Up early as usual to read the emails and deal with them. When I went outside I noticed John had left his fishing line out overnight and it was heading for the prop. I left if for him to deal with as it was tight.

The decision was made by the three boats to head for Lucinda as the weather is likely to change earlier than expected and make this anchorage untenable.

First thing though get the line off the prop. As it was John’s line I felt it was his responsibility to fix the issue. There was no way to get it off without going in the water. John stripped down to his undies, ( a good look , lucky I had no photo), donned a face mask and went in. He was out again mighty fast , he said the line was tangled around the prop and a 1 metre shark that bared its teeth at him was on the other end. He grabbed a knife and went in again, cut the line and luckily the shark took off with all the line released from the prop. John came out fairly fast again, refreshed from his quick dip and brush with one of nature’s meaner machines, glad it was him.  Made me vow never to leave my line out at night.

The sail to Lucinda was a good one with both main and jib up, sometimes assisted by the motors.

Towards the end of the day there was enough wind in the right direction to push us straight to the end of the very long sugar wharf at Lucinda.

The conveyer jetty extends 5.76 km out to the entrance of the Hinchinbrook channel and allows Lucinda to receive the largest ships used in the raw sugar trade. Apparently, it’s the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere. Sure seems like it when you are navigating the shallow waters along it.

We dropped sails and lined up the automated lead light showing us the deeper water alongside the conveyer belt.

There wasn’t time to go further up the channel, so we anchored west of the derelict molasses wharf next to the barges that transport trucks and plant across to the Palm Islands. There was just enough room for us 3 boats.

Tonight was a curried chicken and rice made from the left over chicken.