Cooktown - The end of the strong winds for now

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 harbour above was taken from the lookout.

Cooks Lookout - Captain Cook used this spot to search for a path out of the maze of reefs to the open ocean.  The Endeavour had hit Endeavour Reef and was lucky to survive after throwing overboard every heavy item they could get loose.  The sailed downwind up the coast and found the Endeavour River (Cooktown) where they entered the harbour, beached the ship and repaired the holes over several weeks.  From the lookout, Cook saw some open water to the north near Cape Flattery.  Unfortunately when they headed to the Cape they found that it had only flattered their hopes and reefs continued to block their escape to the north.  Cook took their small boat the headed east to Lizard Island where he climbed the Cooks Look hill and discovered a path out of the reefs to the East.

From the Cooktown lookout we followed another trail which took us to two beaches to the south and then back inland to the Cooktown Botanical Garden.  We had a delicious late lunch of beef curry at the Botanical Garden restaurant and then walked back to town.

The next day we spent doing chores on True North and headed to town for a final night dinner.  Unfortunately it was Monday night and most of the restaurants were closed.  We ended up eating at the Sovereign Resort Hotel where we had stayed on our previous trip with my parents and Andrew.  During dinner a torrential rain came down making our covered balcony seating tenuous but survivable.

KS having dinner during the rain storm

We departed Cooktown early the next morning on the rising tide headed for Hope Island.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Russell

Image
 It was finally time to head to civilisation and leave the islands behind for a few days.  We sailed the short distance to Russell where we could find good shelter from a forecast strong wind.  We dropped anchor outside a large mooring field filled with yachts.  That evening we took the dinghy into the Russell Yacht Club dock and had a very good roast pork dinner at the club.   The next day we headed over to the Russell town dock in the dinghy to see the picturesque town and then take a hike up to the flagpole above town.  The flagpole is a very famous site in New Zealand because it was built as a signal flag by the British but the Māori kept cutting it down because they were unhappy with their treatment by the British.  These events caused a long war between the Māori and British.  When peace finally came the Māori cut a large tree, carried it up the hill and replanted the flagpole symbolising the peace between the groups. A poinsettia in a garde...
Read more

Fremantle Sailing Club

 Still on the dock at Fremantle Sailing Club We arrived at the Fremantle Sailing Club Friday April 7 2023 after a good sail north from Mandurah.  We docked at the fuel dock, topped up our diesel tanks and placed a call to the harbourmaster to see if they had a dock available for the night.  Jason, the harbourmaster came out to True North and told us the docks were all full but he would works something out.  Eventually we were accommodated at the shore end of the fuel dock.  We stayed on the fuel dock 2 nights and after looking at the weather reports determined that we should stay at dock for the upcoming week.  The weather showed two bouts of high winds with 5 metre swells accompanying the second blow. Jason found us a slip where we tied up True North tightly with many lines.  The forecast turned out to be accurate with winds up to 44.8 knots during the first blow and 47.4 knots during the second.  We felt very comfortable at the dock and kept bus...
Read more

Binalong Bay / Bay of Fires Hike

Image
 Its our second day at Binalong Bay and we are still waiting for better winds to head south. Andrew and I decided to get off the boat and for a hike around the point between Binalong Bay and Lady Barron.  The walk ended up being about 15 kilometres with shoreline views, many woodland micro climates, beaches, boardwalks, dirt tracks, paved roads and even sidewalks. The map of our hiking route.  The distance is a little short because I forgot to turn on the tracker for a bit at the start of the hike  🙄 We were able to take the dinghy to a good dock in a very protected little man made harbour.  The hike started on the waterfront trail right at the dock. True North at anchor taken from the dinghy dock The hiking trail started right from the dinghy dock and headed around the point. After we rounded the point we were walking along the entrance to the river that leads to the town of Lady Barron.  We had planned to visit Lady Barron but when I called the volunteer...
Read more