We left Guyundah Creek at Hinchinbrook Island at 8:20 this morning. It was very calm with light showers on and off as we left. The channel between Hinchinbrook and the mainland is long and complicated – we used 22 waypoints to reach the Southern end of the channel. We went over some very shallow water of about 9ft as we cleared the bar. The wind at 11am is blowing with rain at about 18k and we are motoring right into it at about 5.5k. Within 30 minutes it has stopped and the wind is down.

As we approach the Palm Islands, Pelorus, the northernmost of the group provides cover for us and the seas flatten out completely. As we approach Orpheus Island the water gets ever more calm and becomes totally flat.

We reached Little Pioneer Bay at about 12:30pm and took one of the moorings. There are 4 other boats here and it looks like two or three more empty moorings, all spread about nicely. They are set and maintained by the Park Service and each one is labeled for the capacity, though not in tons as in the US, they are labeled simply by boat length which in my view is a mistake because different boats of the same length could have wildly different displacements (weight). No matter, we took one labeled for 20 meters which is 68ft, so I think we will be ok. They are also (all) listed as being suitable in “up to” 34k of wind. Presumably they can withstand higher wind strengths with lighter boats on them (for instance, a mooring listed as having a capacity of 20 meters in 34k of wind might be fine for a 12meter boat in 50k of wind).

We may leave tomorrow for Magnetic Island, the next island down the coast which lies about 35 miles from here, or, we may take a rest day tomorrow and just sit tight.