Cruising Helmsman – June 2017

and relocation for some years to Canberra and

finally to settle back in Queensland on the

Atherton Tablelands.

Once during that time, we indulged in a yacht

charter for a week around the Whitsunday

Islands; a delightful, nostalgic reprise of our

cruising life and a brief opportunity for our

kids to catch a glimpse of their parents as

seafarers. But a return to boat ownership and

the possibility of once more pouring over charts

of the Coral Sea to plan our next voyage simply

did not arise.

I had once been a dreamer who had sailed

over deep water: a past time, a past life, a past

identity. Until ...

ONCE MORE DEAR FRIENDS ...

My return to the sea began on a coastal road

trip from Cairns to Townsville in 2010.

Midway through the journey I took a break in

Cardwell and strolled onto the jetty, taking in the

great sweep of islands lying close to this part of the

coast: Dunk Island and the other Family Islands to

the north, pyramid-shaped Gould Island and tiny

Garden Island to the east and the towering hulk of

Hinchinbrook Island to the south.

I had taken in this view countless times

over the previous 20 years, but this time

it was different. This time the sea and the

islands stirred a memory, a recognition and

a reconnection: the great vista of the island-

studded Coral Sea had once been my domain

and could be again.

Perhaps I had been subconsciously thinking

of a return to the sea ever since the kids had

left home a few years earlier but I knew, at that

38

Cruising Helmsman June 2017

REFLECTIONS

ABOVE: Placebo

arriving in Port

Douglas.

RIGHT: Encountering

Erus in Dickson Inlet,

Port Douglas.