Goodbye Australia, Hello Indonesia

The final part of our Australian journey was 450nm from Cairns to Thursday Island. Once again, we planned for 24 hour passages. This was partly due to the time constraints we had, but also the fact that this far north there are fewer places to stop –  safe ones anyway. It seemed to us that everything here is out to kill you: Spiders, snakes, jelly fish, sharks, crocodiles…

One place we had been told not to miss was Lizard Island. So at 3pm on Friday 14th June 2024,  we left Cairns and set off for the 140nm passage north. Initially, the winds were great; easterly at Force 4 (11-16 knots). The sea state was calm and we enjoyed a pleasant sail along the coast.

However, during the early hours of Saturday morning, the wind dropped to Force 2 (4-6 knots) and we were forced to use the engine for the remainder of the journey.

Arriving at Lizard Island after a journey of 25 hours, we anchored in Watson Bay. Here we had beautifully clear water and a flat, sand bottom. It was a perfect place to spend a few days with an easy dinghy ride to the beach for island walks and sundowners with friends.

Whilst at Lizard Island the weather was calm enough for a day sail to Cod Hole on Ribbon Reefs. Having limited safe anchoring, we managed to pick up one of the two mooring buoys here and jumped in off the back of the boat for a dive in the pass between the reefs. The sandy bottom was littered with coral bommies which provided homes for hundreds of fish. We were also fortunate to be greeted by the resident giant potato cod. He was very friendly and seemed pleased to see us!

We were sad to leave the idyllic Lizard Island, but the time had come for the final push up to Torres Strait. The 300nm passage from Lizard Island to Escape River took us  just under two days. The winds again were good for sailing: Force 4 (11-16 knots) and Force 5 (17 -21 knots) and Escapade managed to keep between 7 and 8 knots.

A great passage was made even better by a freshly caught tuna!

After an overnight in the river, it was an early start around Cape York at the top of Australia to complete 45nm to Horn Island. We had an excellent sail in steady winds of Force 4 (11-16 knots). It was even calm enough to sail through the Albany Pass. The strong 3 knot current channelling through here gave us record speeds of just under 10 knots.

Once safely anchored at Horn Island, we met up with the first group of the Wonderful Sail 2 Indonesia Rally.

From here it was easy to catch the ferry to Thursday Island for food, gas, and fuel. And of course our check out from Australia.

The journey was not without excitement though as this area is well known for its fishing fleets. Generally, these are a large stationary boat with many smaller boats buzzing around it like flies. Fortunately, they do tend to be well lit and most are using AIS to transmit their position. However, we were kept on our toes by their long lines of floating nets, often stretching for several miles!

Once all of the boats were checked in, the village turned out in full to give us an official welcome. Cruisers arrived ashore in a dinghy convoy, proudly flying their country flags.

We were invited ashore country by country and met officials from all over the island. There was singing and dancing and long speeches in Indonesia. It was an amazing welcome and made us feel like celebrities.