16.56S 146.03E  Thursday 4^th September  Dawn has broken on a damp cloudy dark and miserable night in which no less than three ships emerged from the gloom doing over 21 knots and heading towards us,  so amalgamated with our 7 knots to close the distance there was not so much time between a sighting and potential curtains!  The new alarm worked perfectly, which was a comfort, although each vessel was spotted before the siren went off. One on a direct collision course responded to our VHF call immediately and altered route, one sped by with no danger involved and the third ignored our call so we took evasive action. I took to sitting cross legged on the companionway hatch cover to get out of the rain and peer into the night. 

Today is a glorious, hot, sunny tropical day!  We have arrived in Port Douglas as Cairns is a no no as it has a virulent mussel which would necessitate our being quarantined and lifted out of the water when we reach Darwin.  We plan to spend two nights here before heading off again up the coast…..the original plan was to surprise the Zippies who were destined for ‘Yorkeys Knob’ and being much faster than us would have arrived there today……but in a brief 1800hrs SSB conversation with them last night they explained they had been further delayed and are sadly having a bucket load of grief.

A whale’s tale……..

Entrance to Port Douglas – Mirage Marina

Live aboards up the estuary

We love it here – it is pretty with all the shops we need including a chandlers (Mackay didn’t have one).  We have only been here an hour but already have a Perkins diagnostic mechanic on board – tomorrow we will follow up on the gas regulator, iridium top up, diesel refill, washing and supermarket shopping.