We left Cairns with a downwind breeze and headed for Lizard Island. We have heard wonderful things about Lizard Island and is was a spectacular spot. We unfortunately had a deadline for reaching Thursday Island and only had a few days to enjoy this marvelous anchorage. We made the most of it The evening we arrived the rally cruisers got together for sun downers on the beach. It was pretty mellow, but it's good to get to know our fellow cruisers. The next morning it was time for a snorkel. There are a few nice reefs at Lizard Island. We started with the reef that was on shore. The coral was ok, not all that alive and only a few types. We are sooo spoiled when it comes to snorkeling. There were however LOTS of giant clams. The biggest giant clams we have seen yet. We saw at least 30 giant clams and some were a meter across. Zack could have fit into some of these clams. There were also hundreds of the smaller clams with the brightly colored lips in all colors. I also saw my first spotted blue stingray, which was awesome. We went over to the next reef which was actually called "the Clam Garden." The coral was a lot better and more plentiful. We did see some big giant clams but not as many as on the first snorkel. We didn't stay in the water all that long so there may have been lots more, we were getting a bit cold. It's strange, we are at 16* South but the water is not as warm as back home on St John.

The next morning Maria and I hiked up the mountain with the boys. It was a great hike, steep but not too strenuous. The boys ran up. It was a great view from the top of some of the Great Barrier Reef. At the top there was a plastic box with log books and a pen for boats to write their names and messages. It was cool to read some of the previous messages. There was also a plaque commemorating Captain Cook. According to the plaque Captain Cook had been hopelessly lost in the coral reefs and unable to find his way out. He climbed to the top of what is now called Cook's Peak and was able to find his way out.

We have been trying to hook up with our friends on Windarra for a couple of months now and we just missed them at Cairns. We thought all was lost and that we would be leaving Australia without a rendezvous. We were surprised and thrilled to get an email that said we would see them pulling into Lizard Island at dawn. Zack was so excited he was up at 6am looking for them. There they were anchored right next to us. He wanted to call immediately but we waited till we saw life on the boat at about 8. We headed over and Zack, Blake and Sophia were so excited to see each other, it was sweet. Windarra decided to join us on a hike to the Blue Lagoon with a few other boats. It was an easy hike through some scrub. The highlight was watching a small Leer Jet take off from the hotel's runway. The Blue Lagoon was really cool with a nice beach and crystal clear water. Zack, Blake and Sophia were inseparable. They spent the entire day collecting shells and playing in the sand. When we got back the Windarra crew came over for sun downers and we had a chance to catch up with each other. Blake and Sophia stayed for dinner and a sleep over, so Zack was stoked. The morning brought light winds so it was finally time to head out to the Great Barrier Reef for a snorkel. We took Blake and Sophia with us and headed out. We have only been out to the reef on one other day because the wind has just been blowing too hard to make it feasible. We were joined at the reef by Windarra, Allure and Dream Maker. We anchored and Jason jumped in to check anchors as it was deep and the holding wasn't very good He spotted a shark straight up which prompted Karl to jump in. Good for us because he watched our anchor and gave instructions so we could get it set on the rocky bottom. We were all in the dinghies and headed over to the reef. The spot we were at is famous for large potato cod. We jumped in and saw a small reef shark on the bottom. Then we spotted the potato cod, they were huge, about a hundred pounds each. There were some other big fish but the cod were the main attraction. It is a popular sight and somebody had definitely been feeding these guys because they were not afraid of us or the divers underneath us. They were even a bit aggressive, as Jason found out when one swam up and bit him on the arm. It was superficial and so very funny We all headed back to our boats for some lunch. The afternoon saw us heading to the pass to drift dive down on the reef. Becky decided to stay in the dinghy to be safety patrol and the rest of us jumped in. We swam over to the wall of the reef and Karl swam down to scare out a shark. The current was going and we just floated by looking for fish. The coral was more rocky than I would have expected but the fish life was great. When we got back to the spot of our morning dive we slowed down and decided to feed the fish a bit. Zack and David had been saving a jar of tuna scraps for that exact purpose. We opened the jar and let out a bit of scent. That got the natives restless. Lots of big groupers and cod and parrot fish came round to see what was going on. A few more jar openings and we had a couple of sharks circling at the bottom. They didn't get real close but kept circling the perimeter of our group at the bottom about 20 feet down. Karl was feeding the fish some bread and they were really into it, so much so that when he stopped feeding them and started talking to someone in the dinghy a snapper bit his hand trying to get the bread. A little more blood in the water. I got out and was sitting in the dinghy because the fish were getting a bit aggressive. The kids had all been in the dinghies for a while. Jason called me a wimp and some other stuff, so I returned the favor. I had been hoping to snorkel with sharks and he told me to get back in. I wasn't to quick about it so he gave me a push and I was in. I called him a chicken and went snorkeling. He had to jump in with that and Zack came along as well and George. It was fine and we had a lot of big fish close up. All in all a great snorkel. We headed back to the boats for a rinse and Windarra took Zack for the sail back. The winds were so light we had to motor back. We were side by side with Allure having a glass of wine and lamenting how awful our lives are. We pulled back into Lizard Island for the night and Windarra was not far behind. They called and invited us for dinner. We were bushed but did not want to miss an opportunity to hang with our friends so off we went. We brought Zack a toothbrush because he was having a sleep over. Becky made pizzas on the grill which were absolutely amazing and it was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

