Cooktown
Through all our stay here in Cooktown, the strong winds that held us up further north continued to blow and today has been no exception. We were due to leave this evening but I decided to stay until tomorrow morning - the crew think there is something wrong with me, it is unusual for me to want to stay in port. However we have only just had some of our new crew join today and if we went straight out tonight it would be a most unpleasant night for them punching into it. If we go in the morning at least we will be able to do some sailing, it is far preferable to be dodging reefs in the daylight. The other reason for going tomorrow is to remain open to the public all through today - Sunday potentially being a good day for visits. We missed a few days by being late so hopefully we can make up a bit of lost time. I take the chance to be a bit of a tourist. Local identity Aussie Walker offers to take me up to the top of Grassy Hill and I leap at the chance. This is the hill that overlooks the river and town nd the one that James Cook climbed in 1770 to survey the river and outlying reefs before taking "Endeavour" back to sea following her repairs. A superb view from the top and one that confirmed my decision to remain until tomorrow, a full gale blowing out at sea with rain squalls sweeping through from the SE, not very pleasant. After coming down from the top I was taken to see some of the other sights around the town, some beautiful old buildings, over a hundred years old, monuments to Cook and the big 24 pounder cannon that was sent to Cooktown to defend the town against the Russian threat. It could not have been much of a threat, all that was sent with the cannon was 3 cannonballs, 2 muskets and 1 officer, a formidable deterrent. Andrea takes the new voyage crew through the safety induction this afternoon, they all seem excited about the trip and are keen to get going, but understand the reasons for the delay. The crew enjoy a final night ashore but the ship tugs at her mooring lines in the squalls as if keen to get to sea. I am too, but the trades are still blowing hard and it is prudent to stay. Gary Wilson Mate - Duyfken
Master
