Cairns to Low Islets

Our current position is: 16º 22' 773S  145º 33' 646E

We lifted anchor at about 8:20 this morning to head down the long straight runway out of Cairns on our way to Low Islets just a day hop away.  With all the forecasts proclaiming strong wind advisories, we were expecting a brisk quick run but... well, we started off with zero wind, nada, nothing, not an inkling of a zepher.  At least the weather forecasts are consistent - they're ALWAYS wrong.

However, a decent downwind breeze arrived by midday so we were able to pole out and cruise along at around 5 knots, not getting us to our destination quite as early as we'd hoped, but it was a fairly pleasant day's outing.  On the positive side, we were able to make sufficient water while motoring to fill our tanks again.

The Low Islets is a very pretty spot and thanks to the Parks authorities, we have mooring balls again! The first things we saw after hooking up was some rather large, in fact make that very large, spade fish who came around to investigate.  At long last, it looks as though we've arrived in the tropics.

 

Despite this being a place where we could happily park off for a few days, we've decided we'll carry on northwards for another few days with the promise of good diving once we get to Lizard Island.  So, we simply enjoyed the ambiance while watching the sun set with our drinks in our hands.  Can't complain about that!

 

This shot of our navigation systems gives some idea of the reefs and islands inside the Great Barrier Reef where we're working our way northwards.

 

PS:  During our brief stay in Cairns, our neighbour was Octopus, a 414-foot megayacht owned by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft.  It sports two helicopters, one on the bow, the other at the stern, a 63-foot tender (that's 20-foot longer than our entire boat!) as well as another 5 or 6 tenders of varying sizes, jet skis, a pool, and not one but two, submarines; one which is unmanned for sea explorations.  I can't even contemplate what their fuel bill would be like let alone the staff to run all of this.