Getting to Thursday island

It's a long, empty haul from Lizard island to the top of Australia. There's pretty much no towns along this stretch of water and Telstra, the cell company, doesn't waste any money on installing any cell towers. So we've been out of touch. From where we started south of Brisbane, Gold Coast, to where we've ended, here in Thursday Island, it is about 1,200 nm.  This area is heavily guarded by the Australian Border Force. Aussies seem to have a morbid fear of immigrants arriving by boat. We were buzzed at strafing altitude by this ABF plan. He then had us get on the VHF radio to give him details. The radio operator said to me "I see you are registered in Seattle from your stern". I said back to him, "Looks like you have a rally good lenses on that thing". His response was "Yes, I see it was a quarter past three on your wristwatch". Nothing a like humor from the military.

The stops along the way were relatively uninspiring (Flinders Island, Morris Island, Margaret Bay, Escape River and Mount Aldolphus Island). Above is Restitution Island, near Cape Grenville. It was named by Capt Bligh of the Bounty mutiny fame. This guy was an absolutely amazing navigator and if you read other sides of the mutiny story, a good and fair captain. Navigating a boat through these reefs systems while making charts all along the way was definitely a feat of a true iron man.  Bligh named Restitution Island for the rest he finally gave his men when they arrived in the open boat they had been set adrift in from Tonga. Bligh thought it would be a good spot to get some oysters, stock up on some water and hopefully not get attacked by the Aboriginals. 

This is Sunday Island in the early morning as we leave Margaret Bay on a Sunday. (That's an 800 foot tanker on the horizon-- travelling inside the Great Barrier Reef). Bligh stopped here on Sunday. This was a good sign as we were heading for Thursday Island.

The route inside the Great Barrier Ref is a major shipping lane. The depths in the winding shipping lanes are adequate for large cargo ships. Navigation lights allow the ships to weave among the reefs. To maintain the lights in this remote region each major light has an attached helicopter platform.

The weather on the northern end of the rip was rambunctious, with the entry and exit from the Escape River anchorage a little trying. We exited the Escape River in the morning motoring into 30-35kts of wind and 4 foot seas as we pasted the bar. Once outside into deep water Chris said she was going down below to tremble for awhile. The 56ft German boat above, Frenweh 3, followed us out over the bar.

Next stop, anchoring at Horn Island just across the cut from Thursday Island. TI is the administrative center of  the Torres Strait Islands and where we will clear out of Australia.

Paul