Australia - Queensland - Great Barrier Reef- Lizard Island

Cook's Look

We were last at Cooktown, where in 1770 Captain Cook took several weeks to repair his ship the Endeavor.     As the Endeavor left the river and continued to map the East coast of Australia, Captain Cook often refers to the Great Barrier Reef as a labyrinth, which it truly is a labyrinth of shallow underwater reefs.  

We once again, raised our sails and followed the wake of a previous Cook expedition.  Cook had noted in his journal that the only land animal to be seen here was lizards, thus aptly naming it Lizard Island.   This island was once part of the mainland.  This land became separated as a result of the rising sea levels that occurred during the end of last Ice Age over 9,000 years ago.

It was part of the navigation process to stop to view from the highest point on land to determine where the shoals are and to identify the best possible route.   Here Cook walked to the top peak, now aptly name ‘Cook’s Look’.  Gary and I enjoyed the views and the walk up to Cook’s Look. 

10,000 years ago we could of walked here from Cooktown

We are on the Great Barrier Reef- the dark blue is the continental shelf https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV-ILLIMITE

Island named after the lizards on the island, after all there is not much else here. This is yellow spotted Monitor lizard

Our yacht SV Illimite in the crowded Watson Bay anchorage

Golden Orchid & Scurvy weed, this blue flower is very small, maybe 1cm. Aboriginals ate this weed as a green vegetable.

Kapok tree/bush. Aboriginals ate the flowers as well as the roots. The fluffy kapok, which is similar to cotton, was used for ceremonial body decorations, while the bark was used as string and paintbrushes.

Sunset