and at lunch time today (Fri) picked up another mooring in the Low Isles. These are just offshore from Port Douglas, so we are now north of Cairns. It's a pretty spot, a little island with sandy beaches all round and a lighthouse; and large areas of reef and mangroves. Very popular with tourist boats, so large groups snorkelling and on the beach. Being a no-fishing area large fishes swim round the boats hoping for scraps. Our visitors are two black tipped sharks, a remora (shark sucker), and some large angel fish. G had planned to go under the boat to clean up the prop, but it is overcast and (comparatively) chilly, and those sharks....... The mainland around here is croc country, but we have been assured that they are hardly ever found offshore or in clear water. The stinger season is over, so those stinger suits will only be worn for warmth now.
Not much time to rest last night. Not as many ships as we thought there might be in the vicinity of Cairns, as they were all at anchor for the night. However fishing trawlers were out in full force, and as you can imagine they make us rather nervous. So we had radar on and a decklight shining on the sails. One decided to pull in his nets and turn towards us just as we thought he was safely past so it was on with the motor and full steam ahead until he was safely astern! Also the Barrier Reef gets closer to land here, so careful navigation is required to avoid various bits of reef and little islands. Not a problem, there's plenty of space, but you can't just steer a straight course.
Evidently Monday is a public holiday for the Queen's Birthday, and Cooktown, a long day's journey further, has a Captn Cook festival over the weekend. We have to go there anyway as it is the last town before Darwin, so we have to have enough food and water on board for a few weeks. Tomorrow we may go part of the way, to Hope Island, then to Cooktown on Sunday.
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