Start Loc: Port Douglas (16o 29.61'S, 145o 27.54'E)
Narrative: Unfortunately we didn't find a crocodile, which the kids were very disappointed about. I told them we would have to pull out the crocodile photos from when we did a Daintree River cruise a few years ago, but they don't remember it so apparently it doesn't cut it. We did achieve everything else we needed to though, including 100m of 60lb line and a new lure. Once we finish the spanish mackerel we will start trolling again.
We raised the anchor this morning at 8:03am and moved the short distance to the fuel wharf. We topped up the diesel tank, got 20L of ULP and filled up the forward water tank.
Refuelled: 34.70L @ 149.9c/L = $52.02
Economy since 13 Nov: 34.70L for 19 hr 54 min = 1.74L/hr
Economy overall: 424.97L for 224 hr 39 min = 1.89L/hr
We departed the fuel wharf at 8:40am and motored out of Port Douglas. The forecast was for winds E/SE at 15-20kts. We were hoping for more E than SE, and around 15kts. As we rounded Island Point, what we got was SE winds at 10kts; perfectly what we didn't want for our SE course. We motored SE for a bit to down near Wentworth Reef, then raised the sails and sailed close hauled ENE to take us out to sea. That then allowed us to tack and sail SSW for a while back in to the coast. The winds for this few hours stayed SE at 10kts, and we maintained 5kts over ground.
I decided it was then time to lower the sails, start the engine and power in the right direction to keep the miles ticking over, so we didn't get into Cairns as late as we got to Port Douglas. Once down near Double Island, the wind had swung more E, so we sailed NE for a bit to take us away from the coast. We then sailed south to the channel into Cairns. The wind picked up to 20kts during this leg, so we put a reef in the main and reduced head sail. We were secure in our berth t the marina by 5:00pm.
Port Douglas to Cairns by the rhumb line is about 37nm, but we had to cover 47nm. We averaged 5kts over ground.
The last thing we did was take the main sail off so we can take it in and get a sailmaker to do some preventative maintenance for us. It took us nearly an hour to do as we had to unthread the reefing lines and take the boom bag off to get the main off.
End Loc: Cairns (16o 55.15'S, 145o 46.87'E)
Distance run: 47nm (cumulative: 2016nm)
Engine hours: 4 hr, 03 min (cumulative: 33 hr, 15 min)