We had heard that Lizard Island is a beautiful place and again we were not disappointed. The island itself is a bit bare at the moment as a consequence of a number of cyclones that stripped off the vegetation. As with most of the other resort islands that we visited, the resort here has also been severely damaged by the cyclones and is currently being re-built by a troop of builders who are being accommodated in a tent city at the back of the resort. The first night there (July 10th), all the cruisers gathered on the beach for drinks at sunset and there was a huge turnout. We very much enjoyed catching up with the others while we watched the sunset. The next day, we walked across to the other side and then around the island in the morning and then snorkelled in the afternoon- saw lots of fish of different varieties and colours, and also many coloured clams, some of which were very large.

For the seven days after we left Lizard Island, we had perfect sailing conditions, and boy did we lap it up. Lovely sunny days with the wind coming from the right direction and good strength. The routine was also fairly consistent- up relatively early, weigh anchor and get going, then have breakfast on the way. Check in on the HF radio net at 9am and catch up on where everyone is headed, followed by morning tea. Then either do my exercises (yes – on the boat), do a bit of boat housework, lunch, some reading, listen to the VHF radio chit chat between the other boats, enjoy the sailing, and before we know it we have arrived at the night’s anchorage. There is a group of about 12 boats that are keeping the same pace as us, and each day there is a line of us all with our sails set in a similar fashion looking like soldiers marching along. Highlights of this stretch have included a beautiful early morning start from Lizard Island under a starry sky with a sliver of moon (and no jumper needed!), dugong spotting on a very calm night in Ninnian Bay, a pretty sail through Owen Passage, an interesting stop at Morris Island which was barely there (very small and very low island) and yet was a very secure anchorage, a prawn feast with some new found French friends, finding phone and internet reception as we passed Lochardt River, a walk on Cape Grenville feeling very remote, and harvesting oysters and coconuts, and a final stop in Escape River. This stretch of the Queensland coast is not renown for flat calm anchorages and most of the recommended ones can be very rolly but we have been fairly fortunate on that score.
After this lovely run, we had one more leg from Escape River to Horn/Thursday Island. This was a more boisterous sail, but still enjoyable, during which we sailed past Cape York and congratulated ourselves on now having sailed around the most southerly, eastern and northerly points of Australia (excluding the various territories and outlying posts).

Our time at Horn and Thursday Islands (across the channel from each other) has been spent socialising and catching up with others that we have not seen since leaving Lizard, crocodile spotting, and of course preparing for departure from Australia and the sail to Indonesia, involving the usual re-fuelling, topping up water, washing and shopping. I have also cooked up a batch of meals to see us through the four day passage to Indonesia. Tomorrow we will do the final shopping, and clear customs and immigration, and then on Wednesday we will depart for Indonesia. We expect to arrive at Debut in the Kei (or Kai) islands on July 26th and will be there until 29th July. Once we arrive we should be able to activate our Indonesian sim card for the phone but won’t have internet access for a few days, so no blog updates for a little while.

Thanks again to everyone for your comments and encouragement- it is wonderful to receive these messages while we are away from friends, family and home.