The wind was up the next morning and it was time to move on. We collected Zack from Windarra and he was sad to leave his buds. They had spent 48 hours together and it was a sad parting. We had hoped to have another day of calm winds so we could stop and get back out to the reef. Unfortunately the winds stayed up and Windarra reluctantly decided to keep going. They needed to make Darwin before their visas ran up and it was over 1200 miles away. They are headed for South Africa and home this year. We said some sad good byes over the radio and watched them sail off.

We came into Margaret Bay with Chanty, Allure and Dream Maker. It was blowing and we decided to take a rest for a couple of days. Allure had already been there for a day and we had barely anchored when he called to tell us that the fishing boat was keen to trade for some beers or rum. He came by with one of the fishermen in a skiff to pick us up. We grabbed a bottle of rum and went over to their boat named Bo Reef. The main attraction was to see the grouper behind their boat. They clean the lobsters and feed the fish with the scraps There were 4 of them and they were each as big as a dinghy. We spent some time trying to get them to the surface with pilchards on a line. They got them fairly close to the surface and we were able to get a good look. One of the fishermen cut up a lobster and threw it over and that was what the fish were looking for, it was a good show and Zack was into it. Ron, the fisherman that had picked us up, had gotten a fish hook stick in his finger earlier in the day. Maria is a nurse so they convinced her to do a bit of surgery and remove it. It was pretty gruesome, but she was able to get it out. I think it was more traumatizing for her than Ron who pretty much just laughed the whole thing off. I think he was glad that Maria did it because she gave him a bit of local anaesthesia and his mates were going to get drunk and pull it out later. So he did get the lesser of the two ordeals. She bandaged it up a lot better than his mates would have as well. David gave the guys a small bottle of rum and we walked away with 4 lobster tails and some squid. A great trade.

Even though the fishermen had warned us not to, we saw many cruisers going to the beach. There was meant to be a crocodile that lived on the beach. They said that a couple of years back a cruiser had gone hiking and come back to the beach to find a croc lying by his dinghy. We didn't get the rest of the story, so we don't know how it ended. We all decided to take our chances and headed in the next morning for a hike. We hiked to the other side of the island to look for nautilus shells and glass fishing balls which we were said sometimes wash up there. Zack found a great nautilus and three almost complete ones. David also found three good nautiluses and Maria found a huge shell. Not sure what it was but it was almost 2 feet long. The biggest shell I have ever seen and it was in great shape. We got back to the dinghies and all was well, no crocs. George climbed a coconut tree and we all had some coconut water to drink and some coconut to eat. A great day and a lot of exercise.

The next morning the boys decided to go fishing and the girls came over for a bread lesson. Poor Maria had all 5 kids over for art on her boat. The boys didn't catch anything but we did make some good bread. It was decided that happy hour would be on Flour Girl and it would be a seafood feast. Well, feast it was, We made some smoked mackerel spread on home baked rolls, Chanty brought lobster, there was a bowl of iced prawns and fresh shucked oysters. It was a seafood extravaganza. David was goofing and put a line in the water which was immediately taken up by a big fish. It was funny because the boys had followed the fish around for 3 hours to no avail. The fish broke the line at the last minute but it was an epic battle just the same.

We left for Escape River to time our passage into Albany Pass. We are on the final leg of our Australian journey. There is a muster and mass check out of the country for the Sail2Indonesia rally. We made great time and decided to forgo the stop at Escape River and head straight for Albany Pass as the wind and timing were right. It was a great sail and we pulled into Cape York mid morning. It was blowing 30 knots but the bottom was sand and the holding was good. We just stayed aboard and had a chill out day. Cape York is the most northern point of mainland Australia. In the morning we headed for Horn Island/Thursday Island to meet up with the rest of the rally boats and get ready for our sail to Indonesia. We were late and the anchorage was really crowded. We had also been listening to the boat traffic on the radio and it seems that lots of boats had been dragging. With that info we headed for the back of the fleet to be away from everyone else. We were pretty far back but it worked out for us. We were anchored for maybe half an hour when Zack spotted a huge crocodile on shore. It was about 12 feet long and so we definitely will not be swimming here! It was great because we have been croc hunting for the last month and a half and we finally got to see one before we leave Australia.

We are all a bit sad to leave Australia. We have had an amazing time here, made lots of new friends, did some amazing things, and created some great memories, but it is time to go and we look forward to some great cruising this year and lots of new adventures. We will leave for our five or six day passage to Indonesia in two days and will go into Thursday Island tomorrow for some provisioning.