Marina Fever, Cairns Style

Things get busy at the big end of town

Far away and for many long nights and days, a team of dwarvish craftspeople, toiling under an ancient mountain, had woven and stitched, forged and hammered, putting every fibre of their being into delivering us between 43 and 44 square metres of the finest cross cut US made dacron sail that the internet can buy. And lo! as sun dawned on the morning of the 2nd it was delivered unto us by Ralph, of Ports North, in his mighty golf cart buggy, the
marina office at Cairns being too far away to carry such a hefty package on foot.

For many weeks we had dwelled in berth G24 awaiting the arrival of the sail, as foretold on the internet. The wind never wavered in blowing 10 - 20 knots from the south east in this period. Arjuna had entered Cairns triumphantly on our trip from Mourilyan under a belting south easter although early on in the trip north we had actually experienced a westerly wind which was completely unusual but which made the long hike north from the slightly obscured entrance to Mourilyan Harbour that much easier. A bit of speed up the coast washed off the remaining mudflat clinging to our keel from the rude tidal change the evening before.

Cairns is actually a significant day trip from Mourilyan - around 50 nautical miles or thereabouts as the batfish breaches. When the west wind subsided the trusty Arjuna diesel was kicked in and we motorsailed for many hours in the dying offshore wind, sliding around the cape between the mainland and Fitzroy Island to be laid on our side by the wind coming over the peninsula leading in to Cairns. Without wishing to over dramatise events, it is important to point out that the First Mate has glossed over these action packed days with her fact ridden, bird twitching, photo essays on Cairns tourism.

Entry into the Cairns marina was not our finest display of parking. With a strong tailwind and hefty tide running, there was little room for hesitation. We came in fast to the berth. Experience had taught us to put fenders along the gunwale on one side of the boat and these came in handy as the First Mate leapt on to the dock to secure the bow and the Captain leapt onto the dock to secure the stern with the boat still moving. Our neighbour downwind later explained that she had looked out her cabin window in shock to see a large Beneteau looming towards her and expected the worse. Still, a yacht arrived several days later and knocked off the services pillar on the marina sending a fountain of water into the air until the pressure could be turned off. Several other yachts arrived without fenders at all - happy to bounce off the concrete until they could lash their boats to something solid.

The Cairns marina is a fine port of call. Possibly not the cheapest berth on the coast. Certainly, not the most tranquil. One would not wish to drop something of value into the water here lest it be lost forever. Unspeakable things tend to wash into the marina through the seawall - coated in brown slime. The fuel in the marina needs to be carted in by truck. There is no gas to fill up the gas bottles. There is barely room to swing a crab pot due to all the super yachts crammed in around you. But all of this pales into insignificance when compared to the proximity of the marina to town and the fantastic Cairns esplanade. The nearest gelato providore is even closer than at Townsville. A magical pub sits at the end of the marina finger with happy hour prices not seen since 1965 at the Royal Hotel, Barcaldine.

Shot indicating the approximate route to the gelato shop

Within a few moments walk is the lagoon pool of the Cairns Esplanade. The crew initially had plans to swim here and perhaps have a throw of the ship's frisbee or maybe to fly the ship's kite. Unfortunately, the pool area and surrounding grass is always very crowded. The sight would make tourism operators in Cairns rub their hands together with glee at the sight of the endless sea of sunbaking backpackers toasting their skins to a crisp. Those in the lycra industry would be heartbroken at the few shreds of fabric on display. Apparently, the council in Cairns can roughly determine the country of origin of their tourists at any point in

Tree, Lake Eacham

time by simply sitting by any footpath and seeing whether those walking down the left or right side hit more people coming the other way. Basically, force of numbers determines whether it is best to walk down the left or right of the path.

With all this time to landlub we hired a car for a week. The First Mate has described the crew's adventures to the Atherton Tablelands. We also decided to head north up the Captain Cook Highway to the sleepy rainforest delights of Mossman Gorge. This was a trip the Captain and First Mate had taken years before - we were surprised to find that you could

The Captain makes a Folding Bike
Assault to collect diesel

no longer drive up the road to the side of the creek and jump in for a swim. Instead, a tourist base had been built at the base of the mountain and the road fenced off with only bus access to the gorge. Being miserly sea folk paying a pretty penny to wallow in a berth at the marina, we forced the crew to hike the two kilometres up the hill rather than pay for the bus. The gorge was now arrayed in elevated walkways and signs warning of imminent danger and unseen death but we ploughed into the icy water regardless - dragging the crew in and laughing heartily as they tumbled around in the strong current and jammed their limbs between submerged rocks.

