Escapade has been resting on a swinging mooring on the Trinity Inlet, just upstream from Cairns.

After our annual slice of Guernsey summer I was back on the boat preparing for the next voyage.

There’s about 500 miles of sailing between Cairns and Cape York, Australia’s northern tip.

I’m planning to day-sail all the way up, inside the Great Barrier Reef, calling at islands and mainland anchorages, joining the dots on the remote northern coast.

Dawn is enjoying some extra Guernsey time, so for this trip I’m joined by Alex and James.

Alex was on board this time last year for the trip from Fiji to Vanuatu so he knows the boat well.  Having survived the passage, volcano, kava and cyclone, he’s back for more. 

James is a capable and experienced yachtsman, so I’m in good hands.  The winds seem to be unrelenting SE trades all the way up the coast, a perfect direction for us.

Here we go.

6th September

After a busy couple of days putting the boat back together, we motor out of Cairns fully laden.  Fuel tanks and food lockers are very full.  Cairns is the last big town we will see for a while, so we are well stocked up.

Dawn had arranged a huge delivery of local organic produce from the hippy farmers collective, so we should be safe from scurvy.

Despite being heavier than ever, Escapade soon got into her groove, powering down the wind swells with two reefs in the main and doing 10 knots or better all the way.

Our first stop is at the Low Isles.  Dawn and I were here in June as guests on Gary’s cool HH catamaran, a great little sheltered anchorage.  We got the hook down and the toys came out of the lockers.  James launched his kite, Alex and I went for a wing-foil on the wind swell.  Fun waves wrapping around the reef, propelled by 30 knot trade winds.  The waters are alive, fish jumping, turtles everywhere, and a pair of huge mantas, all a bit surprised by the speeding foils.

7th September

Next stop is 40ish miles north, the Hope Islands.

Another speedy broad reach and another windy playground when we arrive.

We were having so much fun here we decided to stay another day.  James is a surfer and kiter who is just starting on his wing-foil journey and this is a perfect spot to practice.  He’s already started on the freestyle..

Alex has some moves too:

There’s another yacht anchored nearby called Maya.  Her crew are also enjoying the kiting and foiling conditions.  I recognise the boat from years ago, so I go to say “Hi”.  We sailed with the previous owners in the Caribbean, in about 2015. They sold the boat in New Zealand to these young kiting Kiwis who are loving the boat, and here we are, Escapade and Maya anchored together again on the other side of the world. 

It was hard to leave the Hope Islands, but we have a schedule, so it’s time to sail north again.

9th September

We call in to Cooktown. Named for Lieutenant James Cook who limped in here in 1770 to repair the HMS Endeavour after she struck a reef.  It’s hard to get away from Cook over here, every rock, reef and cape seems to be named by him or for him.

This really is about the last town on the coast, north of here is lots of wild country with few roads or settlements.  We anchored in the river and dinghied in. Cooktown has that outpost feel. All the essential features of a small Queensland town: a post office, a bowls club, several pubs and a fishing shop.  

We find a promising looking restaurant: Closed Mondays.  So, hoping to eat ashore on this Monday night, I called in to the ’Cook’s Landing Kiosk’ down by the dock where three authentic looking Queenslanders are spending their afternoon drinking beer and swearing at a large dog.  I enquire whether the kiosk will be open this evening and I think one of them agreed to cook fish and chips for us.  “Come back at 5.45 and bring me some beer”.  My crew were concerned by this arrangement, but I persuaded them that beneath this gruff exterior there was a gem of true Cooktown hospitality.

Well we arrived with beers and enjoyed sunset on the deck while our host staggered in and out of the kitchen swearing at us occasionally.  We made friends with Stinky the large dog.

The food arrived, and it was delicious. Battered squid, fillets of mackerel and plenty of chips.  Unusually, the entire supper for three was served in one large stainless bowl (possibly Stinky’s?) with no unnecessary frills. 

We asked if there were any plates or cutlery, “Do you want to do the f***ing washing up?”  

So we gathered round the bowl and feasted with greasy fingers.  It was already a memorable meal, but then the music started.  Our host was a big fan of 10cc and the spin-off band Godley and Creme “You could say 5cc”.  So we sang through the back catalogue of tunes I hadn’t heard for years.  Pretty sure that I will never hear 10cc again without thinking of Cooktown.

