AUGUST 2002 Thursday August 1st, 2002 Latitude: 16 degrees 48 minutes 01 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 42 minutes 09 seconds East Half Moon Bay Marina, Yorkeys Knob, Queensland, Australia I awoke today to the radio announcer wishing all the horses in Australia a happy birthday. Being that Australia is a country that loves horse racing this is a big day, any excuse to have a party. What does this mean? Well, it doesn’t matter when a horse is born through out the year; its birthday is August 1st.  It doesn’t matter if the horse was born last august 2nd or this July 31st, they both turn one-year-old on August 1st.  I’ve also been reading a book called “The Map That Changed the World.” It’s about the first geologic map ever made. This map was finished, signed and dated on August 1st 1815.  Today is also my birthday and it looks like I share my birthday with the first Geologic Map and the horses of Australia. No wonder I was destined to be a Geologist that likes horses. Philippa and I went off to Cairns to get some new tires for their truck, she was sure we would need them where we were going for my surprise today. By 10:30 am we were all packed and ready to go. We started driving north and turned off the main road toward the mountain town of Mount Molloy. We drove up as high as we could in the mountains before we turned off for the Mountain Retreat. We arrived at a very rustic looking lodge in the mountains. Our host began touring us around the resort, showing us the pool, hot tub, sauna and where we would be sleeping. David and I had our own private Bali style cabin surrounded by a pond with fountain and little waterfall. The composting toilet was in a separate little building just off to the side. The shower and tub were both outside and only enclosed by the surrounding flora. It turns out that I am here for what they call a pamper day as a present from Dudley and Philippa. Philippa is going to join me for the day, which started with a mud bath. This was a tub made of mud with mud spires raising up from the 4 corners. First step, take off all clothes and jump into the mud. Then stand in the sun for a bit and let the excess drip off before you lay down in the lounge chairs to let it harden to your skin. David and Dudley were enjoying the outdoor hot tub while Philippa and I hardened. After we cleaned up, the resort prepared us a delicious lunch. After lunch Philippa and I were treated to a wonderful hour long message, which was finished off with a hot essential oil bath served with a glass of wine back at our little cabins. After this I heated up in the sauna and the hot tub. By now its late afternoon and we decided to take a little hike around the beautiful mountain property before we had dinner. The lodge served up a wonderful red emperor fish for dinner and surprised us at the end with a passion fruit birthday cake. What a long relaxing day and a great way to spend my birthday. What a wonderful surprise I had. Friday August 2nd, 2002 Latitude: 16 degrees 48 minutes 01 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 42 minutes 09 seconds East Half Moon Bay Marina, Yorkeys Knob, Queensland, Australia We awoke this morning to the sounds of kookaburras and various other little birds flitting around our little cabin. It was such a beautiful morning we thought we would hang out in the hot tub before breakfast. Unfortunately someone forgot to turn it on last night and it was not very hot! So I took a hot bath in the great out doors by our little pond. Dudley and Philippa decided to take an early morning dip in the cold cold creek thinking they would warm up in the hot tub, surprise! Around 9-am breakfast was served on the sunny balcony of the lodge with the other guest. We were soon packed up and ready to leave our wonderful retreat to explore more of Australia. We continued on the down the road that would lead us to the outback and through some pretty rugged bush country to Cook Town. Along the way we stopped for a picnic lunch along the Annan River Gorge. After a relaxing lunch we hiked along the Gorge and finished it off with a refreshing dip at a swimming hole. Next stop along the road was the Black Mountain National Park. This is a mountain range composed of giant square looking black granite boulders. At one time this molten rock solidified underground to form the giant granite range and over the thousands of years erosion has slowly exposed it to the surface. The granite boulders are black in color due to the lichen that grows on the them. Next stop is Cook Town. This town is obviously named after Captain Cook. This is where Captain Cook brought his ship the Endevour to be repaired after it was damaged on the reef. The river that now runs through Cook Town is called the Endevour River. When we arrived there were many cruising boats anchored in the river. From our short stay in Cook Town it looked to be a very funky little outback town with many characters wandering the streets. Turns out we have missed our turn off to get to the Daintree Forest and will have to backtrack to the Black Granite Mountains. We would now leave paved road for the next few hours as we began our trip on what is known as the Bloomfield Track. This track goes through virgin wet tropical rainforest known as the Greater Daintree Rain Forest.  The road was very rugged with some of the roughest terrain I have ever seen.  Sections of the unpaved road went straight up and down with a stream crossing at the bottom. It was the bumpiest roller coaster road I’ve ever been on. Dudley found it to be some of the most challenging driving he has ever done, and he grew up in Africa! The road did pass through one aboriginal community on the way called Wujal Wujal; otherwise the only signs of life were wild life. The road let us pass through some of the oldest tropical rainforest in the world, with 300 year old strangler figs, and vines dripping from the giant trees that lined the road. Some of the steeper sections of road had paved wheel tracks that you had to try to follow. The paved tracks were only as wide as your tires and not in the greatest condition. It was a very interesting drive, but this is the only road connecting Cook Town to Cape Tribulation and there were other foolhardy people besides us on the track. Now I know why we needed those new tires! Dark was falling on us and we didn’t know where we would be staying that night. When we finally reached paved road again we found ourselves at Cape Tribulation where we were overwhelmed with civilization in the all the backpacker housing along the roadside. We stopped at a few, but the inns were full. We finally started making a few phone calls and found some cabins to stay at further down the road. We found our home for the night at the Heritage Lodge near Cooper Creek and Thornton Beach. On the way there we had stopped at a place called the Coconut Beach Rainforest Resort to see if there was any room there. They had rooms, but for $350.00 a night, so we decided to pass. They did have a lovely restaurant that was having seafood buffet that night, so we drove back for dinner. On the menu were Morton Bay bugs, prawns, oysters, octopus, various fish, chicken, crocodile, and kangaroo. So it was another interesting dinning experience in Australia.  After a full action packed day and lovely meal we were ready for a good night sleep. Saturday August 3rd, 2002 Latitude: 16 degrees 48 minutes 01 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 42 minutes 09 seconds East Half Moon Bay Marina, Yorkeys Knob, Queensland, Australia Today is Dudley’s Birthday and so the birthday extravaganza continues. We joined them for breakfast by the banks of a clear stream at the main lodge. Dudley has lots of gifts to open from his family and friends at home so we enjoyed our breakfast watching him open his gifts. Dudley didn’t have a relaxing day in mind for his birthday, he wanted to go crocodile hunting, and so it was. We met on the mangrove-lined shores of the Cooper Creek for the beginning of our adventure with the outback version of Crocodile Dundee as our guide. Soon we were motoring our way down the river (creek) in the Dain Tree Rain Forest in search of crocodiles and other forms of flora and fauna.  It wasn’t long and there was one of the long scaly creatures lying on the shore sunning himself. Our guide informed us that this is the time of day they lay in the sun to warm their body temperature back up. Apparently during the night they can loose a degree or two of body heat and so they laze around soaking up the sun where they can. We meandered down several creeks as I kept thinking I hope this wreck of a boat doesn’t let us down in croc country. We did see many birds of the mangroves, including the beautiful little blue and orange kingfisher.  We did manage to see one more crocodile sunning himself before our adventure was over. Soon we were back in the Ute (Truck in Australia) and traveling through the Dain Tree Forest when we saw a turn off for ice cream made form the fruits of the rain forest. Sounds like just the thing for the birthday boy. We all got a bowl with 4 different ice creams. My favorite one being the one made from wattle seed.  