Punching South: A highly dramatised account of our journey to Cooktown

Hello again, faithful reader, spam bots and sailing aficionados. The First Mate has requested the Captain fill in some details from her hasty fact and photo filled recent blog posts and so we join the long, continuing adjective encrusted tale of Arjuna:

Almost two weeks were spent in the waters of the Flinders Group. Boats were rare here - tapering off from the handful of yachts heading further north from Lizard when we first arrived to just three between all the islands for the remainder. The highly advanced electronic communication systems on Arjuna were rendered completely useless here. We couldn't even get AM or FM radio. Later investigations proved that we don't have an AM radio, explaining at least one of these issues. We obtained information on the weather periodically from the odd boat equipped with HF radio or super yacht with its own satellite and meteorological office. Every few weeks, a supply barge anchors in the area but we saw no sign. The Third Mate was assigned the duty of recording three hourly wind speed and direction observations. We felt that if we established the pattern of wind then we would be able to work out when to make our escape to the east around Melville and then back to the south east without the need of a bureau forecast. 

We sight a small yacht on our tail. Stokes Bay

Here is Arjuna

In April 2014, while Arjuna sat down at Sheridan Flats in the Great Sandy Straits thinking we were having strong winds, Cyclone Ita sat over Lizard Island for around eleven hours and ripped the place to shreds. However, not having seen the place before, the clear surrounding waters were obvious even from a distance although the island itself looked barren. When the southeaster blows, which it does often, 400-450 days a year on average in fact, Watson's Bay on the northern side is the place to drop your plow. There were about ten boats in the bay when we arrived which we understand is on the empty side. Being a marine park A area we saw the obligatory batfish wander up at our arrival. A few reef sharks also swam over to check the newcomer out. The water was the clearest we had seen since Lady Musgrave Island so the bottom was clearly visible through the depths. In fact, it was the first time on the trip we could swim along the anchor chain and see our trusty hunk of iron embedded in the sand.

This be a  fine island

The Journey to Lizard

It's the island on everyone's lips in these parts: Lizard. The nominal turning point for the multiple vice commodores of the Shaggers, the grey navy and the general cruisers as well as long term home for some yachties. We left the channel markers out of Cairns and turned our bows towards the north to make our push to these fabled, fantastical bays of Lizard Island. However, Lizard is not just down the road - its a triple digit nautical mile trip from Cairns requiring some degree of planning and the odd course correction that wrinkled the brow of even one of history's greatest navigators. This area of the coast bristles with the ghosts of Cook, Flinders, King and others. The water coursed with the descendents of the Endeavour's barnacles - and in fact several great grandchildren had taken up residence in our speed sensor rendering it completely inoperable.

An interesting camera angle makes the Low Isles lighthouse seem taller than it is. Eagle perched on railing