Hinchinbrook Channel to Cairns

Here we are heading along the Hinchinbrook islands. More stunning scenery of mountain ranges of treed wilderness.

We stopped at Haven ISland for a bush walk and after leaving the tender in the sloppy mud and walking to the beach I noticed the warning sign for crocodiles. Geez crocodiles !

Lucky for us we never saw any and we enjoyed a short walk and bathe in the creek. It was refreshing and cool just what we needed for a hot day.

Cairns Harbour


Arriving at Cairns we were surprised at the boating activity here, lots of it. Big charter cats taking people out to the reef, dive boats, little yachts racing around channel markers, super luxury yachts and powerboats the size of what looked like a small city.  The yacht in the picture below passed the back of our boat wildly, it then hit the bottom and the crew managed to get it off again and on they went. The angle that they came at us i thought they were going to hit us it was exhilarating watching and scarey.

The daily pilgrimmage of boats going out to the reef each morning and coming home was great entertainment for us as the parade passed us each day. They disappeared over the horizon and returned again engines roaring.

There were sea planes that landed close by and the international airport was close also.

Cairns is very much a tourist town with plenty of asian tourists. I was amused looking through marketing material to see that i've already been to many of the great tourist sites one can only access on a boat and there's going to be plenty more to come heading north.

After more endless shopping for food supplies we decided at the last minute to haul the boat out of the water and repaint the antifoul. This protects the boat from barnacle growth and enables us to move through the water quicker. Since we had beached the boat not so long ago and cleaned it there was only slim build up to remove.

We also had an alternator problem that seemed to mystify us and our marine electricians until finally it was solved and we had our alternator replaced and our engine alarms restored to normal function. Much relief we gained !

Huge machinery lifts the boat out of the water it really is spectacular to see. At the time the boat was being hauled out of the water we were still in it ! It was a very smooth operation and was like going up on a ferris wheel including a little bit of swinging, which the guys put a stop to quickly.

Here the boat is being water blasted to give a really good clean. It certainly did the job, got all the really big barnacles off the bottom no problem, more action to watch !

Here's the boat on the move.

The boat is being parked onto blocks so we can work on the underside to prepare for the painting.

Here we are parked on the ground safely. After 2 days on the ground having anti fouled and cleaned the dust that seemed to get all over the boat inside and out we were back in the water to get our new signage put on the boat to fulfil our Australian ship registration. 

OUr next destination leaving Cairns was The Low Isles.