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.

Yithuwarra Rock Art - Flinders Group

Until 80 years ago, Flinders Island Group was a thriving community. It was home to the Yithuwarra people for thousands of years. More recently in the late 19th and 20th centuries there was a trader station on the Aapia Spit which was the base for the pearling, fishing and beche de mer fleets. Now it is empty and deserted, visited by a handful of yachts heading to Darwin and the occasional fishing trawler for the secure anchorage afforded in the Owen Channel.



Yindayin rock art