Wednesday morning I decided we had rolled long enough and it was time to move on. Every time one of the power-cat ferries would arrive or depart at the resort at Dunk Island, it would speed right in front of our boat and cause a large wake. 
Very inconsiderate to travel at those speeds within an anchorage. The anchorage at the next island appeared to be more exposed than Dunk Island, but it surely wouldn't be any more uncomfortable because it would not have the ferry traffic. When we raised the anchor it was covered in sticky mud -- and included a little visitor. There was a sea worm in the yucky mud; about the circumference of an adult's large finger and twice as long and wiggling vigorously. Zach got a kick out of this strange sea creature.After motoring a whopping 12 NM we anchored on the northern side of Stephens Island in the South Barnard Island group. Actually don't know why these islands even deserve a name since they are very small and not much more than some rocks jutting out of the water. Stephens Island is the largest island and the only one that offers any place to anchor at all. We thought it was more comfortable than the ferry-plagued Dunk Island.
Thursday morning we motored another 5 NM to Kent Island in the North Barnard Islands. Kent is a small island and the anchorage area is quite small. Another sailboat was anchored when we arrived, but we managed to tuck up close enough to the beach and still be far enough away from the other sailboat. This anchorage is more comfortable than either Dunk or Stephens. Tomorrow we plan to sail to Fitzroy Island, about 48 miles north. Fitzroy will be out final stop before arriving in Cairns.
Zachary can't wait to get this full-arm cast off! It is starting to drive him crazy. The dead skin inside the cast is itchy and stinks and he wants it off so his arm can be cleaned properly. So that will be our highest priority when we arrive at the marina in Cairns.
This is Mark the skipper and owner of S.V. Sambaluka!!!!!! You come and have a look at my c-map!!!!!! I thoroughly checked every scale of my charts before heading there!!!!!! I have a degree in architecture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is not on my version!!! Altho a friendly anchor symbol is just west of it!!!!! How dare you state that I was "at the wrong scale"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe have heard that the pirated C-Map charts used by some people do not show these reefs. Our C-Map charts plainly show the reef area, except if you are zoomed out too far. We can only conclude that if the reef does not show on a person's chart plotter he is either zoomed out too far, or has a pirated copy of C-Map charts. We are also aware that some people may not knowingly possess pirated copies of C-Map charts. If I were you, I would check to see if your copies are legitimate.
ReplyDeleteIt occurs to us that the above comments would make no sense to most readers of this blog. Mark refers to an earlier blog posting. This can be found under Passage to Australia in the Places We Have Visited section. The posting is dated May 28, 2009 and is titled "Back in flying fish latitudes!" There are images of C-map charts indicating the positions of S/V Sambaluka and S/V Asolare when each sank on well-known reefs.
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