Under suspicion 

We were just casually sailing along on our way to Middle Percy Island from Curlew Island having a quiet read when we noticed a very large vessel speeding along and heading straight for us! Was it cargo ship – too fast! Was it an inter Island ferry – too big! It was getting closer and closer – were we about to be boarded by pirates? (Well we were quite a way out to sea and not another ship in sight!) Were we going to get mown down (but why?). The vessel started to steer off course and then back on course, repeating the manoeuvre several times – a signal that they were trying to communicate with us. Think I’ll turn on the radio said the Skipper….

As soon as the radio was switched on a voice boomed over the airways “are you the yacht with the white sails?”.  After a momentary pause to process the rather bizarre question Jonathan tentatively said “yeeeessss”. Customs Vessel Cape Bryon was calling and after what seemed to me like a fairly lengthy interrogation regarding boat registration details, ownership, personal details etc we were dismissed with “thank you Bali Hai, our mobile number is …..please contact us if you observe anything unusual” and with that Cape Byron accelerated into the blue yonder.