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Recluse is moving again after spending the cyclone season in Bowen, Queensland. The plan is to get to Darwin some time in July, then make our way up through Indonesia, and Malaysia to Thailand. Oh, with a stop at Singapore as well.

Monday, April Fools Day, was spent stocking up on essentials, like food and water, and saying goodbye to some of the lovely people we have met during our time in Bowen. Recluse was moved to the public jetty; so we could load up all our supplies, and to enable land based friends to call around in the evening for farewell drinks, without needing a dinghy ride. It was a lovely evening and great that so many friends called in to say goodbye.

At 6:30am on Tuesday we said goodbye to Bowen and made our way out of the harbour. It was a beautiful still morning, with the forecast winds of 5-10 knots proving to be quite accurate. Motor sailing was the order of the day, especially with the huge amount of Bowen barnacles clinging to the bottom. It was nice to have a calm day when we hadn’t been out for so long. The new tiller pilot steered the boat brilliantly, and so quietly. We have christened him Caspar.

Unfortunately engine problems stopped us for a while, but Steve eventually sorted things out enough to carry on. By this time it was obvious we would not be getting to Cape Upstart before dark. To compensate, Steve caught a tuna. As his fishing in Australia has been largely unsuccessful up until now, it was a very exciting moment. Not long after, I spotted a dolphin, my highlight for the day. There were quite a few logs floating in the water as we approached Cape Upstart, and we had to take care not to hit any. It was 7.30pm by the time we were anchored for the night and having our tea. Our first day of sea air for so long, had worn us out, and it was a very early night for us.

Wednesday morning was a repeat of Tuesday. Lovely, fine and calm with several dolphins sighted along the way. Steve found our hammock, which had never been used, and worked out a way to rig it up in the cockpit. Very comfortable. We stopped at Cape Bowling Green for the night, although several people had told us that this anchorage is very uncomfortable. However, with the weather so light, it was fine.

Thursday morning sent us a huge rain shower before turning into another brilliant day. Luckily we had slightly more wind, and managed to travel a little faster than the previous two days, arriving at Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island, mid afternoon. There were quite a few boats in the bay when we got there, with others arriving after us. We worked out that it must be the long Easter weekend, bringing everyone out from Townsville. By Friday night there were boats everywhere

We are now waiting to hear from the Townsville Slipway to see how soon we can get Recluse out of the water, to give the bottom a good coating of antifoul, before carrying on northwards.