July 15

By midnight the wind had died almost completely and we had to roll up the jib. Our speed dropped to just 6k and the sea became glassy, like a pond. The sky is clear with only a few puffy clouds visible here and there.

At 8am conditions remain the same. We have about 38 miles to go to reach Grafton Passage (the entry to the Great Barrier Reef ). Skies are partly cloudy with many evenly spaced white puffy clouds.

By noon the sky is almost completely clear. The wind is about 2k from the SW and we are motoring on a course of 226M. We have 14 miles to go to reach the Grafton Passage. We expect to arrive at Cairns tonight at about 8pm.

At 2:20pm we have passed Euston Reef Light and are officially inside the Great Barrier Reef . Conditions remain calm with glassy seas and only 2 or 3 knots of wind. Skies are clear and sunny. The mountains on the coast were first visible several hours ago and are now looming up high. We have 32.5 miles to go to reach Cairns Harbor .

We arrived in Cairns at about 8pm having entered the harbor in the dark following the well marked lighted channel marks. We anchored in 25ft of water just to Port of the main channel in the designated anchoring area. Tomorrow morning we will move over to the marina and complete customs and immigration clearance.