Pete and Fern picked us up at 07:30 to go on the Cook’s Look hike up the mountain to the left of us. In 1770, Captain Cook mapped the Queensland coastline. He was trying to make his way to the open ocean and couldn’t find a pass through the reefs. He sailed to Lizard Island, anchoring in Watson’s Bay, and scaled the mountain. At the top of the Continue reading
Everyone was coming at 07:30, so we were up very early to get ready. Kosmos was a mess inside, since we have been more focused on the exterior than the interior since getting out of the yard. We ate a quick breakfast, did some tidying, and got our own tanks filled and our diving gear ready.
Everyone was on board and ready to go by 0800. There were 11 of us total — 4 snorkelers, the instructor and his two students, and another couple that would be diving with us.
Cod hole is 10 miles southeast of Lizard Island. We were happy to see there was a mooring available. The reason the spot is called Cod Hole is because gigantic Continue reading
We headed over to the beach a little before 13:00 (1:00 pm). Everyone was gathered around a small picnic table under a tree on the beach. There were about 16 people there, all Australian retirees. We listened to the horse race on the radio, then hung out and chatted with everyone for a couple more hours. Everyone was really nice. Politics was at the forefront of everyone’s mind since Continue reading
We only had 18 hours left to go to Lizard Island, so we didn’t need to leave yesterday until the afternoon. We realized that in the small slip we could easily reach the rub rail and miscellaneous external metal pieces that can’t be reached in a full size spot, so Christi spent a couple of hours polishing the metal on the starboard side of the boat. We have to admit that we have been incredibly lazy about the metal and, until today, haven’t polished it ourselves once since we left home. In Fiji the people who waxed the boat also did the metal, but it was looking pretty bad again already. The areas that Christi did are sparkling and shiny, which makes the rest of the dull and partially rusted metal look that much worse.
We pulled out at about 13:30 (1:30 pm). The ride to Lizard Island was wonderful. The views were pretty, with mountains similar to Port Douglas along the coast most of the way up. There were lots of Continue reading
Port Douglas was founded in 1877 as the port town for the Hodgkins River gold fields. In the 1880’s Cairns was chosen as the terminal for the new rail line from Kuranda and another mountain town called Mareeba. With the rail traffic going to Cairns, Port Douglas never grew bigger than a sleepy village. In the 1980’s a developer built a luxury resort that attracted tourists. More money was invested into making the town a nice tourist destination, and tourism is now Port Douglas’s primary income source.
We had decided yesterday that Christi should go under the boat. We thought the problem may have come from lanolin grease blocking the area where the shaft is supposed to leak, so she was going to go down and try to wipe any grease away from that area. When we checked in, the dock master told us they get small crocs in the marina from time to time, so Continue reading