SV True North

 The first passage from Cairns was a short one to Fitzroy Island.  It was quite windy with wind speeds between 25 to 32 knots.  The waves were about 2 metres but steep and close together making the passage a bit rough.  When we arrived at Fitzroy it was difficult to find a good spot in the anchorage.  The waves and currents wrap around the island and then cross the anchorage from both directions.  This means the boat swings around the anchor constantly and waves roll in from both directions.  We hunted around for a spot as close to shore as possible with room to swing on anchor and reasonably shallow without being too close to the coral reef.  The spot we chose was as good as any but for the duration of our stay the waves and currents caused us to rock and listen to the waves slapping the hull. Another yachtie friend from the past, Alec was anchored nearby and we had a good time catching up over the two days we stayed.  We hiked the trails to...

 We stayed at Mackay Reef for the morning to snorkel on the reef.  It was an excellent reef with great coral cover and variety and lots of fish species.  The water was clear and warm so we spent most of the morning exploring the extensive reef.  We returned to True North and had lunch before heading off to Low Islets. The passage to Low Islets was easy since we could make it in one close-hauled tack.  Unfortunately the wind was a little light so we motor sailed in order to arrive with plenty of light left.  As we arrived, a motorboat cast off from one of the public moorings so we grabbed it.  It’s the third day in a row we have been able to pickup a public mooring instead of anchoring. Low Islets has one small island with a lighthouse and a larger island to the east.  It is well protected but also very busy with tourist boats from Port Douglas is is only a few miles away.  We watched a steady stream of tourist boats go back to shore at the en...

We departed Lizard Island and had a single long tack into Cooktown.  We were still hard on the wind and had to beat into large waves and 30 knot winds during the passage.  The Cooktown harbour is very protected so the water was calm as soon as we entered the approach channel.  The harbour has a sandbar just inside the entrance but I had calculated the tide was rising and should be just high enough so we could get into the deeper anchorage area past the sandbar.  We came over the bar slowly, made it with a few inches to spare and were soon securely anchored. Cooktown Harbour - True North is the ship furthest to the back of the photo The next day we visited the Saturday market then did some grocery shopping.  We went to town to have fish and chips from the small kiosk by the dock for dinner.  The following morning we hiked up to the Cook Lookout at the top of the grassy knoll.  It is a steep climb but we made it without problems.  The picture of the...

 On September 30, 2021, I departed from Lizard Island to head south to Tasmania and beginning the circumnavigation of the Australian continent.  Yesterday, September 10, 2023 we arrived in the Lizard Island anchorage at 17:45 to complete the trip. The circumnavigation was over two calendar years however I was back in Canada for 8 months of that time and then in the Mandurah marina in West Australia for another 4 months waiting for the end of the cyclone season before continuing the trip.  The actual sailing time for the trip was about 1 year. There were a number of crew members on True North for segments of the trip.  Christine was aboard during the 2021 trip when we visited Lizard Island and went as far south as Mooloolaba, Queensland before departing. Christine and me enjoying the sunset at Yanks Jetty, Orpheus Island, Queensland I sailed solo south to Pittwater, a northern suburb of Sydney where yachties and good friends John and Kay joined True North to sail to T...

 Our passage from Flinders Island to Ingram took over 14 hours.  We had to beat into the wind all the way and had to tack down a narrow channel between the mainland and many reefs.  All was going well until we came out of the narrow channel and headed east towards Ingram Island.  The tide had changed and we encountered a very strong current trying to push us back up the channel we just came down.  Additionally the current was opposite the wave direction causing us to be sailing directly into very steep waves.  After fighting the current and waves for a bit, we gave up and started the engine to complete our passage to Ingram Island.  We arrived at about 20:30 which was well after dark.  We could not see the island or fringing reef but had to reply on the charts and depth sounder to determine where and when to drop the anchor.  The wind was blowing 25+ knots but we were able to anchor safely partially behind the island but still protected by th...

 We departed our Escape River Turtle Head Island anchorage at around 07:00 and headed offshore for Boydong Island.  Unfortunately the wind direction would not allow us to sail directly to the island and the maze of reefs offshore prevented us from tacking under sail easily.  We motored south to a point where we were able to turn east and head for our destination sailing close hauled into the southeast wind.  The motoring was slow and bouncy going directly into the waves but the sail out to the island was very pleasant nd we arrived at mid afternoon. Anchoring at Boydong Island turned out to be tricky.  The water was very deep at around 70 feet almost right to shore where the reef was suddenly only a few feet deep.  We finally anchored in about 50 feet of water and after letting our about 200 feet of anchor chain we ended up in over 70 feet depth.  The extensive reef to the south gave us great protection from the waves and the sand bottom provided good ...

 We arrived at Cape York by 10:00, anchored on the west side of the very tip of the cape and took the dinghy ashore to explore the most northerly spot on the Australian mainland. Cape York - the end of the trail Cape York seen from the Torres Straight  I was surprised to find that there were a lot of tourists at the cape.  It is a difficult and long 4-wheel drive on rough dirt roads to reach the tip of Cape York but it seems many people of all ages make the trek.  There were quite a few groups of motorcyclists along with the 4-wheel crowd. We walked the beach trail to the tip of the cape and then returned back on an upper trail which took us to the car park.  Along the way there was a sign showing the distance to various locations around the world.  I noticed that True North on the sign did not point to the correct position to True North anchored out off the point😊. I estimate I’m about 14,500km from home After our hike, we returned to True North to contin...

We finally had a day off to sleep in.  After getting up about 08:00, I made waffles with fresh fruit and maple syrup for our breakfast.  They were delicious.  Next we decided to go into town for a coffee at their only coffee shop and then go to pickup a few more groceries.  The coffee shop was run by a nice Brazilian lady who also is an artist.  We browsed the art shop while our coffee were made and then moved outside to the veranda to enjoy them.  The shop is in a caravan park so several of the “grey nomads” were having coffee on the veranda as well.  We ended up spending the whole day chatting with Simone, the shop owner and several of the caravan people.   Simone, KS and me at the coffeehouse / art gallery It was time for dinner when we left the coffeehouse so we headed to the caravan park kiosk which is the only place in town that serves as a restaurant.  We had fish and chips which KS thought were very good but I felt were rather ordinar...