Lat:     12 48.453′ S
Long: 143 38.136′ E

It’s about midnight on Sunday, and the half moon has just now made an appearance. I’m relieved to see its glow as it was getting a little spooky knowing that there were reefs on either side of us but seeing nothing but a few hazard lights that appeared deceptively close. I trust the charts for this area, but in the pitch black of darkness, it’s easy for one’s mind to start to wonder about the chances of running across reef that isn’t marked… It doesn’t help that earlier today I noticed a stripe of green water running parallel to our course, indicating that there was shallow water there even though this wasn’t suggested on the chart. (Dallas noticed the same phenomenon an hour or so later and thinks it’s an effect of the sunlight.) To top it off, we are in a shipping channel and have had multiple 850′ container ships pass by us at 15-20 knots — the force at which they could hit us is another fun thing to ponder in case we start to get bored!

This 600-footer was less than half a mile away

Cruising along the coast (and especially here in the GBR) definitely requires more alertness and maneuvering than our typical set-it-and-forget-it style of open ocean sailing, and I appreciate the challenge. The only annoying part is that our depth meter is set to sound an alarm when we cross above or below the 100′ mark, and since we are in relatively shallow contours near the reef, we have crossed that mark at least 100 times today! Dallas tried to change the settings on the alarm, but the button required to do so isn’t working, so in the meantime, we are getting a bit of exercise walking back and forth to press the offset button.

All in all, it has been a quiet, relaxing day, as seems to be the norm with just the two of us on board. I cut Dallas’ hair in the cockpit this morning, and it looks pretty good if I do say so myself. We had planned on taking a bath in our private bay before setting sail, but the research divers were already here and in the water by 7:30, so instead of flashing them we waited until we were offshore to shower. I went for the saltwater bucket shower (followed by freshwater rinse), while Dallas went freshwater only from the bug sprayer. It’s a matter of personal preference of course, but for me and my long hair it is better to have enough water to get really soaked. My favorite method is still getting in the water and being dragged behind the boat while holding on to the swim ladder, but even with my sailor arms (so I’m told) I wasn’t going to try to hold on while going 6 knots.

Sporting the new hairdo

We’ve been averaging 6-7 knots with winds from astern and hardly feel it. We had talked about making a short (about 150 mile) passage to start with but both agree that we might as well carry on to Cape York (the northernmost point of Oz) for a quick stop since the wind and seas are treating us well. We will probably also make Darwin a short stop in order to spend more time in Indonesia. Dallas has been reading about Bali and Lombok and getting excited about how cheap everything is there — meals for 2 for $11, hotels for only $7/night! At this point, we are in agreement that we should spend our time there instead of spending a week or two traveling through the Outback, as he says, "to see a rock" (Uluru or Ayers Rock in the center of Oz). We (and cruisers in general) are suckers for cheap food and entertainment. However, we’re not done with Oz yet, and I’m still hoping to see some good ol’ Aussie sights like kangaroos as well as less touristy sights such as the Aboriginal villages up in the Northern Territory.

I’m finishing this on Monday morning. (In the meantime, I got a bit of sleep and watched "The Holiday"–cute!) We just got buzzed by the Australian Customs’ plane. They performed two flyovers, getting about 100′ feet from the boat before calling on the radio to ask us a few questions about the boat, our last/next port of entry, etc. We’d already heard from other cruisers that these flyovers were common here, though, so we’re not feeling too special. They seem to cover all their bases in protecting these waters.

Getting buzzed