10th September

Next morning we slipped away early and set a course round Cape Bedford and Cape Flattery for Lizard Island about 50 miles north.

Lizard is a high, mountainous island.  We made our usual entrance, reaching up to the anchorage at 15kts before dropping the main and motoring in to the beach, grateful for a calm respite in turquoise water after a brisk morning’s sail.

We snorkelled over to a nearby patch of reef and were amazed to see plenty of healthy coral and giant clams a metre long.

We like it here and all agree to stay another day.

But the real treasure of Lizard island is the reef-enclosed lagoon on its south shore.

Next morning we loaded the dinghy with our toys and threaded a course through the reefs to get there.

We pumped up wings and a kite and went exploring around this huge, pristine waterworld.  Colourful reefs, white sandbars, pink granite mountains, and sea life everywhere. More surprised turtles. 

Not a boat or a building to be seen.  We tacked upwind to Bird Islet, a waft of pelican guano carrying downwind.

Out through the narrow reef pass into the trade wind swell beyond.  A wild oceanic place, and a very special foiling session across the transparent, sunlit waters.

12th September

James and Alex left very early the next morning to climb the mountain above us, as Cook had to do in 1770, trying to find a way out of the maze of reefs.  From up there (“Cook’s Lookout”) he spotted a navigable pass through the Great Barrier (“Cook’s Passage”) and escaped to open sea.  

James and Alex couldn’t see that far this morning, but they did locate and sign the hidden visitor’s book at the top. 

These are their views back down to the anchorage and out over that beautiful blue lagoon.

We need to keep heading north, so after two nights in lovely Lizard Island, it’s back out into those incessant tradewinds.  

Back at the anchorage there were lots of salty Aussie cruisers who sail full time up and down this coast. So I had dinghied around a bit to chat with a few boats, gleaning intelligence on possible stops further north. Islands I hadn’t heard of, we decided to explore some.

Three reefs in the main and 12 knots all the way to Ingram Island, which promises an ideal wing foiling stop, but sadly it is a bit too exposed in this weather, so we push on for Bewick island in search of a quiet night.  In vain.

We fry kangaroo steaks while the wind howls.

Friday 13th

Next stop was Blackwood Island in the Flinders group. A bit close to the mainland for my liking, and according to Navionics users, crocs have been sighted here, but Alex was undeterred and went wing-foiling across the murky waters.  

14th September

Morris Island looks much more promising. A tiny sandy cay on the end of a huge reef offering us protection from the wind swell.  We set off early from the Flinders islands, James trolled a lure as we left and produced a nice tuna a few minutes later.

Morris Island was as good as we hoped, the hook went down into white sand and stayed there for a couple of days.

We take stock, sitting in a tiny patch of flat water surrounded by the wild Coral Sea and 30 knot wind day and night.  Not another boat in sight.

A dugong surfaces for a breath. Pairs of giant mantas glide by. The skies are alive with noddies, boobies and frigate birds, fish jumping out of the clear waters.

We winged around, ate our tuna and drank coco-locos.

James continues to be a very fast learner on the wingfoil, improving rapidly with each session.

Having cracked gybes and tacks he now seems to have taken up jumping.

Sad to leave but we have to keep sailing north, the next few stops were rolly nights tucked behind wild desolate headlands, out of the 30 knot wind but no escape from the wind-swell wrapping around.  So we were looking forward to a peaceful night at anchor in the Escape River.  Yes flat calm, but to get in there involved an unforgettable high speed ride over the shallow bar at the river entrance.  Escapade loves to surf.

In the last two weeks we have day-sailed about 500 miles downwind and down swell with 2 or 3 reefs in the main all the way.  Easy passages with boat speeds in double figures, slaloming through the islands and shoals of the Great Barrier Reef. Now we’re at the top.

19th September

Thursday Island is located, as one would expect, between Wednesday Island and Friday Island, out in the Torres Straits, about 20 nautical miles off of Cape York, Australia’s northern tip.

We arrived on a Thursday.

For the first time on this trip the wind dropped below 20 knots and we hoisted the full main and the big red Code D to get there on time. We have a plane to meet.

Alex’s wife Arabella is coming back to Escapade.  Her flight lands at the tiny airstrip on Horn island at 5pm and we made it with an hour to spare!  After her long trip we take her out for a welcome supper, the finest dinner Horn Island has to offer.  Fish and chips.  On plates.