There are no real options for this part of the journey north, everyone is pushed onto Johnstone straight for a long stretch. The only possible place to stop is at Port Neville; an old post office in the middle of nowhere.

We got off early knowing it was a fairly long day ahead of us and threaded through the 9 boats that had joined us in Forward harbour. The first stretch down Sunderland channel was pleasant and uneventful but as we sailed into Johnstone Straight it got up to it's by now, old tricks. With a fresh wind blowing right where we wanted to go over current it was a choppy ride. We tried sailing into this but eventually gave up, dropped the sails and puttered on through choppy seas until we got to Port Neville.

We initial anchored just inside the channel, hoping to get some shelter from the increasing westerly wind and so we dropped anchor (as well as a stern anchor as the guide warned about the strong currents through the channel) and then started to relax... until we noticed all the other boats steaming past us and going deep into the inlet. After the 12th boat passed us we realised that perhaps they new something we didn't. By this time we had been over to the small public wharf and, seeing that there was room there we headed over and moored up. this proved a good move as during the night a strong westerly blew, battering us into the dock but at least we were secure. It would have been a very different night if we had stayed at our original spot!

Th next morning was a dreary day but we knew we had to get on (the weather forecast didn't look like it would improve). So we untied from our cozy dock and motored on up the straight again with the wind on our nose.

Making barely three knots we were as ever passed by many boats but eventually made it past Broken Islands and into Havannah Channel. We tried a bit of sailing but as we put the sails up the wind died so we were back to motoring. There were a couple of options for anchoring tonight and we ended up tucked in at a beautiful little spot called Maltipi. The weather brightened and we had a lovely time exploring the area