I tried out a different route, where I get Johnny's beacon at the same time I visit Half Moon Isle, as opposed to getting the beacon earlier, at the same time I do underwater sudoku. This forces me to take an extra trip to the cliffs for the bat puzzle, but sailing is so unpredictable in this game that the timing is more or less the same.

The biggest mistake I made was sending George to get the pulley from the monkeys. It turns out the game doesn't let George get the pulley! So I had to go back there as Nancy, just to get the pulley. This wasted four minutes.