Day 8: Sailing to Lowe Island
Sept. 29th, 2005

We woke up at 4:30am and made the ship ready to set sail for the Lowe Islets. Watched the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean as we sailed through the Cairns channel and into the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The crew was now being tested in real-world conditions, as Captain Jim familiarized us on the lines and sails we needed to man as we sailed along. We each took turns at the Helm steering the Makulu, and we began learning how to read charts and plot a course. I'm impressed (and humbled) by how important these things are when you travel by sea. There's so many things we take for granted when traveling in the modern world: roadways and highways all have signs telling us everything we need to know to get somewhere safely. You don't have those luxeries on the sea. Our lives now depend on how well we can read our charts and sail this ship. We can't take anything for granted.

Fortunately, seas were relatively calm on our first day, with a light wind coming from our stern (the rear of the ship). This made steering a little challenging, as the ship tended to swivle off our course with every gust. We needed to cover 33 miles today in order to make our destination before sunset, but the winds weren't really strong enough for us to maintain a good speed. So we put up our Spinnaker Sail (a very large, parachute-like sail that hangs off the front of the boat and pulls us) and picked up enough speed. Since we were sailing up the same coastline we had driven to get to the Daintree Rainforesta few days back, it was interesting seeing the landscape from this point of view, and trying to identify familiar landmarks.

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We arrived at Lowe Islets right on time, and anchored in a little cove behind the island (protected from the winds) and took our first swim at a reef. I was amazed at the spectacle of life just under the water's surface. I had been to the Florida Keys snorkling many times growing up, but was not prepared for the richness and diversity of the reefs here. I've never seen so many species of coral so vibrant and healthy and in such a concentrated area. After swimming for an hour, we all had dinner together on the Makulu, enjoying pasta with a vegetable sauce. Everyone was exhausted, and we all went to sleep around 8pm.

NEXT DAY