Wednesday 1 July 2009

Australias Most Northern Point





With Sloop steering us safely out of the Escape River, we turned north and headed for Albany passage, as yet there was no sign of the tide turning… I’m still hoping my calculations are correct. Si caught a 6kg Albacore which kept him busy for the next hour. By the time he was finished there were clear signs of the seas abating and the tide turning and the sun has come out – yeah!

We had a lovely quiet sail through the passage with the tide carrying us along, headsail only at over 7 knots. Next was the tricky bit – we had decided to sail between Cape York and York Island. This narrow channel has us hugging Cape York to avoid a reef. In such a tricky manoeuvre, all hands were on deck at the ready… eating sashimi with soy and wasabi that is!


We coasted past Australia’s most northern point, much to the surprise of tourist ashore. They started yelling and waving and needing no encouragement, I was jumping up and down on deck screaming and waving back! Safely anchored, we made plans with the other boats in the bay (of the 12 rounding the Cape only us and one other passed between York Island) to walk up to the Cape.
At the Cape we celebrated waving Aussie flags, singing the anthem and sharing a drink. We had saved a homebrew which was a gift from Don off Amatuana for such an occasion. It was a memorable day shared with some great cruisers.


2 comments:

Amanda said...

Sounds amazing, guys. I always check out Google maps to see where yo are - can't believe how close PNG was to you!

Anonymous said...

Well done. Might even beat basking in the sun on a Samoan beach. The next best greatest place in the world.