When offered a choice between yet another massive car trip and doing endless hours of extra distance education homework, the crew dissolved into mutiny - choosing neither option. Hence, they were forced into the hire car against their will; endless hours of extra distance education requires input from the Captain and First Mate which was certainly not going to happen. This day's magical tour was a trip to the volcanic lakes - also near Yungaburra - but this time by the far more twisting and turning long route. The crew of Arjuna, accustomed to long stomach churning trips at sea, were completely unprepared for a stomach churning car trip - requiring the neccessary mid trip stops heading up the mountain.

We emerged into the eternal sunlight on the Atherton tablelands and pulled in to delightful Lake Barrine: a volcanic hole full of water with a lovely tea house on the edge. Reading the guide book, we discovered that the tea house had been formed 10,000 years ago in a violent explosion. It was comforting to be close to the water again after more than sixty

In the distance, the Lake Barrine barge runs aground - with
no hope of a rising tide to free her

minutes away from it. We watched the Lake Barrine tourist barge take a few older patrons out for a site seeing trip. With alarm, we also watched as the barge repeatedly ploughed into the bank of the lake as it attempted to negotiate the circuit. Obviously, someone was having their first turn at the wheel.

There are several volcanic lakes on the tablelands. We next headed to Lake Eacham. Unlike the exploding tea house formation at Lake Barrine, Lake Eacham was formed when the local inhabitants of the time inadvertently speared a 

flame tree with disastrous consequences. Here we showed off our lycra and had a swim followed by a quick circumnavigation of the lake before returning to the comforting quarters of Arjuna for the night. 


We spent so long in Cairns that the First Mate and Third Mate had enough time for some extended shore leave in Sydney. Needless to say, this left the remaining crew at the Captain's mercy: scrubbing the fibre glass, shining the clears, bleaching the bilges and generally playing Minecraft for most of the day. We hosted a number of visitors while in Cairns in this period including a party of kite surfers on the way to Cape Flattery in search of ridiculously strong trade winds. The Captain normally has no truck with kite surfers - especially former windsurfers who have turned their backs. Nonetheless, the crew of Arjuna

As a result of a safety audit, we add an emergency exit sign

greeted these guests before setting them on their way north. They returned five days later with harrowing tales of non-stop 30 knot winds as if this was something a cruising yacht wished to hear.

We watched the marina begin to empty out of yachts. Some heading north, many now on their way south. Boats that we hadn't seen since Great Keppel pulled in for a few nights. We finally met a boat with similarly aged members to our crew. With the departure of the cruising boats came the arrival of the super yachts. One by one, mighty multi-decked motor yachts sauntered into the breakwater their crews of 10 or more taking care of things until they were lined up in order from most massive to just massive. We experienced a run of French flagged vessels come in and berth near us. The Captain used his best year 10 French to greet the new arrivals who were promptly pounced on by the awesome might of Australian Customs. One vessel, a fine example of 1970s ferrocement construction, copped an $8000 fine for a visa technicality. The technicality being that they didn't have one.

The Second Mate enrolled himself in some dinghy racing at Cairns Yacht Club and managed to get assigned with a crew member who clearly knew his way around a yacht course: racking up a win and a second place and an honourable mention for not being eaten by a crocodile.

Things glowing in the trees, Cairns Festival

Mainsail in undeployed format

The Cairns Festival started up while we were in town and the crew were excited to see that the fireworks barge was being set up on the other side of the sea wall from us. Of course, on the night they were let off, everyone was still in the showers when they started up 40 minutes early.


And finally, our sail arrived. With our stern poking out towards the wind there was no hope of getting this installed easily. However, with dusk came an unusual break in the wind which swung around to the north and we managed to feed the sail into the tracks before the wind came round again. The result was not pretty - there was certainly a need to have the Specialist Sail Trimmer back on board to get things flying right but this would have to wait until we could haul it back up during the day time.


The First Mate completed a massive provisioning exercise - enough to last us until the following Winter Solstice. The

Double rations of salt beef and pemmican for all crew

Captain ballasted the boat with some necessary wines and other spirituous beverages. And verily it came to pass that we sojourned forth from the Port of Cairns on the morning of the fourth of September.