We arrived here at 4.00pm today after a hard beat along the coast inside of the Passage Islands. We originally considered anchoring at Scholl Island but that did not appear to give us much protection from the wind. However we made such excellent progress (7-8 knots) up as far as Scholl that we had, and took, the option to continue on to Steamboat.

The wind remained in the ENE all day and when it got going in earnest by mid morning stayed stubbornly around the 20-25 mark. This made for uncomfortable sailing but we were helped by the tide for the first part of the day.

It was a slow beat into wind to reach Steamboat but once settled at anchor down towards a sandspit on the SE side and about 300metres off the island in 4m of water life became much more relaxed.

We are now checking weather and if all holds to current forecast will begin a reach up the Montibellos between 1.00am and 2.00am tomorrow morning. This should (note the should!) get us up the Montibellos before the real howlers of the day get in.