The day before we left Bluewater Marina, our neighbouring boat Green
Thomcat left and we used the opportunity to turn Pegasos around in
the double berth to face outwards. High tide was at a civilised hour
of 9.20am so we didn't have to wake up early to get the boat over the
sandbar at Yorkey's Knob. On 1st May we exited our berth smoothly and
floated down the creek and out to sea.
The difference in wind from our sheltered marina to the open sea was
immediately felt as we headed south against the wind to Mission Bay.
The idea is to use the familiar area off Cairns to see how our new
AIS, radar, new engine water pump, the hot water cylinder, etc. was
performing after being installed. And most importantly, to put the
new water maker into action.
We were delighted to be moving on Pegasos again and our spirits were
not too dampened by the rather unkind weather. We were motoring
against wind that gusted up to 32 knots and as we crossed the Cairns
shipping channel a strong squall of rain came down, blown in by the
facing wind and drenched the cockpit. It was a slow and bumpy 3 hour
trip to Mission Bay.
We anchored as close as possible in the lee of Cape Grafton hills for
wind protection and the sun came out. We closed up the covers and
were delighted to find the hot water was very hot for our shower.
Yay, that worked! The water pump, AIS and radar worked very well too
so we toasted our small successes with a G&T. During the night
the wind gusted strongly and rain hammered down on the boat, but we
slept like logs.
The next morning we set off for Fitzroy Island, one of our favourite
islands. Last September we spent 5 days at Fitzroy Island and had a
lot of fun snorkeling, swimming with a turtle and hiking. Once again
it was bumpy motoring into a strong wind and choppy swells,
thankfully just short of 2 hours. The stick with the scanner sensor
attached broke off but was still held on by the cable. The last time
we were at Fitzroy Island the bay was full of yachts, this time there
was only one other boat so we had our pick of mooring buoys.
Robert had a go at getting the water maker to work. It needed more
tweaking than anticipated as some valves appeared stuck and he
replaced a length of hose. Eventually, fresh water flowed into the
tank! That should make life so much easier.
As the weekend approached, more boats arrived in the bay. One of them
was the Coral Trekker built in 1939 and still in action. Quite an
acrobatic job to furl those sails! The crew had fun swinging off the
ropes and bombing into the sea.
The wind was still gusty and the swells seemed to develop more at
night. The next day we went ashore for a swim and snorkeled on the
fringing reef. Most of the coral is dead but lots of colourful fish
makes it interesting. We snorkeled alongside a large placid turtle in
almost the exact same place as last year. Methinks this is a very
obliging turtle - perhaps it is persuaded to stay in the area by
tasty treats provided by the resort - or the glass bottomed tour boat
that moves along the same short section all day. The following day
was still gusty and we went on a hike to the summit and to the
lighthouse on the other side of the island. Although we did the walk
last year, the views are always breathtaking.
We swam off the side of the boat and I practised getting into the
dinghy from deep water - not as easy as it sounds for an old duck. It
provided some entertainment for Robert. I was mindful to ignore the
three large shark-like fish that were living under our boat
apparently nibbling off the algae growing on the underside. Well if
they eat algae, they won't be interested in nibbling me. We later
found out that the fish are remora, not sharks, but they do hang
about with sharks.
I tried out the kayak - easy to paddle but not so easy to get into
once out of depth.
The wind and swells picked up at nightfall again and it was a noisy
bouncy night with the mooring buoy continuously bumping against the
hulls as the boat swung around madly. Robert put an extra rope around
the buoy to secure it tighter but the grinding ropes weren't much
better. It's the captain's job to get up in the middle of the night
and venture out on a dark wet rolling deck to re-set the mooring.
A particularly strong bullet of wind from the rear tore a part of the
top canvas cover but we were able to stitch it back (sort of - sewing
is not our forte). Robert's chores were not over yet - the spare
battery did not function initially and required some tweaking. OK but
not ideal. Everything else seemed to be working fine and we felt
ready to set off.
Sunset over Cape Grafton from Fitzroy Island
Sadly our two hard drives of movies downloaded over months in Cape
Town both died at the same time. How bizarre is that? A day later, my
relatively new Nokia mobile phone died and could not be resuscitated
which means some photos of Fitzroy are gone. Sigh.
