11 August 2010
We spent four nights in Cairns, just about long enough for us to rest before the next push north. Our cruising itinerary for the next eight days involves two overnight passages, just five planned stopovers and a couple of days in lieu should we wish to shelter from bad weather. We really have to get a move on if we are to make the most of this most amazing coastline. I have had my little bit of retail. I have had my sightseeing tour. I have had my respite from the galley. It is time for us to go.....
We left in drizzle and poor visibility. A real "dreich" day with only just enough wind to sail for the first hour until the sails slatted, the wind backed and died. We started to motor sail but with a forecast of 15 to 20knots we were hopeful it would not be for long. We passed Cape Kimberley and Cape Tribulation, seeing nothing but a grey misty outline. The Coral Sea, metallic grey, the north Queensland coast slate grey, the clouds which hung low in the sky, smoke grey. The clouds lifted just long enough for us to see the headlands of Cape Tribulation with Cape Bedford beyond. They looked both imposing and foreboding in the early evening gloom. Last night the restaurant owner said in the fourteen years he had lived in Cairns he had never known so many wet days in the dry season. But it is becoming warmer by degrees and I have now shed my fleece for night watches. At 7pm, my watch, we went through a curtain of rain. It was damp, dreary, dismal weather. The forecast for the weather at least had been spot on! I sat musing in the cockpit as we weaved our wavy course through the reefs, all the while keeping just on the outside edge of the shipping channel. So many poignant names, Endeavour Reef, Cape Tribulation, Mount Sorrow. It all seemed rather fitting for the kind of night that we found ourselves in. David had just handed over his watch to Peter when the engine note changed dramatically. We both rushed up on deck. (I discovered later that we were on the same latitude as Cooktown, where Cook had to careen the Endeavour for repairs after her grounding on Endeavour Reef). David put the engine into neutral, grabbed a torch and checked in the engine compartment. Everything looked all right. But something was definitely amiss. The prop, it had to be the prop. We peered over the stern but could see nothing. Now we had no choice. We must shut down the engine and sail the rest of the way to Lizard Island, 50nm away. Problem was there was little or no wind. We crawled our way up the coast averaging 3knots an hour. It was a long night indeed with not even the moon or stars for company but with the morning came the sun. It is getting deliciously warm again thank goodness. Ariane and Lady Ev who are on their way to Flinders Island called on 4Bravo. They all showed concern and offered assistance which included the offer of a tow in to the anchorage from Graham on Eowyn, who had arrived In Lizard island ahead of us, but we were certain we could sail unaided. A customs surveillance aircraft flew over head and called on Channel 16 to check us out. We will hear from them at least once more as we sail along the northern territory coastline. We finally made into the anchorage, hours later, dropping the anchor under sail under David's expert guidance. Typically the wind was now blowing a good force five! He immediately snorkelled and confirmed that indeed we did have a rope around the prop, the first time in 25 years of sailing that this has happened to us. I guess we were a little unlucky or where there other forces at work.....
Susan Mackay