In which we visit Endeavour Reef

Endeavour Reef - Cape Tribulation to the south west.

After picking up "The Rock" in Cooktown, a week of calm weather was predicted - a perfect opportunity to visit the reefs, of which there are no shortage between Cooktown and Cairns. We headed out to Cairns Reef via Osterland Reef to anchor overnight. This was a very comfortable anchorage in the 15-20 knot southeasterly, a natural harbour protected on 3 sides by reef. With the wind still up though, the visibility wasn't great for snorkelling. A really big dolphin came and swam upside down in our bow wave for about 500m. He had a few chunks out of his dorsal fin, possibly from close encounters with boats, but didn't seem at all deterred.

Cooktown

One might be lured into thinking that Cooktown is a haven from the tribulations of the turbulent northern seas. This is true to a point. If for instance, you have been sitting on top of a reef in one of the King's fine wooden barks (or converted coal ship to be precise), taking on water some nine months from home with no hope of assistance - then finding the Endeavour River would be fine indeed. Reading the small print, you would find that Cook grounded at the mouth and had to warp the Endeavour over the bar at the entrance to the Endeavour River - which effectively means that they had to drag the boat into the harbour using ropes. King had to do the same 50 years later when European folk next entered the estuary. Once the Endeavour had been careened and repaired, Cook had to wait some weeks for the right tide conditions and then warped back out again.

The setting sun smiles down on the deep and comfortable waters of the Endeavour River

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

A dugong at West Pethebridge Islet

 

The Captain will at some point be updating you with the action packed account of our journey around Cape Melville and onward, but in the meantime here is one of those beautiful things that occur just when things seem to be getting unpleasant.

 

The Kindness of Strangers

Stokes Bay - our turnaround point.

We spent 10 days in Flinders Group exploring and fishing. 

 

Over a couple of days at Owen Channel we had bid farewell to Ceilidyh  and Endurance of the South http://www.enduranceofthesouth.com  as they headed on towards Darwin. We made the short hop across to Blackwood Island.