Start Loc: Hope Islands (15o 43.84'S, 145o 27.37'E)
Narrative: What a long and slow day. We raised the anchor at 8:45am, picked our way through the coral and motored down the passage between the two islands. Once clear of all obstacles we had a look at raising sails. The winds were SE at around 15kts, whipping up seas of 2m. Unfortunately our course was SSE. We tried motor sailing to assist us so close to the wind, but the head sail was just flapping. We ended up dropping all sail, accepting that we would chew some fuel today, and motoring with the wind and waves virtually right on the nose. The 2m waves were also close together and the frequency meant even at 3kts we were coming down hard too often. Heather normally hates sailing close hauled, but in this case suggested it. We came off the wind to the east, winched on both sails nice and tight, and started our zigzag south.
We slowly beat our way south, sometimes with the motor to assist, always close hauled, and generally making about 5kts over ground. It was not much fun. Fortunately from about 3:00pm the wind started to switch more ESE, still at 10-15kts, and seas settled to 1-1.5m. Relatively it was much better and at least we were able to sail unassisted by the motor and make 6kts or so over ground.
We sailed through Penguin Channel between Cape Kimberley ans Snapper Island. As we passed the east end of the island we noticed a vacant public mooring buoy. We were tempted to take it up and spend the night there, but decided it was too exposed and that we would continue the 11nm or so into Port Douglas. It was actually a pleasant sail across the bay, as the sun went down and the day cooled off. We did this final stretch sailing between close hauled and a close reach, making about 6kts over ground. Seas were now only about 1m and I started to relax.
We entered the channel at 8:13pm, motored upstream, and anchored in the east-west stretch of Dickson Inlet at 8:25pm. We completed our post-sailing routine, mozzie proofed the boat, had a quick dinner (the kids had cereal, Heather had crackers, but I had mackerel mi goreng noodles) and packed the kids off to bed.
Hope Islands to Port Douglas by the rhumb line is about 48nm. We covered 60nm to get there, and took longer than planned(8-9 hours became almost 12 hours!).
We will relax here tomorrow; get some essential groceries to tide us over until Cairns (milk, bread, etc), get some more fishing line and lures, and search for a crocodile.
End Loc: Port Douglas (16o 29.61'S, 145o 27.54'E)
Distance run: 60nm (cumulative: 1969nm)
Engine hours: 3 hr, 15 min (cumulative: 29 hr, 12 min)