16th May - Hope Islands - sea eagles - Cooktown

Thursday 16^th May

The Hope Islands are the first place we haven’t had immediate internet and phone access.  We are getting more remote!  We are now very close to Endeavour Reef, where Captain Cook ran aground.  Alan Lucas – Guru of the Coral Coast – says that if the Endeavour had sunk, the French would have colonised Australia instead of the English.  The site of a random accident of history, right there a bit further out from 2XS.

We left at 7.00 yesterday and attached ourselves to a big solid mooring between the Hope Islands at 1.30.  Time for a lovely afternoon of leisure! 

Not to say our gentle cruise up the coast wasn’t leisurely…

Here I am, on my beloved beanbag, reading and keeping watch at the same time.  And about to wrap my ancient Indian sari around my shoulders to block out some of the rays of the sun which had found their way into my shady spot.

Pete, while I was capably keeping the boat on track, spent a happy few hours macguyvering a new grille system to keep the little cupboard above the freezer aerated, in the hope that it will now work. 

A functioning freezer would be a godsend… This one works very well in cold weather, but as soon as we hit the tropics, it can’t cope.

There were two beautiful sea eagles circling above this Hope Island as we arrived.  I was too busy leaning over the bow with the boathook, trying to catch the huge great mooring rope, to be able to do much more than say, WOW!!  So…no photo because they have retreated to their nest none of the big leafy trees.  Every now and then one of them goes for a brief swoop above the tree-line, just enough to get me rushing for the camera.

But eventually I DID get my Attenborough Moment!!

And here is its mate!

And could I swim, in this beautiful sheltered area?  Probably not…The water looks so inviting but…there might be crocs…

At Hartleys Croc World they told us that crocodiles are opportunistic indiscriminate feeders.  In other words, they take whatever comes their way.  They do not plot and plan, although nearly everyone says, Don’t swim twice in the same place – the crocs will have been watching, and they will be ready next time you go in at that exact spot.  Who knows?  I don’t really want to find out…

When I was chatting with Rosemary on our last day in the marina, I asked her about her exercise routine.  She is obviously very fit, and was a Phys Ed teacher in her earlier years.  She said that she does a bit of pilates, walks a bit, swims a bit, goes up stairs instead of taking the lift.  That sort of thing.  My exercise regime is very similar and I said that we must be opportunistic indiscriminate exercisers. 

In the late afternoon we went onto the island, in the little tender, and met up with some of the people on the boats nearby – Relentless, a yacht coming down from Gove to Mission Beach, with Stewie and Bruce, plus hitchhiker Marie, from Paris, and Even Bet, a catamaran which has been in Blue Water Marina since December, with Ian and Janelle aboard.  A small beach party!  We had all taken drinks, and corn chips, and the local council had very thoughtfully provided a picnic table in the shade, so it was all very pleasant.  Bruce, a retired teacher from Bingil Bay, went for a swim in his undies, so I followed in due course and we wallowed in the shallows in the clear blue water, watching very carefully all around…

This little island is just beautiful.  Proof follows!

 We have just about to drop anchor in Cooktown...time for me to scamper about!!