12 August 2010
The wind howled all night long but in spite of it we slept very soundly, the stress of yesterday having taken its toll on us. We will not be able to relax until our tether has been cut free from the prop and we know that there is no further damage. This is not a part of the world where you want boat problems. There is just nothing out here. Destiny were already at anchor having arrived in the early hours of the morning. They had not had an easy time of it. Wolfgang told David they had had 40knots of wind, driving rain and poor visibility. We feel ever so lucky not to have been out there last night with the problem of the prop. It would have been so much more difficult coming in to anchor. Although the wind was still gusting 27knots in the anchorage David still insisted on diving. He really does need to know the extent of the propblem. Suddenly I am more worried about the state of the weather conditions for diving. Yesterday it had been the danger of sharks and crocs, although we were told four years ago that it was safe to go in the water up to Lizard Island. But as we dropped the anchor yesterday afternoon I saw a shark swimming along the bottom.....
Diver David
Peter sat in our tender holding a floating line that was attached to David's scuba gear and acted as a tether should he not make headway against the wind and the waves. I kept a look out over the side for any "nasties" that might be lurking nearby. We need not have worried. In five minutes David had cut away a large clump of polypropylene rope. We were surprised to have caught such a thing as polypropylene normally floats and the propeller on an Amel is set low down. The rope cutter had certainly made some impression and shredded some of the offending line but with a thickness of 20mm it had also become tangled in the blades. We came to the conclusion we must have gone over a buoy, which dragged down under the hull.
Happy Anniversary! - Following in the footsteps of Cook.
Two hundred and forty years to the day we retraced James Cook footsteps as we climbed to the lookout named after him and stood looking out over the Coral Sea seeing the many gaps through the Great Barrier Reef. He had scaled the heights of Lizard Island to search for a way out for his ship "The Endeavour". Now we found ourselves standing at the self same spot and it was the most remarkable coincidence that it was on the same day, the twelfth of August. I could hardly contain my excitement at such a discovery. Perhaps he had had a hand in the events of the two nights ago after all. To add to the occasion the visitor's book was there this time. When we last climbed this hill in the company of Jean and Bernard of Golden Eye, we made a thorough search around the cairn at the summit but could not find it. Now it had been placed in a substantial wooden box, a stone on top to weight the lid. The first name that had been entered read, 'James Cook, London, UK', dated August 1770! It had been started this year. It was with some pride that we added our own names and that of Voyageurs. In addition someone had laminated an extract from Cook's log which read, 'I immediately went upon the highest hill on the island, when to my mystification discovered a reef of rocks lying about two or three leagues without the island looking in a line northwest and southeast further than I could see on which the sea breaks very high'.
Susan Mackay