Break in the weather

 last walk on Lizard Island before we sailed off I wanted to check out the treasure chest at the camp grounds.

This is the chest that was inside the above barrel.

 The loot inside the above chest.

 The book for visiting pirates and sailors to sign, which we did.

 the walk across the flat land, back to the dingy on the beach for a refreshing swim

 This mornings sunrise after leaving the anchorage at Watson's Bay

We had a break in the weather with lighter ESE predicted for a few days, so we left Lizard Island this morning. At sundowners last night the whole anchorage was on the beach, and there were about 22 boats anchored. Almost half of them were leaving today. We thought we might go down the ribbon reefs, but decided instead to head down south of Cooktown and explore the reefs from there to Cairns. We made it as far as Hope Island today which was about 69 nm run. The first half was a great sail to just north of Cooktown, then the winds went more to the south and became lighter. We ended up motor sailing then motoring the rest of the way. It still was a beautiful day on the water!
We have met up with Rozzie & Wayne on Vaya Con Dios and plan on doing some of the reefs off of herre for the next few days while we have good weather. More photos to come soon.