DAY 59-COOKTOWN, AUSTRALIA

Our position today is anchored off the coast near Cooktown.  It will be a long (30 minute) tender ride to get ashore for our tour.

We still have the Great Barrier Reef on our right side of the ship and mainland Australia on the left side.

Weather conditions at 8:00 am.  There were also rain showers just ahead of the ship over Cooktown. At 3:00 pm the temperature was 85 degrees and very humid.

BACKGROUND INFO:
       Today we are anchored on the Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland at Cooktown.  This is our first visit here.  Cooktown is located at the mouth of the Endeavor River.  Back in 1770 James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavor, here for repairs.  The town is named after him and the river after his ship.  It was founded in 1873 as a supply port for the gold fields.  During WWII some 20,000 Australian and American troops were stationed here and its airfield was crucial during the Battle of the Coral Sea.  Cooktown has recently grown in importance again and is a popular tourist destination.  It is small and quaint with a population of just over 2,000 and another 4,000 in the region that get supplies here.
WHAT WE DID TODAY:
       Our tour, “Black Mountain & Lion’s Den”, today departed the ship via tender service after lunch.  At last minute Rebecca decided not to go as it was so hot and humid.  It turned out to be a very wise move.  After a 30 minute bus ride we arrived at Black Mountain which is an enormous maze of huge granite rocks.  It was formed around 240 million years ago but erosion has since exposed the rocks and wore down their corners.  As you see in my photos, the rocks are precariously stacked on each other.  The granite rock’s black color is due to oxidation and lichens clinging to their surface.  Actually, the rocks are pinkish-gray in color.  Over the centuries there are tales of people and herds of cattle disappearing without a trace inside the maze of rocks.  On our way back to the ship we stopped off for a “coldie”, as the local offbeat characters call it.  The Lion’s Den Pub was made of iron and timber back in 1875 and is now known for its unusual decorations.
       We arrived back at the tender dock just before 2:30 pm.  The last tender back to the ship was scheduled for 2:30.  So ours was the one.  Well, the ship's bridge radioed our tender that there was one passenger unaccounted for so to wait.  It was VERY hot in the tender and there was talk of a mutiny.  Finally, after about 15 minutes they decided it was an error so we could head to the ship.  I was sweating profusely during the 30 minute torturous trip.
       Back on board I immediately began uploading my tour photos.  The internet was painfully slow because I guess everyone was using it.  Here is the link to today's photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/2CvqNFwXTaiWCkLL6

       It is now 5:30 and I am showered and ready to dress for cocktails and dinner as soon as I finish this.  Our reef pilot just made a PA from the bridge about the islands and reefs near us that are still making up the Great Barrier Reef.  He said the this area has 98% pure white sand (silicon) on the islands and it is being mined by a Japanese company and is used to make glass.
       We will be joined for dinner tonight by some friends we met on our 2010 world cruise, Hank and Sondra.  I have requested veal parmesean for our entree tonight.  We would like to go see the second show by The Tap Pack after dinner.
       It is an absolutely beautiful evening with just a few clouds and very smooth seas.  We will now have two more sea days before we will be arriving in Darwin, Australia.