After 6 days of bouncing at anchor at Fitzroy, we had enough and
sailed to Trinity Inlet at Cairns to top up on provisions and see if
my phone could be repaired. We anchored in almost the same spot as
last year and recognised a few boats.
My phone is apparently beyond repair so after initially wanting to
get a cheap replacement, we ended up with a more expensive Telstra
Tough rugged phone with an external antenna. Should give us more
range than our previous arrangement.
While anchored in Trinity Inlet we saw ex- neighbour Green Thomcat
motoring past and anchor further out. Jim had his boat lifted out for
anti-fouling and was clearing customs before departing to Papua New
Guinea.
Goodbye Cairns - a really lovely city with friendly people. All in
all, we've spent close to 2 months in Cairns and enjoyed the laidback
lifestyle and scenic beauty.
We left Cairns on a calm, hot morning. Our destination was either
Double Island only 16 nautical miles north or Low Isles about 40
miles north. The wind didn't pick up so we settled for motoring all
the way to Double Island. At least the water maker had a chance to
fill up both tanks and the batteries were fully charged by the time
we anchored. Double Island is privately owned so we did not go ashore
and stretched out on our cushions in the cockpit sipping G&T and
trying to sort out transfer of WhatsApp contacts from one phone to
another phone account. Where's the 12 year old techno whizz when you
need one...
The next morning we found a dead flying fish on deck and decided to
use it as bait in the hope of catching a bigger fish.
Robert put out
his fishing lines, one with the dead fish and we set off for Low
Islet. There wasn't enough wind for the sails so Robert put out the
spinnaker but even so we averaged only just over 3 knots and it took
us 6 hours to reach Low Islet approximately 25 nautical miles in
distance.
Low Islet is the cutest island I've seen. It's a tiny, round, green
island with a nice sandy beach and fringe of palm trees. A red-topped
lighthouse peeks above the trees in the middle of the island. It's a
popular tourist spot and croc-free. The water was calm and a swim off
the nearby beach was being contemplated.
The unfortunate dead fish had been trolled behind the boat for 6
hours and Robert hauled it up and fastened the line on deck leaving a
bit of tail hanging in the water as it was oozing some fish gunk. We
were suddenly surprised by thumping and thrashing sounds from the
back of the boat and I saw a large shape twisting about halfway up
the side. We rushed over and saw four sharks going mad in the water
below. One of them must have jumped up for the dead fish and hooked
itself and then got free. The fish was rather mangled so Robert tore
it into chunks and threw the pieces down to the sharks who snatched
up the bits. Amongst the four black-tipped reef sharks were the
remora fish we saw under our boat off Fitzroy Island. The reef sharks
continued to patrol past our boat for hours. I had changed my mind
about swimming.
Later in the evening we were interested to see a very large
coin-shaped batfish placidly swimming around the boat. The next
morning the batfish was still swimming around us as well as an even
bigger shark different to the reef sharks. Pegasos was moored in 5 to
6 metres. Goes to show that the sharks can also lurk in shallow
water.
We set off at 7.00 am for East Hope Island about 42 nautical miles
north. The weather forecast was some good wind and indeed we were
soon sailing at about 6 to 7 knots. The Marine Reserve area around
these parts has demarcated no fishing zones and just before Robert
pulled in his lines for an approaching no fishing zone, he hooked a
large mackerel. Yay! No tinned tuna tonight.
The wind and swells picked up and the sea became rougher but we were
skimming along at close to 9 knots off Cape Tribulation. The swells
got steeper after that and Pegasos dipped and peaked through the
swells. We contemplated skipping out East Hope Island and heading on
to Cooktown but it was just a little too far to make it before sunset
so we crossed the shipping channel on steep breaking swells and
headed on to Hope Island.
The wind was more than 20 knots and we had to pick our way slowly and
carefully through the reefs around the island, quite an intense
exercise. Happily we saw a mooring buoy and I managed to pick it up
in 22 knot wind - getting better at this job. All in all, quite a
strenuous 7 hour sail.
East Hope Island is another small pretty island with its own
collection of reef sharks. The were delighted when Robert cleaned the
mackerel for supper and tossed the scraps overboard.
The wind picked up in late afternoon to between 25 and 30 knots and
did not stop all through the night and the next day. The forecast is
the same strength wind for the next few days. It's too rough to even
dinghy ashore. We decided to stay on the mooring buoy at East Hope
Island until the wind drops a bit before heading to Cooktown.
