We had a nice second day with reasonable wind and we made good miles as we approached the Torres Strait, the narrow passage between Australia and Papua New Guinea that connects the Coral Sea and the Arafura Sea. This is one of the most challenging and exciting parts of our trip, as we have to navigate through a complex maze of reefs, islands, sandbanks, and shipping lanes.
We also saw more dolphins at once than I've seen for a long time and interestingly there were two different types of dolphins swimming together. This is the point my marine biology skills breakdown but there were some very large ones and dozens of smaller ones. I think the large
ones were bottlenose dolphins, which are very common in this area. They are friendly and curious animals that often come close to boats and play in the bow waves. No idea what the small ones where other than that they weren't spinner dolphins.
We dodged a few ships and entered the Torres Strait just about sunset and have been going well so far. We could see the silhouettes of some islands on the horizon.
I think we will try and anchor tomorrow evening for a few hours and pull the anchor up super early so we can navigate our way through what seems to be the most congested section during daytime. There are many hazards and obstacles in this part of the strait, such as shallow waters, coral reefs, strong currents, tidal variations, and heavy traffic. We need to be very careful and follow the official charts and routes. We also need to keep an eye on the weather, as it can change quickly and create strong winds and waves.