Cocos Keeling
We’re at Cocos (Keeling) Islands. It’s 39 years and 50 weeks since I was last here. Things have changed. Back
Australia
Ashmore Reef
We left Darwin on the morning of August 6th, finally getting underway for our long crossing of the Indian Ocean. We had a couple of very nice days of sailing that put us very near to Ashmore Reef, the last outpost of Australia on the continental shelf. For the last six months we’ve never sailed in water deeper than 50 meters, the continental shelf around Australia is just huge. But it all ends at Ashmore – on the east side the water gradually deepens from that 50 meter range to about 100 meters. On the west side it drops off within a couple of miles to 2000 meters. Since the weather was nice we decided to stop for a day. Australia maintains a 24/7 presence at the reef, seems the World Court says that if they’re not there then the Indonesians can make a claim. And there’s apparently a fair amount of oil in the surrounding Timor Sea. So, when
Leaving Oz
During operation Pitch Black we saw the other kind of Osprey at the Mindil Beach Markets. We thought the other
Over The Top
We left Thursday Island and made a quick two-day trip across the Gulf of Carpentaria to Cape Wessel. The unimaginative
Cairns to TI (Thursday Island)
We want to sound like locals, so we’ll just call it TI. We did a pretty big provisioning in Cairns
Cairns and the Highlands
From the Hinchinbrook we made our way up to Cairns for my mom’s final hoorah. We had some beautiful sailing
Hinchinbrook
We headed for Hinchinbrook in search of crocodiles. We really want to see one in the wild. Maybe not while
Magnetic Island and Townsville
We spent nearly a week at Magnetic Island and in Townsville. Donald stuffed up some immigration issues so had to
Cape Upstart
We made a nice day sail up to Cape Upstart. Notice the skimpy bathing attire as we travel through the
The Whitsundays
OK, here they are the way you expected to see them. That’s Wasco above, tucked into the beautiful looking Cateran