Next stop on the birthday boys to do list was picnic and hike at the Mossman Gorge. David and I had been here last year, but the trails were closed for repairs, so we hope things will be different this year. When we arrived the park was full of buses, cars and people picnicking all over the place. I’d say the park is back open. After a nice picnic we started up the trails along the mossman gorge. We had fun going across the swinging bridge that crosses the gorge with its giant boulders and river below. We hiked for several hours though some of the thickest rain forest I’ve seen to date. There were many large and intermingled strangler figs and even a stream crossing or two. Well, I think we are finally hiked out, at least for the day. The drive back to Cairns was a beautiful drive along the coast highway with many beautiful beaches along the way. At one of our road side stops we saw a beautiful Pacific Baza, which is a bird of prey with the unusual characteristics of small pointed crest on its head and white and brown horizontal stripes on its breast. By 5:00 pm we were back at the boat being greeted by some serious meowing. Even though Willie took excellent care of Dewey he was very happy to see us. I think we will all be sleeping well tonight. Sunday August 4th, 2002 Latitude: 16 degrees 29 minutes 01 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 06 seconds East Marina Mirage, Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia 25. 4 nautical Miles traveled in 4 hours 20 minutes Water temp 81 degrees F, air temp 23.3 degrees C Yorkies knob has a very shallow entrance and since high tide is at 6:30 am we were on our way out of the channel by 8:00 am with just a few inches under the keel. Today we would sail to Port Douglas, but alas no wind and we motored the whole way. Happy Now was motoring just ahead of us, but when we neared Port Douglas they called and said they were going to go to the Low Isles for the afternoon and would see us later this evening. The timing to arrive in Port Douglas wasn’t the best as we were arriving exactly at low tide. We called the marina to see if we could make it in and they assured us that there was plenty of depth, even at low tide. So in we went down the Dickson Inlet. Being that it was Sunday and lunchtime all the waterfront cafes were full of people waving and taking our picture as we motored by, it was like we were in a parade. We finally arrived in our designated slip at 12:30 pm  and never saw anything less then 7’-2”. After a nice lunch and check in with the port we were off exploring our new surroundings. Port Douglas is a lovely little tropical oasis with lots of shops, restaurants, golf courses, art galleries and resorts. Port Douglas was a nothing little town until a developer named Christopher Skase came along with his big pocket book and ideas. He developed the marina area and pier and also got the giant Sheraton Mirage Resort going. Unfortunately he left the country with lots of people’s money and was never seen again. But on the upside it has made Port Douglas a very nice upscale resort town. It’s big claim to fame is that Hollywood movie stars and Presidents stay here, including President Clinton who was here last year on September 11th. We had fun walking most of the main streets to see what this town had to offer and then went to see the famous 4-mile beach. After a few hours of walking around we headed back to the boat just in time for Happy Now to arrive. Looks like this is going to be a fun place to spend a few days. Monday August 5th -Friday August 9th, 2002 Latitude: 16 degrees 29 minutes 01 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 06 seconds East Marina Mirage, Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia David and I spent the week exploring Port Douglas and enjoying the beautiful hikes and beaches that surround this little peninsula. I spent the better part of a day just visiting all the art galleries. The unstoppable Philippa and Dudley took off in their ute to go exploring the Tablelands and left us behind with their kayaks.  I spent a nice afternoon kayaking down the mangrove lined river until I remembered the 15 foot alligator I heard lives further down, so I didn’t explore as far as I would have liked and spent my time paddling around the marina.  While doing so I discovered several other boats from America that had arrived. There was Rhapsody from California, Westwind from Alaska and Emanuel from Florida. I thought it was interesting that we have never met any of these boats yet and they were from such different parts of the U.S.   I put my bike together and did some exploring of the beautiful bike paths that weave all the resorts together. I of course went into see what they all looked like. I’ll have to say the Sheridan Mirage was very impressive. The entire complex is surrounded by beautiful swimming pools, so every room and restaurant has a pool side view. Very impressive. Other resorts had tree top restaurants and rooms in the rain forest. Lots of interesting architecture. Dudley and Philippa returned on Thursday night full of more adventure stories and then informed us they were planning on going to the Reef Habitat on Friday. I wanted to go along, but Friday morning it was raining hard and this is an outdoor venue, so we decided to wait until Saturday.  So Friday was spent getting the boat ready for our next adventure out to the reef. Saturday August 10th, 2002 Latitude: 16 degrees 29 minutes 01 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 06 seconds East Marina Mirage, Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia Saturday morning looked to be a bit better, but still some sprinkles. We decided to give the Reef Habitat a go anyway. We were so glad we did. This is the most outstanding exhibit of Australian flora and fauna I have seen anywhere. It was so well done and is definitely a not to be missed if you ever find yourself in Port Douglas. The exhibit was divided into 3 major habitats. The enclosures were very open and the animals and birds were free to roam and fly around as they wished in a very natural surrounding. The people walked around on an elevated boardwalk through the different habitats. We went through the wetlands first, which was loaded with hundreds of birds. They had bird identification boards at various spots to help you figure out what you were seeing. A few of the birds we saw in the section were; Ibis, Cassowary, Magpie Goose, Pacific Black Duck, Great Egrets, Little Egrets, Reef Egrets, Pied Heron, Yellow Billed Spoonbill, Dusky Moorhen, Purple Swamp Hen, Black Winged Stilt, Bush Stone Curlew, Masked Lapwing, Red Tailed Cockatoo, Yellow Tailed Cockatoo, Cockatiel, Galah, Pheasant Coucal, Blue Winged Kookaburra, Laughing Kookaburra, and Blue Faced Honey Eaters to name just a few.  They had a nesting pair of Jabiru (Black necked stork), which were standing guard over their gigantic nest. The female Jabiru had yellow eyes while the male had black; otherwise they looked exactly alike. The most amazing thing we saw, was the Tawny Frog Mouth Bird. This bird was so well camouflaged into its surrounding it was amazing we ever spotted it in the first place. But once we did we saw 4 of them hiding out in the rocks and branches. They are in the owl family and were very stoic looking as they peered out at us weird humans with cameras. Other interesting animals in the wetlands we observed were the little paddy melons (a little kangaroo looking marsupial) and they also had a python on display, which I kept a good distance from. We wandered into the rainforest next which was totally amazing, they had somehow managed to grow trees in here that provided a thick canopy for the birds to live in. There were also many little streams and waterfalls for the birds to enjoy as well. There were many of the same birds in here such as the giant Cassowary.  We did observe some new little birds in here such as the Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher and the Pied Imperial Pigeon, with its beautiful cooing sounds. One of the interesting birds in this exhibit was the Eclectus Parrots; the female is red while the male is green. While we were in the rainforest exhibit it started to really rain outside letting a fine mist seep its way in through the tree canopy. I could have sat in here all day watching the birds fly around, but we had the grasslands exhibit to see next. Upon entering the grasslands we first saw the mighty Brolga which is giant gray crane with red head. Next along the path we encountered many varieties of kangaroos, there is actually a swamp kangaroo that hangs out in the roots of the mangrove. Seems like these guys should have been in the wetlands. The kangaroos in this exhibit were so tame that you could buy kangaroo food to have them munching right out of your hand. And they would let you pet them as well. I sat down on the ground next to a baby kangaroo and began to pet its head. It soon lifted its chin and let me scratch under its chin and neck and chest. He just opened up his arms and soaked in all the attention. A little boy next to me was so excited when he was petting one of the kangaroos, he shouted “look mom, I’m touching a kangaroo”, I too felt his excitement as I scratched my little soft baby roo. It was hard to tear myself away from the kangaroos, but crocodiles were calling.  