With 365 nautical miles to go to get to Thursday Island, our exit point from Australia, we sailed forth from Lizard Island via Ninian Bay to the Flinders Group.
Sailing north along the coastline of Cape York you see the many different landscapes of this part of Australia. We've seen the Daintree rainforest, the oldest rainforest in the world, meet the ocean. We've seen rolling hills of green followed by stark rock and boulder coastline. The Melville Ranges running parallel to the coast looks like a huge quarry mine. Gigantic mounds of purple tinged rocks, as if a giant hand had scooped up pebbles and dumped them on the ground in piles.
We've travelled in or next to the shipping lanes at different times on our sail north. It pays to keep a look out because those cargo ships are big boys.
What we saw
What our friends saw
Yacht Speakeasy with a stunning vista behind
A couple of days of sailing and we reached the tropical islands of the Flinders Group which has 4 islands in total. We anchored in Owen Channel in between the 2 biggest islands, Flinders and Stanley. We picked up a couple of extra yachts along the way so now we are 5, all of us on the rally to Indonesia.
Flinders Island offered us a fabulous little beach with a sand spit to bring the dinghies on shore. The perfect spot for sundowners and BBQs and sunsets. Every evening. For 3 days. There were oysters waiting to be harvested and wonderful company to enjoy.
A dinghy tour along the island edge and we found the naturally formed freshwater well on Flinders Island that the local indigenous Yiithuwarra people used in years past. One of our yachtie kin on Barnabas scored a big squid and a lovely mackerel while fishing near the mangroves by the well.
sand spit on Flinders Island looking at Stanley Island
Stokes Bay on Stanley Island has a yachtie club house, so to speak. A bit of a protected spot on the edge of a teatree swamp with a table of sorts made from washed up rubbish and a collection of art pieces hanging from the branches. It was interesting to read the names and years that other yachties that had visited Stokes Bay. Our favourite yachtie artist, Carol from Speakeasy, put her talents to good use and created a beautiful piece of artwork out of a chunk of driftwood and, with pomp and ceremony, we left our mark on the club house.
Stokes bay offered us a few experiences. Amazing oysters for starters. Literally. They were huge and tasty, served up as oysters kilpatrick thanks to Carol. Again. She is the mother shucker of oyster shuckers if ever I've seen one. I am also a shucker now thanks to her tutorage, but with nowhere near her speed or finesse. We backed up the oysters with delicious fillets of shark, freshly caught that day by Hubby.
Stokes Bay, lined with red rock
best oyster spot
flake for dinner
Stanley Island yacht club
Carol's masterpiece to leave our mark
The different experience we also had here, aside from the many stingrays and reef sharks, was the crocodile. Yep, finally spotted one in the wild. About 4 foot long. In the shallows. Very near our dinghies, and right where we swam just the day before. Gulp! It definitely wasn't a log. We were on the beach for a picnic lunch of fresh prawns we bought from a trawler anchored in the bay. Needless to say, we took turns to be the croc spotter and keep an eye on him, now known as Stanley, and skipped the after-lunch swim.
After several nights in the Flinders group of islands, it was time to sail further north and closer to our destination.
Until next time, Watusi Woman - shucker of oysters, out.
