Lizard Island Day 5
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sun 29 Sep 2024 04:03
Wind: SE , F4 - modrate breeze
Sea: rippled Swell: nil
Weather: sunny, warm
Yesterday morning I woke up to my Daimon trying to shout down the quiet whisperings of the Lotus-eaters, telling me I should press on, that my purpose was to follow the adventurous path, not the easy path. So I broke out the books and charts once more to reconsider continuing north but in the end I have confirmed my decision to return south. Apart from the risk of cyclones, a not insignificant consideration, there are two main reason for my reluctance to continue on.
The first is that I believe the best strategy for mitigating the danger of cyclones is to wait out the cyclone season in the Darwin area as the port authority has an extensive well-thought out cyclone management plan. This in turn would mean sitting in Darwin during the wet season for some five months and I reckon I would find such a long wait in the hot, humid and wet weather to be exhausting and quite likely bad for my health, and Sylph's health for that matter. The second reason is that no matter what time of year I chose to head down the west coast of Australia we would inevitably encounter near continuous strong headwinds for many hundreds of miles, which would stress the crew, especially Oli, and Sylph's rig.
While it would be nice to visit some of west Australia's beautiful coastline, in particular the Kimberlies, I have visited most of the coast in the past in my Navy time, both on warships and as CO of STS Young Endeavour. In particular I recall from my posting on YE just how tough the west coast can be for a sailing vessel, the recollection of which totally diminishes any desire to repeat the experience in a much smaller sailing vessel with a crew of one (sorry Oli, two). At this stage of my sailing career I tell myself I have nothing to prove, that I need only undertake challenges which I feel wholly committed to. It would seem circumnavigating Australia is not one of them.
So here we remain with my resolve to return south strengthened, despite the protests of my Daimon. Meanwhile I fill my time with the odd walk ashore, a short daily swim over the side (crocodiles have been sighted in the area), reading, watching some old movies, and a little bit of socialising (the resort's Marlin Bar is open to visitors on Fridays and Tuesdays).
I look forward to the winds easing so that we can get sailing again.
All is well.