Dudley of course was already there observing their behaviors, which wasn’t very exciting, being that they were in a natural habitat they just laid there motionless. It was interesting to see the different kinds of crocodiles. One was peering out from all the duck weed in the pond. All you could see was the spine of his back sticking out and his eyes looking out at you. But he too never blinked the whole time we were there. On our way to the koala bear exhibit we noticed that they had a crocodile out for display. It was only a little one, about 2 feet long and her mouth-taped shut. She was out with the ranger for the less timid to have a touch. I thought I better give her a touch, I would probably never be touching a crocodile again, with any luck. After a few scratches it was off to the koala bears. Since these little bears sleep 22 hours a day, they of course were sleeping. But while we were there one woke up gave a big yawn, a few scratches and then back to sleep. After several hours of soaking in all the wildlife we were ready to call it quits and head back to the marina. I spent the afternoon exploring on my bike and taking a renewed and closer look at life in the mangroves. Sunday August 11th, 2002 Latitude: 16 degrees 29 minutes 01 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 06 seconds East Marina Mirage, Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia Sunday morning in Port Douglas they have a very large open-air market right on the waterfront. We thought we would go out for breakfast and then head over there.  There were several great fresh veggie stalls where we bulked up on fresh herbs and veggies for our impending trip. David lost interest after the food stalls and so I continued on until I saw every last booth. There were definitely some interesting art and junk stalls mixed in with the veggies. After all this excitement I hopped on the bike for my last ride around town. I rode the trails as far as I could out of town and then headed over to the beach and rode back all the way on the famous 4-mile beach. It was a pretty windy day and the going was slow as I headed into the sandy storm. Once I reached the headland I hiked up to the top of the hill for a final look over the beach and some good photo shots. Port Douglas is indeed a great place. It was blowing a good 25 knots out there today and the life guards had the warning flags up on the beach. I wonder if we will get to leave tomorrow? Back at the boat everything is almost ready to go. We have laundry and little shopping to in the morning and we are ready. Monday August 12th, 2002 Latitude: 16 degrees 22 minutes 08 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 33 minutes 07 seconds East Low Isles Queensland, Australia 7.6 Nautical Miles traveled in 1 hour 30 minutes   The wind has actually died down today and looks good for the next few days, giving us a good opportunity to make a getaway. We would like to get to Hope Island, but it is a very large reef island and needs to be entered in good mid day sun, so we will go to the Low Islands this afternoon and make an early get away from there Tuesday morning. The Low Islands are only 8 miles from Port Douglas, but that could give us the hour and half we need at Hope Island tomorrow. I got up early and finished off the laundry. Philippa drove down to Cairns to pick up their guest who had just flown in from London. When she returned we all went to the grocery together for the last shop for a few weeks. When we returned David and I made our way to the fuel dock to top off the tank and fill all the jugs. Now we are ready to go. Looks like this break in the weather saw five American boats and one lone Canadian leaving to head north. By 2:00 pm we were motoring out of the inlet by all the restaurants again. And once again there was waving and picture taking. I guess today there really was an American parade. The wind was still blowing pretty well for we were making 6-7 knots with just the headsail up. The seas were still pretty lumpy which Dewey didn’t like and I wasn’t thrilled with them either, but at least I knew it would be over soon.  With the Low islands being so close to Port Douglas they are a hot destination with all the charter boats and day-trippers. We thought by going late in the day they would be heading back by the time we got there. Sure enough the large cat was leaving just as we arrived and the others left soon after we anchored, leaving just 4 sailboats in the anchorage for the night. As soon as we anchored a turtle greeted us and then he came back later to see how we were doing. Captain Cook named the Low Islands in 1770. They are composed of two islands, one a sand cay with a beautiful old lighthouse built in 1878, which appears to still be warning off sailors at night. The other island is a large reef area covered by mangroves. Looks to be an interesting place to explore but we will just enjoy the view from our cockpit tonight, for we are leaving at dark-o-thirty tomorrow morning. Tuesday August 13th, 2002 Latitude: 15 degrees 43 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 03 seconds East Hope Island, Queensland, Australia 40 nautical Miles traveled in 6 hours 45 minutes Water temp 78.4 degrees F Up at dark-o-thirty (5:30AM) to leave at the first crack of sunlight. This anchorage was very rolly last night but calmed down a bit when the wind switched to the southwest. At 6:00 am we tried raising the anchor and the stupid windless wasn’t working again. David tinkered with it a bit and soon it was working again. By 6:15 the sails were up and we were heading north in light southwest wind. We tried several times to turn the motor off but there just wasn’t enough wind to keep us above 4 knots and we really needed to make it to Hope Island between 11:00 and 2:00 so we continued to motored sail. The part of the Australian coastline we are sailing by today is absolutely beautiful. This is where the mountainous Dain Tree Rain Forest comes down to greet the sea. The only thing separating it from the ocean is the beautiful sand beaches. Around 10:15 David spotted a couple of whales off our port side. It appears to be a mother and her calf. We watched them gracefully swim by giving us a couple of squirts along the way. We called Happy Now on the radio and informed them of the whales coming their way and they soon saw them as well. Finally by 11:oo we were able to turn off the motor and sail using the wing and wing technique. By 11:3o we were passing Pickersville reef to our starboard side. By 12:30 pm we have reached the bottom part of the reef that surrounds the sand cay known as Hope Island. Hope island has an extensive reef that extends out for miles and so you have to keep a very watchful eye as you near the lagoon. While the cruising guide suggests coming in the channel between the two islands, we have chosen to go on the outside of the reef and island keeping it to our port side. It just looked like too many bommies to avoid going through the suggested channel. There was one large ketch in there already which helped guide us to the anchorage. I stood up high on the bowsprit and directed David around the giant coral bommies. By 1:00 pm we anchored in 25 feet of water. It is now blowing 18-20 knots, where was that wind this morning? We were getting settled in and lowering the dinghy when we saw the Happy Now crew coming down the inside channel. They made it in just fine but they had 3 set of eyes looking out for coral. So looks like either way will work here. We were soon all over on the shores of the sand cay for some exploration. The island is a national park with a picnic area and a little campground. We were able to walk around the whole sand cay in less then a half hour. It appears to be home to a nesting pair of ospreys and many gigantic pelicans. After our walk around we did some snorkeling of the coral just off the shores of the sand cay. There were many lovely soft corals, hard corals and lots of fish living here. We finished off the day with a lovely of red emperor fish dinner prepared by Dudley. What a lovely way to finish a great day. Wednesday August 14th, 2002 Latitude: 15 degrees 43 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 03 seconds East Hope Island, Queensland, Australia We awoke to knocking at the back of our boat this morning only to find a soaking wet Dudley who had swam over to say good morning. It was a beautiful morning here at Hope Island. The large ketch in front us left this morning leaving just 3 boats here in the anchorage. After breakfast David put on his wetsuit and snorkel to check out the boat bottom. Sitting in marinas the last few