feeling at home in Port Douglas

Log entry 28th September. "Up anchor 0700. 10m chain remaining in water wrapped around old metal pipe. Took 1hr to dislodge the pipe working from the dinghy. 0800 finally free of obstacle. Dinghy back on davits 500m down channel. Very rough in channel with exiting tourist boats. Jib up in Trinity Bay. Seas 2m, wind SE 10-15kts. Dropped anchor at Double Island at 1100 for a lunch break.



Beautiful Double Island

Up anchor at 1230. Abeam Wentworth Reef 1530 after very heavy seas for an hour. Considered turning back to Cairns! No marine life seen. Wind dropped to 2-3kts abeam Korea Reef. Entered Port Douglas channel amidst returning tourist boats. Anchored Packers Creek 1645. Hooray!" 

Dusk Packers Creek

It was fantastic to be anchored in a secure spot, the bird life in the mangroves was amazing. One bird call sounded like "careful, careful", perhaps reminding everyone that this is lizard land. The Lady Douglas plied up and down the creek from the marina, with very helpful commentary advising of current croc locations. Apparently they are very territorial and the biggest/strongest keeps others out. "Pat" the 3m croc that lived in the stretch that we anchored in could occasionally be seen at low tide sunning himself. One of our neighbours snapped photos of Pat circling our yachts, checking everything out. Needless to say we were very careful, changing our routine and discouraging Ruby from standing on the bow sprit.

Lady Douglas

We all had a great time exploring the village, visiting the huge weekend markets and relaxing at the very friendly yacht club. We could certainly feel the tropical atmosphere, with daily showers of rain and very fast growing mould.

Yacht Club lawn

Friends from Townsville on Quantum Leap (Ted and Tacey) were also in Port Douglas, giving their friend Alice an opportunity to experience life aboard a yacht......

Tacey, Alice & Ted come visiting

...as was April the seadog and Notorious.

Notorious and Manatee at anchor

We finally found the solution to mozzies (and there were plenty here)- a mozzi net for a bed slung over the wheelhouse. It worked and looked great. Prior to getting the net on I (AK) got very ill with an allergic reaction to mozzi bites. I was swollen, bright red, feverish, fatigued and very itchy - crap. It took about a fortnight for my body to return to normal. Meanwhile yachts were reporting crap weather conditions with heavy seas outside our blissful oasis.