We woke this morning at 5:30am. One boat had already left (there were five anchored here last night – it is a popular stop on the way North or South) and one left at about 5:50am. We plan to be out of here by 6:30am. The weather looks ok today. A bit more cloudy then we like. Cloud cover appears to be about 60% but there is lots of blue also and it looks like it will burn off as the sun rises. Winds are 10-14k from the NE now. Fluctuating between 40 and 65 degrees. Our course today (after we round the cape) is to the SSE compared to yesterday when it was ESE. In short, we expect to have a much better wind angle today and hope to sail the entire 41 miles to Cape Upstart, our next stop.

By the way, I should point out that most of the names along this coast were bestowed by Capt. James Cook during his second voyage (I think it was the second) where he sailed up the entire length of the coast starting in Botany Bay (the next bay South of Sydney Harbor) all the way to Lizard Island where he left the coast and exited the Great Barrier Reef. Cook did not like the reef as it almost sunk his ship when he ran into it. He had to limp back to the coast and put ashore for repairs which took a month or three if I recall. The port he put in at is now named Cooktown and lies a bit North of Cairns (we did not visit there). He named Cape Bowling Green, Cape Upstart and most of the other major points along the coast here. He named Cape Bowling Green because it is so flat and low, like a bowling green (back then, as now in Australia, a game like bowling was played on a grass lawn). Cape Upstart was so named because of the way it protrudes so great a way from the coast.

We raised the hook at about 6:40am and motored out away from the beach. We headed North initially to gain some distance from the cape as it is very shallow all around. After making about 2-3 miles offing from the coast we started to shape our course to starboard over the next hour or two until we were clear of all shoals then we turned to the SE on a course of 148M and shut the engine.

At about 10:15am conditions remain fine with light winds of 10k from the East. We are sailing close hauled about 40 degrees off the wind and making about 5 – 5.5k over ground. We decided to head for the tip of Cape Upstart instead of the anchorage further down along the cape as it is an extra 6 miles tomorrow to get back to the tip for the sail to Cape Gloucester, the next in the series of Great Capes of Australia.

We anchored at Cape Upstart before 1pm and were all pleasantly surprised to find the anchorage exceptionally calm and beautiful. From the chart it looked a bit exposed and we expected to be rolling all night. In fact, it was dead calm with only an occasional, slight, roll.