Yorkeys Knob - near Cairns‏

Well here we are at Yorkeys again. We left Lizard in 20-25 knot SSE winds (it always seems to blow that up there!) We headed East around the Island to get a better run with the wind. We managed to get a bit of wind in the sails and had the headsail half out (one reef in the main) and motor sailed to Cape Bedford. It was pretty rough - Rosie threw up once. Managed around 6 knots - left at 7.00 and got in at 1.30. We dragged anchor twice so ended up staying where we ended up!!! Pretty shallow in there.

Left Bedford at 7.50 and headed for Hope Island. Put the autopilot on and headed with a bit of wind as far as we could and then had to beat directly into it to get to Hope Island. rough old trip - plenty of water over the sides. Got to Hope at 3.30 and managed to pick up the only buoy there (there should have been two). Stayed two nights - recovery time!! Autohelm proving its worth!!

Left Hope heading for Low and did a 10 hour day. Copped a beauty over the port side which neither of us saw coming!!! Washed the cushions off the back - I was sitting on the opposite side and I also got soaked!! Have harnesses on the dogs - were glad they werent sitting on the cushions!! A 30cm wall of water coming down the decks is a lot of water with a lot of force. really need to tie things down well on the deck Got into Low and knew the weather was improving on Tuesday but we really dont like the Low so left in 20-25 knots again to make the run to Yorkeys. Got in around 2.00 on sunday. They gave us a berth which is huge - meant for two cats and we thought beauty this should be easy - not!!!!! Peter is really good now at getting in and out of small spaces and Yorkeys is a tight marina. But given plenty of space he doesnt have a reference point so cut the corner badly and seeing as how I am not an olympic long jumper I couldnt get off! So he reversed out and cut the corner even more - by this stage we are almost sideways! Reverses out and almost takes out the Bavaria as we go. All the brooms were tied down so they wouldnt go over the side so managed to find some sort of stick which promptly broke so we are both pushing and just managed to get back out past it. Third time lucky and we managed to get in ok. Who would have thought!!!

The dogs are loving the walks though it is extremely hot and they run up and down chasing the fish which swim up and down. Have the shade cover over the top and the fan in our bedroom. Staying here at least a week - doing some work on the boat and will have to reprovision up - getting the hang of that and the fridge and freezer are great so we have pretty much been able to keep up with our fresh vegies. Hoping also to get Rosie clipped here - she has got a bit out of control.

Of course today the sea is like glass - would have been a very comfortable motor down but we are pleased to be here. And pleased to be heading south although Thursday is forecast to be 25 - 30 all the way up the coast. We can island hop for a while from here so will wait for the good weather and hopefully provision up well enough that we can stay out of the marinas for a while.

Peter has lost heaps of weight - I havent and today he looks like Prince Valiant!!! Usually he looks like Doc (out of the future) but a nice shower and shampoo!!! I am tying my hair in a pony tail and Peter's isnt far off it!!!!


Dell and Peter
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