Lizard Island 3rd - 9th August

Val, Ric and Liz on the resort beach at Lizard Island

 

Following our unplanned anchoring way out the back of the anchorage at Mrs Watsons Bay, in the strong wind, Peter and I settled down and decided to have lunch before we tackled the gear problem. Feeling better Peter pulled out the engine cover, got out the tools etc and began the process of diagnosis. He had me sitting up in the cockpit holding the gear lever - one of my favourite jobs!!! Not! Meanwhile he rattled about down below accompanied by periodic bouts of bad language. Then I spotted an official looking run-a-bout heading our way. 'What do they want?' I thought. 'Probably to check our safety gear was in order'. No. It was much worse!

Here comes the smoke and ash!

The boat belonged to the Parks and Wildlife Department (Sparks and Wildfires again!). They informed me that the following day they were planning to do a controlled burn of the island, particularly the valley directly in front of  the anchorage and to top this off the island walking tracks would be closed for six days. 'You're joking!' I exclaimed. 'No,' I was told, 'and if we had accessed their web site we would have been informed of this two months ago.' Well for goodness sake! Who looks up the Sparks and Wildfires website to see where the next burn is? We had already acquainted ourselves with the weather forecast for the next few days and tomorrow was predicted to blow at up to 30kns SE wind. They were going to light a fire in front of 17 boats in the bay in 30kts of wind! While 30kns was the forecast, in Mrs Watsons Bay, very strong bullets of wind howl down the valley and one of the other yachts instruments measured a gust at 40kns on the day of the fire. They also told me that if we didn't want to sit out the fire amongst the smoke we could anchor in one of the other bays. I wondered which one exactly, as no one voluntarily moves in 30kns of wind and to which bay exactly? Lizard Island is not endowered with multiple anchorages on the north side. I did tell them we wouldn't be going anywhere as we had no gears at the moment. You can imagine when I relayed this information to Peter down below what he said. I won't repeat it here!



Rene at anchor. Here comes the smoke and ash

The next day we moved closer into the beach even though the smoke threat was real. It was very bouncy and rough taking Lily ashore from so far out. Sure enough, just after lunch the first wisps of smoke began to appear from the shore and up the valley. Before long the smoke and ash was billowing from the bush and covering everything in it's path. We closed all the hatches and waited. Luckily most of the smoke went to the western end of the bay, but Rene was still covered with black ash. The wind pushed the fires up the range and during the night we were treated to a firey display.



On the way to Cook's Lookout amongst the scorched foliage

 

For the duration of our stay on Lizard Island this year the wind blew incessantly from the SE without pause. Sometimes the bullets were very strong and shook Rene and howled in the rigging. Not pleasant! The fires burned all the next day, but only in patches of dense bush. Luckily it rained in the second night and all but put the fires out. After an inspection of the site the Sparks and Wildfires opened the tracks as they deemed it safe to do so. We were very relieved as now we were able to walk the beautiful tracks again. We walked to the Blue Lagoon on the south side of the island and up to Cook's Lookout, the highest point on the range. The walks were still beautiful, but somewhat spoilt by the burnt and blackened bush.

Cook's Lookout looking west

The Marlin Bar

The only access boaties have to the resort is at the Marlin Bar, in the corner of the bay. They open Wednesday, Friday and Sunday evenings for drinks and meals - sometimes!! We rolled up on Friday, as did at least 23 others from the boats and the bar did not open. No explanation, sign or anything, so we all went back to our boats. We tried again on Sunday night and the bar opened and everyone enjoyed the convivial atmosphere and some very yummy burgers.

At the Marlin Bar. No joy this time!

The Research Station

The Research Station opens on Mondays at 10am for tours. Last year we walked to the facility, but this year Sparks and Wildfires were implementing a second hazard reduction burn around the resort in the afternoon. The tracks were again closed. That meant a trip to the research station in the dinghy. That is fine except that as the wind was howling again it meant a very wet trip for part of the way. I wore my bathers - a very good decision as we splashed and bounced our way around to the south west side of the island. The tour was excellent, as it was last year. The lady told us about the coral bleaching event during the summer and the extent of the damage. Apparently they had some hot days where there was no cloud cover and the sea warmed up dramatically, especially in the shallow water. Usually the summer wet season produces cloud cover that keeps the sea cooler. This is a very worthwhile tour and we both enjoyed it immensely.

The reception at the research station was good so everyone took advantage of it.

Windy 

An ordinary windy day at Lizard Island 

 It was very windy at Lizard this year and there was no let up in the strong gusts blowing down the valley from the SE. I found it difficult to sleep in the forward cabin as the anchor rope stretched and squeaked and crunched against the anti chafe collar that Peter has set up on the bow. Rene shuddered with the onset of the gusts and I moved into the main cabin where I found the noises and movement less and I was at least able to sleep.

On our last night  one of the boats in front of us dragged his anchor. I heard a motor nearby and was alarmed to see another yacht very close to our bow. The man had things under control and gradually motored back towards the beach and re-anchored his boat. Another yacht nearby had their dinghy overturned in the night and the motor was submerged for a while. Luckily he noticed it before he went to bed and was able to right it and run fresh water through the engine. He is now in Cooktown having the dinghy motor looked at by a mechanic. As we were leaving the poor fellow who dragged in front of us in the night had his dinghy blown off the deck and it was quickly being blown out of the bay. One of the other yachties saw and retrieved it as we motored out of the bay for a quick, bumpy day sail back to Cape Bedford.

Cape Bedford was again calm and peaceful and I had the quietest, most restful sleep I had had for a week.

We are now anchored in the basin at Cooktown. It looks as though we will be here for at least a week as after a couple of quieter days the wind is back with a vengeance this weekend and continues on for most of next week - so the forecast says. A week is too far out to predict the weather accurately, especially the wind, so lets hope it changes after the weekend and we can begin to make our way back to Cairns.

Kapok flowers. Survivors

Scorched Earth!