Mustang Sally Cruising 2019 - Kiting the East Coast

Lizard Island definitley lived up to its reputation of being windy.  We ended up spending 3 weeks in at Watsons Bay and had good winds for the entire duration which did mean we got to get in lots of Kiting in the Blue Lagoon.  There are no complaints here as it is a pretty special part of the world to spend some quality time.  Our furthest north position for the season was 14 39;366S 145 26.830E Miss Lynda arrived right on time on the 20th and stayed with us for a week and we managed to fit in all the tourist actities available.  We walked to Cooks Look to check out the passage that James Cook identified back in 1770 as the best option to escape from the Great Barrier Reef.  We visited the Research Centre which was very informative and also a good long walk.  We visited the Marlin Bar where we enjoyed some great meals and plenty of company from the other boats.  We had several evening socialising with the many crews on the beach and spent a lot of time snorkelling at the various re

As planned Mustang Sally and crew departed from the Crystalbrooke Marina in Port Douglas on the 6th September for the final push north to Lizard Island. A very calm Mackay Reef With the super light conditions forecast for at least three days we took the opportunity to head straight back out the Mackay Reef for three nights until the wind was to build again.  This time we had two yachts as company and as they had taken the two moorings we decided to go an drop anchor further in behind the island in the shallow crystal clear water.  So clear that we could watch the fish and turtles swimming past the boat.  We actually ended up moving anchorage a few times due to the light and changeable winds and stuck it out so long that we actually secured a mooring for the last night of our visit which was nice as the wind started to build to around 10-15kts overnight. On the 9th we departed Mackay for a short 20NM hop up to East Hope Island.  We spent quite a bit of time at East Hope on our w

Mustang Sally is back in at the Crystalbrook Marina at the moment but not for much longer. Port Douglas Tour Boats Since the last post we have been many places and seen many things. On our first stop in at PD we ended up in marina world for around 10days.  We hired a rental car so that we could do lots  of exploring and had many visits to go kiting at 4 mile beach which is the local kiteboarding hang out.  We even got to meet the very famous Bretto from Windswell who gave us some excellent intel for our kiting adventures as we head north which we are pretty excited about. Some of the highlights of this stopover were: Catching up with fellow Safety Beach SC members Gary and Barb Morland who come up to the nearby Wonga Beach for their winter sojourn. Eating Fresh Prawns from the boat Daintree River Ferry A road trip up to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest  View over Snapper Island  4-Mile Beach Port Douglas

We ended up enjoying two weeks in marina world at Bluewater Marina which is located up the Half Moon Creek just past Yorkey's Knob.  In essence it was located up a mangrove creek but it was a very nice mangrove creek.  The locals are lovely and with the hire car we were able to get out and enjoy all the tourist attractions that Cairns and its surrounds has to offer. My eye recovered very quickly and was given the all clear when I went back to the clinic on Wednesday which meant we could get out for a kite board at Yorkeys Knob which we did.  During our two weeks we managed to get out for a kite on about 4 occasions which was great.  The spot is really nice for kiting but we did find the waves a bit challenging to start with as we are far more used to flat water kiting but quickly got into the swing of it all and really ended up enjoying some kite surfing!!  At the end of each day we had a down winder to get us back to the car park which was always heaps of fun and much easier tha