Townsville Lat. 19 degrees 15' S 146 degrees 49' E

This morning we arrived into the Breakwater Marina in Townsville. We've decided to make this our refuelling and provisioning stop rather than Cairns. We came across from Magnetic Is. with a 25-30 knot SW right on the nose. So, we just used brute force and increased the revs - water everywhere! We had to get in by 1230 at the latest otherwise would have had to wait for the next tide as the entrance is shallow. The approach was relatively easy apart from concerns about the depth and we were given a warm welcome. No problem berthing and then we went for a walk through the CBD which is right adjacent to the marina. We are very impressed with Townsville; it's an attractive city with some very interesting old buildings. Had a Thai lunch and bought 2 more empty fuel containers to augment our fuel capacity and will be food shopping tomorrow. We met our fellow cruisers, John (whose 70th. birthday it was today) and Chris on the English boat "Sara II" again today. They are leaving tomorrow for Cairns and we may catch up with them again further north.
The anchorage at Magnetic was pleasant in Horseshoe Bay just off a resort but we didn't go ashore as not enough time and the dinghy ride would have been somewhat wet in the small offshore chop set up by the wind which was gusting 25 knots in the anchorage. It would be nice to get some more benign conditions further north. We've been lent a cruising guide by our neighbour here in the marina called "Around the Top" and it is full of useful information. But this coast is far from easy, borne out by a comment from an English yacht quoted in the guide - their comment was "challenging" and they'd sailed halfway around the world. Right now we are about halfway from Bundaberg to Cape York - and there are plenty of challenges ahead. Let's hope we are up to them.
More impressions of Townsville tomorrow.
Cheers and love from us......

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com