Top Day...Kupang Here We Come

The bounty boys hit the tip of Australia!

It was a slow night with 10kts of breeze but again very enjoyable..there were no surprises like reefs or islands and at around 0800 we were alongside Turtle Island where Bligh hid from some very strong winds....at that point he became very confused as to what or where Cape York actually was...the Nav publication he had put it about 23miles further south than it actually was...we just stuck to the coast and went through a narrow pass just as we saw the tide turning...there was a two knot current against us but we stuck to the edges of the pass and got some back eddies which helped..only one scare when reef came up very quickly...

About an hour later there it was...Cape York...we were sailing about three miles offshore and then saw a small pass between the Cape and two islands north of that...we decided to cut through it as we are shallow draught and thought we could anchor off it which is exactly what we did..about 15 mtrs off the very tip of Cape York!! what a buzz..I let all the crew swim ashore first as we were in a two knot current and very exposed...they took their pictures and came back so I could do the same thing...it was all over in 20 minutes and we were underway again to Horn Island .

Half way across we met up with Stu in the chopper who flew around us for a bit over an hour...both he and I doing some crazy stuff in this time ...then it was all speed to the anchorage arriving at about1800 as the sun was setting...what a great day with plenty of memories..we must have seen 25 turtles during the last hour of approach here...

We spoke to Customs today and we are set to clear Customs and Immigration tomorrow at 0930 on the wharf which is really convenient for us...Bob and Margaret are picking us up in their dingy in the morning to transfer us ashore and if all goes well we should be back on board and away by about 1100 and then it is off to Kupang....we are all really keen now to head back out into the Ocean..Bligh had some real issues with the weather on this leg so we are not expecting our run of good weather to last forever...the boat is good to go and so are we.....a big sleep tonight will top that off big time..!!

We part company with Stu here and he will fly to Kupang ready to film our arrival...Touch wood..not sure when we will get there but we are only two days behind Bligh now....so it may be a close thing...we managed not to eat our normal rations so have at least nine days of rations left....I reckon we may be there on the 16th ??? so it will go close...

Big day tomorrow...Tonga seems like so long ago!!...Don