Ken was the early bird were up at 6:40am, so I jumped up to flick the inverter on as I knew he’d be pulling out the Nespresso machine for the first brew of the morning. After deciding to spend more time ashore at Thursday Island, the crew were up eating breakfast and downing coffee in the cockpit by 7am.

Our anchorage backed onto a muddy, mangrove covered shoreline and I was excited to see if we could spot our first crocodile. There was nothing in the water or along the muddy foreshore and it looked like it would have to wait until another day.

Next minute there was excitement in the cockpit as the first croc was spotted on the shoreline. Easily seen through the binoculars, but almost too far away to be photographed, it was still exciting to grasp the reality of the situation. Once the excitement subsided we got organised to pull up the anchor and motor back across to the Thursday Island waterfront.

The breeze was building again as we anchored opposite the waterfront township. At 18 gusting 23 knots already, we dropped 90m of chain in 7m of water. At 13x the depth, we were taking no chances in the lee shore situation. Both crews had planned a morning of scenic walks, historic forts and cemeteries, the cultural arts centre and a lunch at the Torres Hotel. Jess ferried us all ashore and we split up, agreeing to rendezvous at the pub for lunch at 12pm. I stopped at a cafe to grab a fresh juice and the group of Australian Border Force personnel grabbing a coffee numbered about 10 by the time we had our order.

With a big presence on the northern border, they were friendly people who took great interest in our sailing plans. They gave us some great tips for stopovers for the leg from Darwin to Perth and clearly loved the adventure side of their ABF roles.

The first signs of trouble came when we noticed Salt Lines, lying beam on at anchor and in a different direction to the other yachts around her. This was a sure sign that the anchor was dragging and Phil hightailed back to Salt Lines, having left Sandie onboard on anchor watch. Sharon messaged me and suggested heading back to Silver Fern and as I watch what must have been a 28 - 30 knot squall hit both yachts, I decided to do the same. If our anchor dragged, it would not take long to end up close to the boats moored behind us.

The RIB we were both using was tied up alongside Salt Lines and they had no chance of picking us up from the dock. A local aluminium boat arrived to drop someone at the dock, so we asked if they would mind dropping us a Salt Lines so we could check Phil was okay. It was a wild and wet ride out to Salt Lines as the short steep chop had built in the harbour. Phil had reset the anchor after dragging a few boat lengths but had the situation under control. We headed back to Silver Fern and had dragged about half a boat length from where we had set the anchor.

The combined crews had a great lunch at the northernmost pub in Australia. Sharon took the RIB ashore and made 2 wild rides back to Silver Fern, with most crew getting a drenching in the conditions. Getting back onboard Salt Lines looked dangerous in the lumpy conditions, so Phil headed back across the bay ahead of us, to the shelter in the lee of Horn Island. Silver Fern ferried both crews and towed the Salt Lines RIB across the bay and everything got easier once we were back in flat water.

Once Salt Lines had loaded their RIB (the landing craft) onto their foredeck and lashed it down, we both motored back down the western channel, past Thursday Island, around the headland into 4 knots of outgoing current, hoisted sails and headed out across the Gulf of Carpenteria for our 320nm leg to Gove Harbour. Tonight we are sailing in 18-30+ knots, with the wind once again behind us.

Sharon has been busy on watch for the past 2 hours, coaching the crew to steer down in the gusts and up in the lulls.