Day 4 Motoring through the Great Barrier Reef

Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Mon 29 Jun 2015 19:21
Things have been going well so far.  We decided for a number of reasons to change our planned route.  We had originally favoured the offshore route ie going through and outside the Great Barrier Reef and into the open ocean and then re crossing the reef further north before transiting the Torres Straights.  This would have given everybody 5 days to get used to the boat under sail and, although further than the inshore route, it would have taken us no longer and been less taxing than sailing the inshore route inside the reef.
 
However, due to the delay caused by the rudder problem, we missed the weather window and the forecast was now for much lighter winds.  As we have already lost 5 days, and would lose further time if we went outside the reef with little or no wind, we decided to take the inshore route and motor rather than sail.
 
Over the past couple of days, we have seen a couple of dolphins, flying fish, fantastic sunsets and also had a visit from a customs plane low overhead asking for our details.
 
We are also making good time and should arrive at the Torres Straights around sunset on Monday.