Voyage of SV Sea Star
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Homeward leg   |   Panama to Mexico   |   Grenada to ABC's   |   Atlantic crossing   |   Spanish Family   |   Portugal   |   Bay of Biscay   |   Ireland and London   |   Isle of Man   |   Castles and Lake District   |    Arrival in Scotland   |   Norway   |   Germany and Denmark   |   Belgium and Holland   |   Heading north   |   Final Days in Paris   |   Vimy Memorial   |   Winter in the City of Light   |   Christmas in Paris   |   St. Jean to Paris by canal   |   Visit Home   |   Up the French Canals   |   More Italian adventures   |   Italy   |   Greece   |   Turkey   |   Cyprus   |   Battle up the Red Sea   |   Oman   |   Looking for family roots   |   Passage to India   |   Surviving the Tsunami   |   Thailand   |   Malaysia   |   Leaving Indonesia for Singapore   |   Arriving in Indonesia   |   Leaving Australia   |   Sailing with friends   |   Yamba   |   Cruising the Oz Coast   |   Christmas Down Under   |   Maps   |   Kids page   |   New Caledonia to Australia   |   Vanuatu   |   Fiji   |   Wallis Island   |   Samoa   |   Canton Island   |   Hawaii   |   Leaving Canada   |   About Us   |   The boat   |   Contact Us
Leaving Australia

Twenty years ago on our first visit to Australia I worked with a great group of research divers on the Great Barrier. We kept in touch with Tony and Avril, and on our way north were lucky enough to visit their home close to the Daintree River.Catching up with Avril (Tony was away doing reef surveys in the Arabian Sea) and their 16-year-old twin daughters,Xenica and Bliss, was a lot of fun. Their life along the river has been anything but dull: shipwrecks, 4x4 trips across the middle of Australia, and Tony survived a saltwater croc attack on his 49th birthday. Luckily he has nine lives and escaped with minor injuries; we are looking forward to following the talented twins future adventures.

Avril, Xen and Bliss at their rainforest home

  fan palm      look, don't touch

After Port Douglas we headed out to Lizard Island. Captain Cook climbed to the top to try and find a way through the reefs.

  looking west toward the mainland


  looking east from Cook's Lookout

With 20-25kt trade winds we hoisted twin headsails


Reaching Cape York, the most northerly point  of mainland Australia, a low oil pressure warning light flashed on. We sailed into Thursday Island hoping to find a mechanic to resuscitate our antique engine.




we found a clogged oil pump and a broken flywheel key

but even in the remotest place there are magicians, who can fabricate a key when the nearest spare is 7000 miles away, and rejoice when the antique fires up once again...


We decided to re-power in Darwin and say goodbye to the "Green Death" A  40 Hp Yanmar was ordered to replace the 23 Hp MD11. But first we had to remove the old engine bed and glass in the Yanmar, since the bolt patterns were different.

  Old Volvo engine bed on left, new Yanmar on right

new saildrive installed, engine about to be bolted in place


We completed hooking up the new engine at 0900 on July 24th, loaded everything on board and the travel-lift dropped us in at 0930. Bit of a flap when we discovered the engine controls were reversed, no worries mate. We headed off and anchored for an hour to stow gear.Once everything was shipshape, we crossed the start line of the Darwin-Kupang rally, only half an hour late.