Willis Island

From Port Douglas we sailed to Willis Island where we arrived the morning of April 7th.  I heard several people talk about it so imagine my surprise when Willis Island turned out to be a very small island with just a few buildings on it.  It is the only permanently inhabited island in the Coral Sea Islands Territory, an external territory of Australia, located beyond the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea. The buildings currently house three people who are stationed there to monitor the weather.  The intent of the station was to learn more about cyclones.  It was a beautiful island but I didn't understand why everyone made a big deal out of it.  Suzan cleared it all up.  The island is considered international waters.  Once we sailed into international waters, the ship could open the duty free shop.  

To give you and idea of why Australians like the duty free shop so much, Suzan got four liters (two of Jack Daniels and two of Vodka) for $88.  When she first asked me to pick up duty free for her (I got Makers Mark and Chivas for $100) I have to confess I thought it was rather silly - until I saw the prices in the liquor store.  A $17 bottle of Jim Beam is almost $40 AUD here.  Crazy expensive so the duty free store - where prices are still 1.5 to 2 times more than what we pay at home - are still cheaper than Sydney liquor stores.