weeks seemed to have clogged a few things up including our speedo. After he finished we went to shore for more exploration. Low tide had just passed and the reef was totally exposed. It was amazing how far out the reef went. It seemed to go on for miles as we could barely see the outer edge. We decide to walk out for a while to see what was out there. The inner part of the reef was mostly a sand bottom covered with sea cumbers, brittle stars, starfish and various shells. We walked out about half way across the reef before the tide was coming in too fast and the water getting too deep. So we hustled back to shore, being that we didn’t have our snorkeling gear with us. We noticed while we were out that the Happy Now crew was out in the dinghy exploring the edge of the reef. We later talked to them and found they had been looking for a spot to go diving this afternoon. After lunch we loaded up the dinghies with people, snorkeling and diving gear and headed to the edge of the reef. After we got David, Dudley and Philippa off for the dive the rest of us stayed behind for some excellent snorkeling of the reef. There was abundant soft and hard corals here and large schools of brightly colored fish. I saw a giant clamshell that was empty but was a good 3 feet across. Close by this shell there was a pink sea anemone with two little brightly colored orange barrier reef anemone fish. A little closer to the edge I found a giant clam that was alive. It’s fleshy parts being lovely lavender with deep purple spots. The siphon was large enough to stick by hand in, and was a fluorescent orange inside. What a marvelous site. I went a little further into the reef but when I saw an eel poke his head out at me I swam back to the edge. When the divers returned they reported seeing a large nurse shark, lionfish, and nudibranchs. So all in all it was a great spot. The divers were pretty cold so we quickly returned to warm up. After a warm up David and I were back to shore for some clean up work. The picnic area was in need of some attention, so David took over his rake and machete to do a little clean up work while I wandered around taking pictures of the birds. He did a fantastic job of cleaning the place up and now it’s a nice spot to have a picnic again. In our wandering around shore we did find a giant turtle shell in the surf. There was nothing left of it, just the shell. I wonder what happened to it. David decided to turn it into a sculpture on the beach. He sculpted the rest of the turtle out of sand and from a distance it looked like the real thing laying about on the beach. The sun is now setting and we have had a full day. We prepared the boat for an early morning departure and called it a night. We did talk to our friends on Shiriri to night via the single side band radio. They are still crossing the Pacific back to Canada and our now only 1800 miles away. Things are looking pretty good, except they have been at sea for a little over 2- months now! This is definitely an epic passage for them. They will definitely be glad to see land. I hope they remember how to walk. Thursday August 15th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 57 minutes 0 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 19 minutes 08 seconds East Cape Flattery, Queensland, Australia 48.1 Nautical Miles traveled in 8 hours Water Temperature 80.4 degrees F, Air Temperature 28.3 C Sometime during the night what little wind there was blew from the north turning our boats 180 degrees and onto a lee shore. Good thing we are planing on leaving today. Happy Now decided to go first but found that their chain was fouled on the bottom in coral. Dudley was soon in the water diving to free the chain. Once they were free we gave it a try and we too were now wrapped around a bommie. Dudley-do-Wright was soon to the rescue and freed our chain as well. The boat behind us was also fouled but decided to just bring up a piece of the barrier reef with them. They had a much bigger windless. By 7:10 am we were all on our way heading north in gray sky’s and drizzle. There was absolutely no wind, the seas were flat and we were motoring.  We are now in a heavily used shipping channel for this is where the barrier reef is the closest to the mainland and all traffic is funneled into a smaller space. As we motored along 7 large ships passed us, one was from Iran and another from Singapore. The coastline is now very baron with large sand dunes as we leave the rainforest behind. By 10 am the sun is coming out and we are passing Egret Reef to our starboard side. By noon we have passed by Cook Town and are once again buzzed by the customs coast watch plane. This time they interrogated the Happy Nows. Around 2:00 pm we are passing Cape Bedford. At 2:30 as we approached Cape Flattery we saw two whales that gave us a squirt as they swam by.  By 3:00 pm we are anchored in a lovely bay behind Cape Flattery. Unfortunately we had to motor sail the entire way. Cape Flattery is composed of some large conglomerate sediments surrounded by huge silica sand dunes, which makes for beautiful white beaches. For some reason Australia has given the Japanese a mining lease for this entire area for mining the sand, which is shipped out at the rate of half a million tones per year. Philippa, Dudley, Ian and I went to shore for some big hiking along the beach. There were several aboriginal camps set up along the beach that looked like they had been there awhile. Next we hiked up to the look out. What a beautiful view we had from up there. Looking out over the bay it looked like our boats were sitting on glass with the occasional dolphin swimming by. While we were hiking we met a man and women from Australia who were also anchored in the bay, but each on their own boat. They had His and Hers boats with cute little matching rowing dinghies. They have been traveling like this since she decided she didn’t want to live on his boat any more. What a funny concept.  Anyway by the time we were making our way back to the boats some large black clouds came in and the winds had come up with gusto. So much for a peaceful calm anchorage tonight. Friday August 16th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 06 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia 18.2 Nautical Miles traveled in 2 hours 15 minutes Water Temperature 79.8 degrees F Rain and wind pounded us most of the night in this once calm anchorage making for a rolly night. Being that we weren’t getting much sleep anyway we decided to get up and go. By 8:15 we had the sails up and were finally on our way to Lizard Island.  The sky was still dark gray and we could see several squalls off in the distance. Looks like it could be and interesting sail. At least today we had plenty of wind, for with the main up and only one third of the headsail out we were still making 7-8 knots. To avoid some of the reefs between Lizard and Cape Flattery we had to sail east for awhile, which way was the wind from? The east, so it was a bumpy ride as we pounded into the waves and squalls for a good hour. By 9:15 am we have sailed by Martin Reef and can see Eagle Reef in the distance so we can bare away from the wind a bit making for a smother sail. Just as we neared Lizard Island and need to look out for the reef we were pounded by another squall. This one really drenched us, which was good for getting all the salt water off the boat. Once the squall past we were able to take down the sails and head for the anchorage. We found a nice place to anchor in 15 feet of beautiful warm turquoise water. Just as we were getting settled in the Happy Now crew came in and anchored next to us. After we were all settled in Philippa called and said they had caught a fish on the way over and would like to share it with us for dinner tonight. Looks like another good fresh fish dinner. David went to shore to explore for a while. I stayed behind and cleaned up the boat and made a cake for tonight. Lizard Island has an interesting history and to this day still has a lot to offer. This is the island Captain Cook visited to find a way out of the reef. It is also the island of early white man and aboriginal clashes and is today home to one of Australia’s most exclusive resorts as well as the best marine research center on the Great Barrier Reef. So it looks like we will have lots to see and do here. To the east and west of the anchorage there is coral reef. It looks like I could just jump off and snorkel for hours.  