Start Loc: Dickson Inlet, Port Douglas (16o 29.63'S, 145o 27.47'E)
Narrative: The kids and I took the dinghy up the creek a bit this morning, and saw a total of four sunken boats. They were all in various states of salvage, but one still had both masts, anchor and chain, etc. I assume a couple at least are victims of Cyclone Yasi, but we are amazed the hulls are allowed to remain where they are.
We raised the anchor at 9:45am and moved down stream to the marina. On the way, we filled up fuel just south of the marina where the trawlers berth and refuel. Given we refuelled in Cairns five days ago and have not used the engine that much since then we did not need fuel, but as we are getting more remote I will top up when I get the chance. Keeping the tank as full as possible will also help keep moisture out as the weather gets more and more humid.
Refuelled: 15.02L @ 143.8c/L = $21.60
Economy since 08 Nov: 15.02L for 9 hr 18 min = 1.62L/hr
Economy overall: 390.27L for 204 hr 45 min = 1.91L/hr
We came into the marina just before 11:30am and found our allocated berth (A22) no dramas, but the boat in A21 had his dinghy in our berth. A19 and A20 were free, so we tied up in A20 as we were set up for a starboard tie up. Heather went to check in and the bloke in the marina office said he thought the boat from A20 had just gone out for the day, and asked us to move to A18. Heather came back, and we noted there was a boat in A18 as well. Heather went back to the marina office but it was locked up; still business hours but he must have gone out and about. We decided he didn't know what was where in his marina and that we weren't going to wait for him to reappear, so we headed out.
We went to the Sunday markets and had a look around before getting some lunch. After lunch we headed back to near the marina and went for a ride on the historic Ballyhooly steam railway, which the kids loved. We finally found the marina bloke and he told us to stay where we were, which was good as we had no intention of moving.
We rounded off the afternoon with milkshakes for the kids, a couple of beers for me and cocktails for Heather, accompanied by some tapas, at a bar overlooking the marina. Another hard day ...
End Loc: Meridian Marina, Port Douglas (16o 29.15'S, 145o 27.62'E)
Distance run: 1nm (cumulative: 1682nm)
Engine hours: 0 hr, 33 min (cumulative: 9 hr, 18 min)