Leaving again tomorrow

No rest for the wicked - we always seem to be on the move. But it's a case of necessity - we have to be in Darwin at the end of this month and there's still 900 miles to go. At 5 knots that's a long way.
We had intended to break the trip to the top by spending a night at Boydong Cays which are sand islands surrounded by reef and they are part of the inner Barrier Reef. Then we heard that the anchorage was a little deep which would make anchoring difficult so that introduced a quandary in our minds. Then we had a brainwave. We emailed the Cairns Chart Agency where we originally heard about the cays from a former trawler skipper. They then emailed us back to advise the the depth was 12 metres which is well within our capabilities. If it's over 25 metres then it gets a bit fraught with all that weight of chain to get back up.
We've spent a quiet day getting a few things organised. We had become concerned about the watermaker again as the boost pump is making an on and off noise which sounds like a bearing. It isn't repairable. It's the small electric pump which supplies the main high pressure pump. Still, when we ran it today the noise was much diminished and, while it does seem to be developing a problem, we can only hope that it lasts the distance to Darwin. We may be able to get a replacement at Seisia or Bamaga but we wouldn't hold our breath. Anyway, we are in the water conservation mode and the tanks are full right now so we should be OK.
The weather forecast is for slightly diminished winds (at last!) so we might have a more comfortable ride tomorrow. Maybe they'll go from 30 to 25 knots - whoop-de-do!! The high that's given us all this grief has passed over NZ so you all down there would have had a pleasant few days. Up here it's been anything but. At least 4 rain squalls hit us during last night which necessitated closing hatches and listening to the wind scream for 20 minutes or so. Always sounds worse at night.
Our bible for sailing this coast is Alan Lucas's "Cruising the Coral Coast" and it has so many helpful details of anchorages. However, in it he describes this coast by saying "people sailing into this area should treat the exercise as an adventure, not as a means of having a relaxing day's sail". And this is very true and sums up our feelings. It's a means to an end. That doesn't exactly mean an endurance test but it's not exactly swanning along in 15 knots downwind supping on G&T's and Champagne either!! We are seeing some very remote places as where we are now, but very few would meet any standards for inclusion in a tourist brochure. Add to that the abundance of creatures which would kill you as soon as look at you and it's hostile. Last night none of us wanted to launch our dinghies to go visiting because this is an ideal crocodile habitat. Then ashore there are Death Adders and Taipans, both of which would despatch you into oblivion in a very short time. Taipans are very prolific on the Cape York Peninsula. And even if one was foolish enough to go swimming, at least in the summer the jellyfish pose an absolutely lethal threat. Especially the Irukanji. Perhaps I (Jim) am paranoid but coming from gentle little NZ one is entitled and perhaps even justified.
This is an experience which no doubt we will dine out on for years to come and is unlikely to be repeated. That's not necessarily from choice , but rather from circumstances which will preclude us from coming back this way. The weather and the prevailing SE winds are the main reasons for that.
So, we are definitely taking Alan Lucas's advice and we are having an adventure.
Lotsaluv as always from us..............
Jim and Jean

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