But not today as the weather has gone from bad to worse. The wind has picked up to 26 knots with very strong gust and it is pouring rain. In one of the breaks of rain David and I made our way to the Happy Now boat for a lovely fish dinner and good company. Ian, who is one of the Happy Now guest from England, attended a month long culinary school in England, so they let him prepare the fish and he did a wonderful job. In the next break in the rain we made it back to our boat and hoped for a restful night. Saturday August 17th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 06 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia This morning David and I went to shore for some exploring, he wanted to zoom up to Cooks Look out, so I stayed on relatively flat ground and hiked to the Blue Lagoon. Cook’s Look Out is suppose to be a hard climb and I wasn’t up to it today. The Blue Lagoon hike was a lovely hike by Mrs. Watson cabin, through a mangrove forest and then on to a trail that ran along the airport which lead to another sandy trail that lead down to the Blue Lagoon. When I reached the over look to the Blue Lagoon, it literally took my breath away with its beauty. I don’t think I have ever seen anything so beautiful on this planet. Now I know why this is such a special place. I made a trip down to the beach and then made my way back to meet David. He actually made it all the way to the top of Cook’s Lookout and back down in one hour 10 minutes. He said it was so fun he wants to do it again tomorrow! What a mad man. After lunch we gathered up the Happy Now Crew and headed to the Coral Gardens in front of the resort for some snorkeling adventure. It was spectacular! There were all kinds of hard and soft corals, sea anemone with cute little anemone fish. One of the more amazing things we saw today was the Giant Australian Cuttlefish. This was something I had never seen before and it kind of resembled an octopus without legs, although they are in the cephalopod family, which is the same family as the nautilus. We also saw a blue-spotted ray, which was a yellow-lime color with neon blue spots. He was getting a clean from a cleaner wrasse. We also observed many giant clams in this area as well. The fish life was abundant and as colorful as ever.  Soon the others grew tired or cold, but Philippa and I wanted to go on, so we swam over to the giant clam gardens, which is close to the boat. The corals and fish weren’t as spectacular here, but we did see some giant clams with lengths of 3-5 feet and in a variety of velvety colors. After we had enough of the clam gardens we went on to explore a bommie that was in the middle of the anchorage. There wasn’t much coral on it, but it was full of hundreds of little fish. By now we weren’t far from the outer edge of the Harbor so we kept on going exploring the whole coastline of the harbor. We did manage to scare up a giant potato cod and saw many giant clams. Other wise the coral was mostly dead rubble along this shoreline. We soon saw both Dudley and David out looking for us in the dinghies, for we had been out for close to three hours now. When they finally found us we declined the ride and decided it would be safer to swim back. After dinner we had the Happy Now crew over for popcorn and a movie. It was a beautiful calm and lovely day and looks like the night could be the same. Sunday August 18th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 06 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia We met the Happy Now Crew on the beach at 8:00 am to begin the historic footsteps up the side of the mountain to Cook’s Lookout. In 1770 after patching up the Endeavor in Cook Town from a close encounter with a reef, Captain Cook was now very aware that there was a reef out there. But how to get through it was the big question. After he left Cook Town they sailed by Lizard Island. Seeing that it had a high hill they decided to stop and climb the hill to see if they could find a way out of the reef. Cook took Joseph Banks with him, the ship scientist. When they arrived they discovered that the island had many Monitor Lizards on it and so Banks suggested that it be named Lizard Island. Cook and Banks climbed to the highest peak on the island, which is about 358 meters (approximately 1,080 feet). At the top Cook could see the barrier reef and the possible exits. He also had sent out some crew in boats to explore the area as well and decided to exit the reef through what is known today as Cook’s Passage. At around 8:30 am we began the historic journey to the top. It was a fairly rugged climb at first, not much of a trail, just arrows painted on a rough granite surface. After the first twenty minutes we were on a regular dirt trail that evened out a bit. The views along the way were breath taking that overlooked Watson’s Bay (where we are anchored) and then as we got higher you could see the Blue Lagoon. What an aerial view we had. We finally all reached the top, (David and Dudley first, me last) for a well-deserved break to sit back and soak in the views. There is a wooden box at the top, which is home to a Tupperware box, that is home to a visitor’s book. We took a look through the book having fun seeing the people from all over the world that had been here this year. Looks like they start a new book every year, so we couldn’t see the historic journeys of our boatie friends from last year, but did see a few from this year. We all signed our name in the book to be a part of history.  There was also a sundial looking thing that had all the directions marked on it for how far to and where things are, such as Cooks Passage, Darwin, Bali, San Francisco, Hawaii, Fiji, and Singapore. It was interesting to see that we are at the same latitude as Bali and Darwin standing here at Cook’s Look. Time to start back down, we had other things to do today as well. The hike down was actually harder on the way down for me with my bad knee so we let the others go ahead and David stayed to help me down the steep rocky parts. We were back at the boat by 11:30 and by 1:00 we were back on shore to hike to the Blue Lagoon for some snorkeling. We all carried our snorkeling gear in packs as we made our way to the other side of the island. The crystal clear waters of the Blue Lagoon looked so inviting I wanted to jump right in after the hike, but Dudley was in search of a good reef to snorkel and had us hiking all over the place.  At 55 this guy is unstoppable! I guess that is why he got a navy seals training book for his birthday. A few more months with this guy and we will all be in top form. We finally found a good beach and were finally able to get in the water. We got about an hour of snorkeling in before the squalls started marching our way, so we packed it in for the hike back. Just as we got in the dinghy it started to rain as we made our way out to the boats. When we returned we noticed that our friends on “Checkmate” had arrived. What a long and active day, I’m sure we will all be sleeping well tonight. Monday August 19th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 06 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia 7:30 this morning there was a knock at the back of the boat, it was Dudley who had just been out for an early morning swim. He stopped by to chat with us about the day’s activities. He informed us that they will begin sailing south tomorrow for there looks to be a good break in the weather. They have more guests to pick up in Cairns so they need to get going. We on the other hand will be staying a few more days. It will be really hard to tear our selves away from here.  On the schedule for today will be the Research Station and diving. The research center announced over the radio that it would be holding a tour for the yachts at 11:00. So by 10:30 we were on the beach to begin the hike over to the research station. Turns out that 30-minute wasn’t quite enough time to get there. But they waited for us all to arrive before they started. We first saw a video about Lizard Island and what the research station is doing there. Then we were shown around the research center and a couple of PHD students showed us the experiments they were working on. One guy was from the University of Maryland, while the other was from Germany. Not a bad place to hang out and do research I’d say. After the tour the host took us to a large tank filled with most of the life we have been seeing out snorkeling. It was fascinating learning all the information she had to share with us about corals, lobsters molting, coral spawning and clams. The amazing thing about the clam is that no two are alike in their coloring. Their coloring has to do with the dinoflagilates that live inside the clam. Pretty amazing stuff. This time we hiked back along the beach, but it took just as long. We were going to snorkel before lunch but it is now 2:00 pm so we decided to give it ago, have lunch and then head to the dive site on the north side of the island. Philippa and David have decided that it is time I get over my fear of diving and are going to give me a lesson this afternoon. Philippa let me use her equipment, which was designed for women, and she used some spare that she had. They put the BC and tank on my back and then ran through all the instruments and let me practice breathing in the regulator. It’s a weird thing to breathe through when you are used to a snorkel. After I felt comfortable with that I swam around a bit on the surface to get used to having it all on and breathing. Then it was time to try and go down. I deflated the BC and went down for a sit on the bottom. Soon David and Philippa were guiding me along the bottom. We