Cairns to Lizard Island (27th August to 8th September)

Our new crew, Leapy Lynda (aka Vanuatu Survivor if you have read the BLOG on our Cora Sea Cruz from 2013), joined the boat.  After the obligatory tour around the main centre of Cairns and a swim in the Esplanade Pool we did the final stock up of diesel, gas, unleaded and fresh produce before departing for the final push north to Lizard Island.

We left Cairns Marina on the 29^th August and headed to yet another marina in the very beautiful town of Port Douglas.  We had a lovely sail up to PD and after a bit of confusion finally found our berth in Marina Mirage.  We found John and Jo from Kirra Kirra at the local pub – they are spending quite a bit of time in PD as they have a wedding to attend – not too shabby a spot for a wedding!   On Saturday (30^th), after some yoga and some more exploring, we headed to the ‘Tin Shed’ to watch the last game of the AFL home & away season between Carlton and Essendon.  Lynda and I are both quite rabid Blues supporters and the skipper just happens to be Essendon.  We normally have a bet on the game – the team that wins shouts the loser dinner and drinks.  This lead too much confusion as the game ended up in a draw so we were neither happy or sad and not sure who was buying what but think we ended up shouting each other!  After the big game we went to see the local Queensland Giant Grouper feeding which was a bit disappointing as George the Grouper failed to show however, the bar at the feeding station was doing a wonderful trade as most of the spectators were partaking in a beverage or two while enjoying the views over the inlet.

On Sunday (31^st August) we left PD and marina world.  We are very much looking forward to spending some time on the anchor.  The first stop is to Low Isles which is only about 10NM from Port Douglas and is a beautiful spot to hang out for a few days.  It is also a popular spot for the tour boats from PD so we had plenty of company during the day.  Thanks to Parks we were able to pick up a mooring which was rather nice.  We did the quick island tour – it is a very small island so it doesn’t take a long time to complete however, there is plenty of infrastructure present which includes a light house, two lighthouse keeper homes and another residence which is where we figure the caretaker resides.  There is plenty of great snorkelling around the island so we spent plenty of time in the water and Lynda got to try out her new snorkelling attire!  One of the highlights of the snorkelling was the very friendly turtles that didn’t seem to be too worried about us swimmers.  We found one that was very intent on foraging in the coral – were not quite sure what he was looking for but he didn’t seem to find it while we were watching. 

Low Isles

After a couple of nights at Low Isles we headed out to Tongue Reef for a snorkel on our way to Cape Tribulation, which was our stop for the night.  Tongue Reef was another great snorkelling spot so we spent plenty of time exploring underwater – we even pulled out the Go Pro for some more practice at underwater photography which turned out not too shabby even if I do say so myself.  We arrived at Cape Tribulation late in the afternoon but had enough time for a quick shore party.  It is definitely the spot where the jungle meets the sea as the rain forest comes right down to the beach.  Luckily we are in a patch of calm weather so the night at Cape Trib. was pleasant – it is not a common anchorage in these parts due to the prevailing strong trade winds that persist in this region.

Enjoying East Hope Island

On the morning of the 3^rd September we departed from Cape Trib. to Hope Islands which is to be our home for the next couple of nights.  The entry from the south into East Hope is a bit interesting as there are a few bommies to avoid however, once into the anchorage we were lucky enough to have our choice of two moorings to pick up.  There is plenty of bird life on East Hope and also plenty to see under the water so we had plenty to keep us entertained for our stay.  We were also joined in the anchorage by the MY Lauriana who were very kind to share some of their excellent homemade brew!



Cairn Reef

As we have some good weather forecast, and as we are not ones not to miss an opportunity, we decide to head over to Cairns Reef on the morning of the 5^th September for the next two nights.  Not many people go to Cairns Reef as it is in the shape of a big U and it is around 8NM from the entrance upwind to the head of the reef where the best anchorage is located.  We were glad we made the effort as we again enjoyed some excellent snorkelling and were lucky enough to have several Manta Rays lingering around the boat for much of our stay.  We also went for a shore party during low tide and saw a plethora of wild life in the shallows including huge fish (have no idea as to what type), plenty of turtles and quite a number of small Black Tipped Reef Sharks that seemed very interested in my feet while I was towing the dinghy along behind. 

After our excellent adventures at Cairns Reef we are up early on the morning of the7th as we have a long day ahead to reach Cape Flattery which is around 52NM.  It is a great day for a sail with around 20knts blowing from behind as is standard in these latitudes.  We made good time and arrived at Cape Flattery at 17:00H.  Cape Flattery is apparently the site for the largest Silica Mine in the world so there is plenty going on ashore and it made a good anchorage for the night before the last leg of our trip north to Lizard Island.

As the weather is still being kind to us we decide rather than heading straight to Lizard we might take a detour out to the outer reef.  We were hoping to stop in at the Cod Hole however, when we arrived we found that the public moorings were not there anymore - we think as a result of cyclone Ita that went through earlier this year, and there was already a large dive boat in the anchorage so we didn’t feel all that comfortable so decided to head over to the nearby Cormorant Reef for an explore.   As we were not familiar with the reef we decided to anchor in the deep water on the western side of the reef rather than going in to the shallower water however, we had a couple of fantastic snorkels on the nearby bommies.  Mark reckons we had around 40mts visibility underwater and the diversity of fish and coral was amazing.  The fish are also huge which was great to see and they certainly showed no signs of any fear sharing their waters with us humans.

The Table of Knowledge with Bill and Sue

It was a bit hard to leave the outer reef but as we wanted to arrive at Lizard Island by dark we up anchored at 3pm and headed to LI.  Getting the anchor up wasn’t quite as easy as it should have been as we kind of hooked the chain on a bit of coral but after a bit of mucking around we finally freed ourselves and headed off.  We arrived at Lizard Island around 17:00h and were pleased to hear the dulcet tones of Bill from Dilligaf on VHF welcoming us into the anchorage and also inviting us into the beach for sundowners so it was quickly down with the anchor, drop the dinghy and on our way to the beach before you know it.  It was great to catch up with the Dilligaf’s again especially as they are heading south tomorrow!  We also met up with our old friends Ann and Col from Annacol who have been here for around 7weeks – obviously they really like it here! 

Sunset at LI

Our position at LI is 14^o 39’.607S 145^o 27’.114E which is as far north as our travels will take us this season – it is all south from here on in with the main land on the starboard side!

Will report on our time at LI in the next BLOG



LI Resort - Post 'Ita'