I do a series of day sails in not very nice weather stopping each night. Most of the anchorages are uncomfortable with the easterly trade wind swell reaching around and into almost every bay. This is part of the problem of sailing here. Winds of 25 and 30 knots are fine. But they come, mainly, from the south and kick up a short sharp wave of one metre. This runs at right angles to the easterly trade wind swell, also of one metre. The result is a very uncomfortable ride which is ver hard on the steering.

Sailing here needs a constant lookout. There is something to bump into every few miles and whist they may be nice to look at in the sunshine the rest of the time these little islands are only a hassard. How Joshua Slocum handled this without GPS is beyond me.

So north to Orpheus Island, passing the Lucinda Point Jetty where the conveyor belt is three miles long. You can see it on the Google Earth map above. The man who makes conveyor belts in Queensland must be very rich. Then Dunk Island with a resort and then a 61 mile run to Fitzroy, yet another resort; and into the peace and quiet of Cairns. I cannot say that the last few days have been nice sailing; infact the short 15 mile run from Fitzroy to Cairns was nothing short of horrible. Very confused sea outside and "bullets" of fierce wind in the river, all combined with some nice driving rain.

Because of weather I have missed the Whitsundays but there is lots more to see here. Cairns really is the best base for Great Barrier Reef exploration. The city itself is modern and beauitful and loads of people on my rally are already here. First party on Tuesday...