swam out along the reef, where the fish life distracted me from being too scared. We found a mooring buoy along the way in 15 feet of water so we worked our way down the buoy until I was at the bottom then I swam back on my own from there. David and Philippa had run out of air by now (they had half-empty tanks) so they swam next to me as I worked my way back to shore. It was all pretty exciting for my first dive in the ocean. I had actually taken a half-day class in Fiji, but they never were able to take us out into the ocean because of bad weather. Now seeing that it’s not as scary as I thought I might take a class to get certified so I can dive with them all next year. By the time we got back it was 5:00 pm and that is about all we cram into the day before sunset. Tuesday August 20th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 06 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia Dudley swam over in snorkeling gear around 10:00 this morning and I swam with him to the clam gardens while David and Philippa took the others to shore in the dinghy. Dudley and I snorkeled the whole length of the coral gardens until we met up with the others near shore. The most exciting I thing I saw along the way besides the big clams, was an octopus. I was glad Dudley saw it as well, or the others may not have believed me. He did scurry back into his hole so all Dudley saw was his eyes peering out. After we had our fill of the clam gardens Dudley and I swam over to the soft coral gardens while the others went in the dinghy. On the way there Dudley and I saw a hawksbill turtle that was sitting on the bottom munching on some greenery growing off the coral. It wasn’t long and a couple of fish came out of the coral and started pecking at his head. I guess they didn’t like him nibbling on their home. Pretty soon he was annoyed enough to move on and headed to the surface. I was able to swim along with him, he wasn’t bothered by us at all. We swam with the turtle for awhile and then moved on. The coral gardens were full of fish and as we swam along the outside of the reef into deep water there were schools of hundreds of small fish with a few very large fish mixed in.  It was really magical as we swam through the schools of little blue and yellow fish. Lynn and Ian went back to the boat and David and Dudley were getting cold so they went back to our dinghy to wait for Philippa and I.  On the way back to the dinghy Philippa saw a very large black tip reef shark, which I’m really glad I didn’t see. After we chatted with the boys we told them we wanted to swim back to the boats across the coral gardens and the clam gardens.  You could tell they were very reluctant to let the two of us go off swimming again, but it was Philippa’s last snorkel at Lizard for the year, so they caved in and let us have our swim.  We made it back in time for lunch and then were back at the beach by 1:30 to walk Lynn and Ian to the airplane terminal. They were to be flying out at 2:30 to be at Cairns tonight. They couldn’t rely on this Australian weather to get them back in time by boat.  They need to be back to England for work on Monday. Lynn has a small fear of flying on small planes so we all went to give her moral support. Well it’s a good thing we did, first off the plane was one hour late. Then when it was loading the luggage the door fell shut on the loaders head and broke the hinge so the door wouldn’t stay shut anymore. Well this became a big concern and they had to get permission from Cairns to fly the plane in this condition with the broken door taped shut. Well soon they were looking all over the island for what they called hundred mile an hour tape. They came back with something from the research center, but I doubt the research has hundred mile an hour tape. We were all having a good laugh as it took two pilots and 5 grounds crew to tape this little hatch shut. This wasn’t helping to ease Lynn’s fears at all, but two hours later she stepped onto the plane with a smile and water bottle filled with wine. Well after we watched the plane fly out of site with out any luggage falling out, we made our way back to the beach. Here we said our good byes to Philippa and Dudley who would now leave by boat. It looks like they will be able to leave on the northeast afternoon sea breeze and hopefully get a good way south tonight. By 5:00 pm they were motoring off into the sunset around the island and out of our site. We are really going to miss them, but will get to slow down the pace a little now. We may see them again in the Whitsunday’s on the way back. It already seems lonely with out them anchored next to us tonight. Wednesday August 21st, 2002 Latitude: 15 degrees 13 minutes 08 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 19 minutes 04 seconds East Cape Bedford, Queensland, Australia 33.8 nautical miles traveled in 5hours and 30 minutes Water temperature 80.6 degrees F Looks to be another beautiful day here at Lizard Island.  Water temperature this morning is 82.7 degrees F. Sometime during the night a huge cruise ship landed in front of the resort. By 6 am they were disembarking people on the beach to do Cooks Look Hike. Soon after they were putting up tents for the guest on shore and next came all the people, by the hundreds. Many of the hundreds were out snorkeling on the coral and clam gardens, and most had life jackets on. It was really a funny site. As if there wasn’t enough commotion going on the research center was trying to conduct an experiment out there. Maybe they were trying to see what the effects of 200 people swimming over the clams gardens does. David and I are running low on water, so I went to shore with the jugs to use the water pump in the campground, but alas it was dry, not a drop of water would come out. I don’t know what this means, except that we are not getting any water here. Well this could cause a problem with us staying here. We have unpickled the water maker and can make drinking water, but it would be nice to have a freshwater shower once in awhile and clean dishes. We have talked to other friends on the radio that would like us to stay here until they get here, but that will be at least another week. By then we will be out of food as well, we hadn’t planned on staying away from land for a month. So after accessing our situation and the weather, it looks like this could be are only break in the weather to go back to the mainland for supplies. I wanted to hike to the blue lagoon today so I did my hike and when I returned David had the boat ready to go. We said our good byes to Checkmate, who is on their way to Thailand. By 2:00 pm we were on our way back to Port Douglas. It would be an overnight sail so I was preparing myself for the long haul against the weather. An hour after we left David decided it would be ok to give Cook Town a try. Checkmate said we could get fuel and water there from the public jetty. That certainly made more sense then going all the way back to Port Douglas and I wouldn’t have to sail all night against weather. So we changed our course to Cape Bedford. Looks like we could get there by 8:00 tonight. Checkmate called us on the radio to let us know that soon after we left there was a whale that came in and swam around in the anchorage and in front of the resort. Wow, too bad we missed that. I teased him that it was the wind up one they put out for the cruise ship guest. With a full moon and fairly calm seas we easily made anchorage behind Cape Bedford for the night. Thursday August 22nd, 2002 Latitude: 15 degrees 27 minutes 34 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 14 minutes 50 seconds East Cook Town, Queensland, Australia Traveled 18.2 Nautical miles in 3 hours Water temperature 79.8 degrees F Rain and wind pounded us most of the night making for a lumpy night of sleeping so we were up and going by 6:00 am as the first crack of light came over the horizon. Unfortunately the wind was blowing a good 20 knots out of the southeast and we were going south, but we only had to pound into it for 3 hours and I didn’t get too seasick. We managed to get into the Endevour River and anchored by 9:00 am in 13.1 feet of water at high tide. The anchorage here is very small and very shallow and every time the tide switches it doesn’t matter which way the wind is blowing, the boat swings with the tide. This looks to be a very tenuous situation to say the least. One boat in the anchorage has a stern anchor out while non of the rest do, which is going to make it interesting when the tide switches. We figured we had until 2:30 pm when the low tide happened before we would begin to swing. David took me into shore to find things in town, while he stayed on the boat and watched how things went. Cook Town is an interesting little outback town, very remote and full of interesting characters. Sadly the town has a lot of bars that were being used at 10 in the morning, and even sadder mostly by aboriginals. Oddly enough there was a plethora of art galleries full of interesting folk art. I finally found the only grocery store on the far end of town and purchased as much as I could carry. I made my way back to the dock by noon and waited for David to come get me.  