Port Douglas and Hope Island

Well Jonathans visit to Far North Queensland has ended and he has returned back to the blustery cold south. He sailed with us for 2 weeks and we had a wonderful time visiting some beautiful islands and ending up in Port Douglas. Roger and I hadn't been here for a few years but Jonathan had no recollection of his previous visits so all seemed new and interesting to him. He was able to consolidate his scuba diving with 6 dives over a couple of trips to the reef, by his account it was great! It was strange not having Nick along for the journey and we recalled the last time we had a holiday with just one son, this was before Nicks birth over 21 years ago! We missed him and thought of him often.

Port Douglas had changed and grown with more apartments and restaurants than before and also some larger national chain shops which I felt changed the character of the place. In some ways I like to get away from these but everyone is different. The beach was as lovely as ever and Roger and I enjoyed some long walks as a way of justifying the cappuccinos afterwards! It was good great to return and seeing our old apartment on Maccrossan Street brought back some good memories. We couldn't help but compare our exchanging solid bricks and mortar for a yacht floating in the nearby marina!

The marina was interesting!! We had to enter Dickson Inlet on a high tide to give us enough draft under the keel. No problem. We moored up in our allocated pen within the marina and immediately realised that with a low tide we would be touching the bottom! I high tailed it up to the office only to be told that it was silt and that most boats “floated” in the mud suspension! We remained unconvinced and in fact rested on the bottom on several occasions! It appears that the area is due to be dredged but environmentalists, marina operators and politicians can't get their acts together so nothing is being done. We have subsequently learnt that the whole marina is going to be refurbished/replaced in 18 months time so that it can accommodate Super Yachts. All that came to mind was that it would need to be somewhat deeper under their keels!

We spent an interesting few hours motoring up Dickson Creek, to find it went on much further than we had time or petrol in the tender for. The mangrove lined water was home to a few more yachts, some in no state to move, and I gather a fair number of crocs! We confirmed this much to Anne's anxiety! The tender didn't offer Anne the security she needed with the croc only 10 metres away.

Well we have now left Port Douglas and set off northwards again! The skies are blue the breeze still from the south east at a gentle 10 to 15 knots and the water flat like a lake. The verdant green rainforest tumbles in folds down the slopes of the coastal mountain range falling into the blue seas. High peeked and quite spectacular. We have sailed 40nm to Hope Islands. These islands were spotted by Capt. Cooke on his discovery voyage to Australia and caused him to make the fateful decision to turn out to sea in search of an outer reef channel. He subsequently and almost catastrophically ran aground on what is known as The Endeavour Reef.

The two islands are different. The first a beautiful white coral cay and the other a mangrove covered reef, both are surrounded by an extensive reef structure which becomes visible at low tide. Lots of bird life and ? resident crocs! We were told by some friendly yachties from a few other boats that they weren't a real threat but the sign on the beach seemed to tell a different story! It made me wonder how real it has to be! Roger of course takes no notice of warnings and signs and plunged in for a swim. He didn't stay in for too long though so perhaps not quite so brave as he makes out! He's thankfully still here!

It is spectacular to see the change with the tide and enormous reefs become exposed at low tide. We were glad we came in at low tide yesterday, because in the wrong light at high tide we would have run straight into the reef! The reef here is so close to the mainland.

We are still failing at the fishing, but to be honest we haven't tried as hard as we could. Two lures lost, at least we have had some bites. The wildlife is beautiful, here there is a large group of reef egrets, pelicans, turtles, sea eagles and moray eels. The sunset tonight was different but as spectacular as ever [more photos!].

Whilst on the beach this morning we came across “Wilson” from the movie Castaway. We can report that he is alive and well enjoying all that Hope Island has to offer!

Well from here we travel to Cooktown for a couple of days and then onto Lizard Island where we will stop heading north and contemplate our return journey!

Anne