Lizard Island and Moving North

We spent 2 days in the Lagoon at Lizard Island since we had north winds. The winds normally blow from the southeast, so this anchorage on the south of the island is rarely used. We arrived just ahead of the pack of about 20 boats that were coming around from the other (main) anchorage. Near this lagoon anchorage is a marine research facility and we went ashore to enjoy their weekly tour and orientation. They explained that they support reef and fish research and host scientists from around the world. We saw a short film and saw some of their laboratories.

We did some snorkeling on reefs around the lagoon that are rarely dived and the water clarity, reef health and fish life were all really good. We took advantage of the calm conditions and we all went SCUBA diving on one reef here.

The wind veered back to southeast and we moved around to the main anchorage. Here there was an exclusive resort that filled our SCUBA tanks and had a restaurant/bar on the beach. Apparently, this is a $2000 per night place and Oprah had her retirement vacation/party here recently. Emily met another kid boat, but did not find them as friendly as most cruising kids.

We took the big boat 12 miles out on the outer reef to the Cod Hole for another family SCUBA dive. Here we dropped to about 40 feet and swam with cod and grouper the size of small cars. We saw a few sharks too and the water was very clear. We moved north two reefs and spent the night at anchor right behind the Great Barrier Reef. It seemed weird to be anchored in 20 feet of water over white sand in calm water and 2000 feet away, the continental shelf drops off several thousand feet deep and ocean waves crash against the reef.

We stayed at Lizard Island for almost a week before starting the trip north to the Torres Straight and west to Darwin. We were really surprised at how desolate this country and coast are. We bought a cell phone thinking we could use it to access the internet as we moved around. How wrong we were. We never saw any WiFi Internet or cell phone coverage anywhere. Many of the "third world" countries we visited had a better communication infrastructure than Australia! We continued to send in our position reports using the Single Side Band radio, but saw few boats as we headed north. We stopped at Flinders Island, Morris Island, Margaret Bay and the Escape River and did a few overnight trips because there was little to see or do. Salt water alligators inhabit these waters and act as another incentive to keep moving. Some of the trips we had 30-35 knots of wind (on the aft starboard quarter) but little swell due to the protection of the barrier reef. 35 knots of wind in the open ocean would have created 5 meter seas that would not have been pleasant.

We will continue to move toward Darwin as we need to complete our Indonesian permits and provisioning there and leave Australia before late November.

Tom

Bundaberg to Cairns

Only hours from leaving the dock in Bundaberg, our inverter started acting up.  The inverter changes the 12 volt battery voltage into 120 volt A/C power at our “household” outlets.  Some A/C lights were flickering and the multimeter showed that I was getting low and variable voltages from the inverter.  As we motored north stopping at Pancake Creek and Great Keppel Island, we used our SSB radio to send and receive e-mails with the manufacturer in the USA.  We had put in the Magnum Inverter in Curacao based on glowing reports about their reliability and great service support.  

It did not take much troubleshooting to determine that it was a circuit board that needed replacing.  We found a service center in Australia, but Magnum was unwilling to allow them to send me the part.  We moved north stopping at Curlew and Hexham Islands and ultimately hung out at Scawfell Island waiting for the part to arrive in Mackay from the USA.  Most of these islands were pretty, but all uninhabited and we saw few other boats at most of the anchorages.  We did a few boat projects and homeschooling but were anxious to get the part and keep moving.  We finally went into the Mackay marina, cleaned up the boat and did some food provisioning.  The part came and was quickly installed by Tom and we headed north the next day.  The inverter has been working fine since and seems to be working better (using less amps) than before.  Magnum refunded all costs including shipping from the states and other than the time delay, it was a successful repair.  We now have unlimited ice again aboard Emily Grace and Kim can run her new cooling fan in the galley.

We were surprised by numerous sightings of humpback whales as we motored through the offshore islands.  Many had calves and we saw quite a few full broaches throwing up huge splashes of white water. 

 

 One day we saw a bird standing on the water and the captain almost had a heart attack.  I was thinking that I had made a navigational error (like Captain Cook) or had found an uncharted reef.  It turned out to be a gull catching a free ride on the back of a turtle!  We later discovered (from the volunteer marine rescue folks), that some turtles have been getting an ailment that makes them more and more buoyant and eventually they cannot submerge to feed and die.  Another lesson in the circle of life.

The tidal range here is enormous (20 feet), so we have been using the kayaks to get to shore.  Kim and Emily normally go and spend hours on the beach collecting shells and building sand castles and I go every so often to make sure that I’m not missing anything exciting.

 

  We saw numerous shrimp boats dragging large nets and broke our losing streak trolling by landing two spotted mackerel.  These fish are nothing like the fishier Spanish mackerel and their white flesh tastes even better than Mahi Mahi.  Each fish produced 3 meals of fillets and the freezer is full.

 

We had some unusual north winds and decided to stay inside the Nara Inlet at Hook Island as we went through the Whitsundays.  There we explored caves used by Ngaro people over 9000 years ago.  We saw paintings that they had made almost 3000 years ago with their fingers or brushes made by chewing the ends of sticks into bristles.

We did an overnight passage to Magnetic Island where Emily got to hold a Koala bear, a salt water crocodile, snake and several birds. 

 

We did another overnight into the Moreby River where we looked (unsuccessfully) for crocodiles and did our last big provisioning stop (before Darwin) in Cairns (pronounced cans).

 

Tom