While I stood there waiting little aboriginal kids started begging me for money. Pretty sad state of affairs. David decided he would walk to the store with the backpack and see how much he could get while I stayed behind and kept a watchful eye on the depth finder. By the time David returned we were down to 8 feet but hadn’t started swinging yet. So I went in with all the laundry and got that started while I watched the boats start to make their move from the banks of the river. By the time I finished the laundry we had only swung half way, so David quickly came over and picked me up so I could be onboard to help with fending off if necessary. By 3:30 we had completely swung around and didn’t hit anything or the sandy bottom, which was now just a few inches away with a depth of 6’2”. I wanted to see the James Cook Museum so back into shore I went, but when I got there it was closed, so it was off to the grocery store for a few more supplies. When I returned David met me on shore for some fresh fish and chips at Cooks Landing by the fuel dock. He had made arrangements for us to get fuel and water in the morning and then we would be ready to get out of here. David had a small stern anchor out to keep us from swinging into the boat with the stern anchor, so at 9:00 tonight when the tide switches again we will have to bring in the anchor. Around 6:00 pm a guy in a giant tinny came up and said if we were still here in at 8:00 am in the morning he was going to cut us in half with his big steel boat. Just like a knife. This we didn’t understand, for there was plenty of room and depth to get around us. So this should be interesting. There is no place for us to move to. David sat in the cockpit from 9-10 waiting for the big swinging moment to bring in the anchor and watch us safely swing the other way. Well, now we can sleep for another 6 hours before we swing again. What a fun night we are having. Friday August 23rd, 2002 Latitude: 15 degrees 13 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 19 minutes 07 seconds East Cape Bedford, Queensland, Australia Traveled 15.7 Nautical miles in 3 hours At 3:30 am David’s alarm went off and we began the tidal movement watch again. By 4:30 am we had swung around back by the boat with the stern anchor so David threw ours back in water and we tried to get a few hours of sleep before we would be cut in half by the big steel boat. Around 8:30 am the steel boat started charging our way, but somehow managed to miss us by a few inches. Soon afterwards the boat that was parked on the fuel dock since we arrived moved and by 8:45 we were fueling up. Thank god the guy running the fuel dock was charming and nice or I wouldn’t have thought much of this town. We filled both water tanks, and every spare bottle and jug we had with water. We better get out of here before low tide today or we will be hitting bottom. We made one last trip into town to get the last of the items on our list. Now we should be set for several weeks at Lizard Island. By noon we were putting away the dinghy and raising the anchor. I don’t think my nerves could handle one more tide change in this river. There was plenty of wind today as we made our way out of the channel markers we put up the headsail turned off the engine and managed to maintain 6-7 knots all the way to Cape Bedford. Around 3:00 pm we were buzzed by the Australian customs coastal watch plane, who quizzed us on our details and then flew on to the next boat. By 3:10 we were anchored in the shelter of Cape Bedford in 8.2 feet of water at low tide. Being totally exhausted from our stay in Cook Town we both laid down for well-deserved rest. Saturday August 24th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Watson's Bay, Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia Traveled 33.2 Nautical miles in 5 hours While we were raising the anchor at 7:15 this morning, David saw a whale just outside the bay, I’ll take that as a good sign for a good day of sailing. We had 12-15 knots of southeast wind, clear blue and sunny sky’s. We have 30 miles to get back to Lizard Island and with all the sails up we are maintaining 7-8 knots of speed. By 12:30 we are reanchored not far from our old spot, just a little closer in the bay. The wind is sending bullets down into the anchorage so we decided to hang out on the boat this afternoon, relax and see how the boats swing. We had a very peaceful and relaxing afternoon and called it an early night so we could catch up on all that sleep we lost on the trip to Cook Town. Sunday August 25th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Watsons Bay, Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia Three years ago today David and I said our good bye to Seattle and headed out of Puget Sound. Seems hard to believe we have been gone for three years on this adventure. As we sat in the cockpit and reflected on the last three years we both agreed that it seemed like we had been gone longer then 3 years. Time seems to have taken on different kind of space now, measured in adventures and passages. While I long for the familiar faces of friends and family I do love the constant challenge of making new friends and seeing new places. I wonder how long it will be before we see our home shores again. One can never tell with the way things are in the world today. If things go according to plans, a year from now we will be somewhere in Indonesia. In the mean time we will enjoy another year in Australia, which is really starting to feel like home. I find that the Australian slang, which used to seem so funny to me, is now becoming part of my everyday speech. Traveling with the Happy Now’s this season has given us a new standard to which we measure our adventures. There is the old regular Lisa and David adventure and now there is the daring and challenging “Dudley Adventure”. Today we had a “Dudley” adventure. There is another American boat here called Rhapsodie, which has two children with lots of energy to burn. So in the company of Rhapsodie and another 13-year-old gal named Angle as our guide, we headed off on a journey to Coconut Beach. We walked the same trail to the Blue Lagoon and walked the whole distance of the beach until we came to a trail that led straight up the mountainside of Lizard Head. It was a pretty stiff climb as the trail disappeared and we were left scrambling up the vertical rocky hillside. Once we were at the top David and kids, who were ahead of the rest of us, stopped to look at a big snake! The views of the Blue Lagoon were breath taking from this height and both Captains were imagining being anchored over here on calm day. Angle is the only one who has been here before so she is leading the way. We are now working our way down the other side of Lizard Head on steep, vertical slabs of granite. What have I let this 13-year-old get me into? Next I hear her yell, “ here are the ropes” and before I knew it, we were all absailing our way down the rest of the rocky cliff. (Absailing is what they call repelling in Australian) Now that we have arrived at the lovely Coconut Beach I will try to put out of my mind how I will get back! I’m glad we have and Angle leading the way. We found respite on a washed up tree in the shade and snacked out. David took off walking the distance of the beach. I put on my snorkeling gear and headed into the water. This is the first place I’ve been able to swim without a wetsuit on and the water felt wonderful! Being that it was low tide when we arrived, I had a hard time snorkeling around the coral bommies, which I usually swim over. I still managed to see a baby shark, a bat ray and a variety of fish, including a Lion Fish. After a swim I decided I better think about heading back. David was playing with the kids in the coconut grove, peeling coconuts and watching them climb coconut trees to fetch fresh green ones down to him. David and I found a different route up the mountainside, which didn’t require us climbing back up the spindly little ropes. We finally all arrived back at the shores of Watson’s Bay just as the sun was setting. We stopped by Southwind to inform Angles parents that she was fine and on the way in the next dinghy load. They invited us aboard for a sundowner and shared some great information with us about how to survive at Lizard Island for over two months without leaving, which they have done. It was another adventerous day at Lizard Island and I suspect we will be sleeping well tonight. Monday August 26th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Watsons Bay, Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia It’s a banana day today as we await the arrival of our friends Bill and Sam on Blue Banana. We decided to rest up after the big hike yesterday and spend a leisurely day on the boat. David worked on a few nagging boat projects while I worked on a few art projects. Later this afternoon I went for a snorkel on the clam gardens, hard to believe I’m still seeing new stuff. Today’s new fish include the crocodile needlefish, emperor angle fish, foxface, flagtail triggerfish, and the funny little blue spotted yellow boxfish. At 4:30 this afternoon all the boats in the anchorage were having a get together on the beach, so we gave a final call to Blue Banana on the radio, but hearing nothing we headed to the beach to meet all the interesting characters in this anchorage. There was quite an assortment of people and snacks to be had. While we were standing on the beach we saw a boat coming around the corner just as the sun was setting, looks to be the Blue Banana! We watched them come into the anchorage and then David went out in the dinghy to fetch them in. He arrived back with just Sam for Bill wanted to stay on the boat and finish a few things up. After some fun socializing, darkness fell and we all headed back to our boats for a good night’s rest. Tuesday August 27th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Watsons Bay, Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia The wind is really picking up here, blowing a steady 20 plus knots with big bullets gusting at us down the hillsides. We spent the whole day catching up with Bill and Sam and showing them around the island. Rhapsodie left early this morning for a short trip to Cape Flattery to meet a barge that is to have groceries for them and a few other boats.  This sounds like an interesting story coming. Can’t wait to hear how that worked out. Rhapsodie was back by 1:30 pm and reportedly had most of the groceries. Being that it was blowing and cloudy all day we didn’t get in any snorkeling, but still had some fun walking the beautiful beaches. Wednesday August 28th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Watsons Bay, Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia By 9:30 we were in the dinghies with the Blue Banana’s and heading to the beach for some snorkeling. It wasn’t long and we found my old friend the turtle. Still not bothered by our presence he let us swim him for quite a long time. Sam and Karen of Rhapsodie joined us an hour later. Blue Banana Sam and I stayed in the water exploring until noon. After lunch I took Bill and Sam for a hike across the island to the Blue Lagoon. Lizard Island being famous for its monitor lizards, we were hoping to see one along the way. Bill kept saying, “I’m off to see the Lizard of OZ.”  Having not seen a lizard we laid on the beach soaking in the beautiful views. On the way back from the beach we thought we’d give the water pump a try, for the Marine Park Service is here repairing trails and things. Yea! The water pump is fixed, so Sam and I pumped out 6 gals, and gave ourselves a good rinsing as well. We were all invited over to the Rhapsodie catamaran for sundowners at 5:30 to watch the beautiful sunset until the big cruise ship hid it. Rhapsodie is a 50 something foot catamaran that has been totally customized by its owners. It’s a very beautiful boat and the most unusual feature is the piano keyboard they have under their control panels. The full size keyboard pulled out, and began playing tunes. Sam, the owner let me sit down and I managed to pull off a tune I still remembered. Wow, now that’s a first. They also have a flute and guitar on board, I guess that’s why the boat is called Rhapsodie. We had a fun night hanging out on Rhapsodie until it started pouring rain and we all realized we had hatches open. That put a quick end to the fun as we all scurried back to our boats. Thursday August 29th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Watsons Bay, Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia Wow! The wind really howled through here last night. The rigging and halyards clamoring all night long. I don’t think I ever slept for more than an hour before I was awoken by the wind. David and I went up around 3:00 am and made sure everything was brought in or tied down. The boat swung and bumped around all night and from the weather report looks to be a long day of sitting on the boat listening to the wind howl. David went to shore to climb Cook’s Look again while I stayed behind and visited with Sam.  Blue Banana has an instrument to measure wind speed and are getting gust through here today of 36 knots! While Sam was visiting the Quarantine and Marine Parks people came by in their dinghy to inform us of all the rules of the water in this part of the country and further north. So now we are well informed. This afternoon we saw the arrival of huge gray navy frigate in the outer anchorage. We didn’t give it much thought until we looked through the binoculars and saw the words CUSTOMS on the side of the boat.  By late afternoon they had deployed a dinghy and were visiting the Rhapsodie boat. Now what’s going on. Guess there’s no hiding here. We had Sam and Bill over for dinner, so while we were chatting and eating, Rhapsodie was being thrown out of the country. Apparently they are on their way to the Louisiade’s in PNG and checked out of the country in Cairns. They claim they were told by the Cairns Customs that it would be ok to stop at Lizard on their way out of the reef, and so they did. Well, the other day when they went for a grocery run to Cape Flattery they were buzzed by a customs plane and asked for their details. The customs agent that day wished them a good trip to Lizard and flew on, but today a very giant and very serious looking frigate arrived. Rhapsodie were apparently misinformed in Cairns and have been asked to leave the country immediately! They will be escorted out of the harbor tomorrow morning and I’m sure closely watched until out of Australian waters. Just goes to show you how complicated the rules are here. Seems like you get a different story from everyone you talk to. The moral of the story…… don’t mess with CUSTOMS! Friday August 30th, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Watsons Bay, Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia Another windy night here as a front blew through around 3 in the morning. After it pounded us with rain it was actually calm for a few hours. This morning around 7 am Rhapsodie lifted their anchor and headed out of the harbor. The Customs giant dinghy was in the anchorage to see them off and then customs began to visit every boat in the anchorage. It was a good hour before they made their way over to us. They requested to see our cruising permit and then gave us a stern but nicely delivered lecture on the procedures for checking out the country. I guess they didn’t want there to be anymore misunderstandings. So now we are all clear on the rules. Sam and David decided to hike the Cooks Look trail this morning while Bill and I went to shore for a short garbage walk. Later in the day we all went for a snorkel on the clam gardens and once again saw many interesting things. It’s so fun to look through my fish book everyday and be able to find something new. Friday August 31st, 2002 Latitude: 14 degrees 39 minutes 07 seconds South Longitude: 145 degrees 27 minutes 0 seconds East Watsons Bay, Lizard Island, Queensland, Australia I must be crazy! For today when David said he would take Sam and Bill to the Coconut Beach via the climb over Lizard Head, I agreed to go again! I guess it just goes to show the human minds ability to forget pain. With lunches, water and snorkeling gear packed we marched the dusty trail to the Blue Lagoon, hiked along the beach until we reached the turnoff for the rock scramble up Lizard Head. Finally at the top we rested and enjoyed the beautiful views from this lofty vantage point. Now if we could only find those ropes again with out our Angle. David and Sam opted for scrambling down the steep granite slabs to the ropes, while Bill and I found what we thought might be an easier way down. Somehow we all managed to get to the beach at around the same time. We rested in the shade of the coconut grove and had our lunch. David went off to harvest coconuts while the rest of us headed in to the water. I don’t know how we have managed to come back here once again at low tide. The water was so shallow over the coral that we could only snorkel along the edges. We saw many beautiful anemones and lots of anemone fish. Most of the fish we saw were on a smaller scale from the other snorkeling spots. Looks like we found the tropical fish nursery. Sam and I snorkeled the whole length of the coral and then went for a rest on the sugar white beach. David had collected several coconuts and was busy with his machete chopping them open to harvest the juice. Looks like pina'coladas or Thai food tonight.  By mid afternoon the squalls were marching in, so we packed it in for the hike back up the rocks. Somehow I got off the trail and found myself scrambling over boulders larger then I reach. I was ok until I looked down, then I became extremely nervous and called for my trusty guide. We eventually made it back to the shores of Watson’s Bay with just a few scratches leaking blood. We wrapped up the day watching the beautiful sunset from the cockpit of the Blue Banana.