Townsville to Darwin


Sill in Darwin

Date:July 2, 2015, 8:05 a.m.

We have had to stay on in Darwin longer than planned as we are waiting for Australia post to find an engine part it seems to have misplaced... On the up side we have been having a great time enjoying the place. Some generous family friends have given us wheels so as well as enjoying a great sunset every night we've been able to get out to Litchfield National Park to splash around in the waterfalls, we've also made the most of the Mindil Beach & Parap markets for the excellent asian food. I was stoked to discover that Mary was still serving her Laksa at Parap, although now in a rather flash van. Still the best, I've been doing the comparative tastings... A lot has changed in Darwin, her skyline is now populated with tall buildings but the place remains true to it's friendly, relaxed heart.

We have really loved having the time to catch up with many old friends and have had a very busy, but oh so much fun, dance card. The absolute highlight however (ahem, aside from getting hitched) has been a flight in a 1942 Tiger Moth Gypsy Major! The very cool, immaculate toy of a very generous friend, he took us both up for Loops, Barrel Rolls and Wing Overs as well as general sight seeing. It was an incredibly different experience being in an open cockpit and though the aerobatics were not nearly as scary as I first imagined I was glad I did not need to use my knees at any stage. I did not trust myself to take the camera but Mark got some great shots and managed not to break it with his white knuckled grip. For once Mark, who often stays aboard working while I provision the boat, could not complain that he did not get to see the place properly!

Last night we enjoyed Territory Day watching personal and professional fireworks shows whilst listening to 'our' Jess (Malboy) on the beach, eating Laksa and drinking a cheeky bottle of wine. It helped to make up for missing the Berkley River Party with the other yachts who are cruising the Kimberly this year.

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Got hitched in Darwin

Date:June 25, 2015, 3:19 p.m.

We’ve been a bit slow on the blogging lately but we have a the excuse of being flat out preparing for our last minute wedding. In between doing boat maintenance of course.

Mark and I met in Darwin many years ago at high school so it seemed a fitting place to tie the knot, plus it was on our route to South Africa and with the pace we’ve been keeping up there were only a few options. Darwin’s dry season (Winter) is beautiful and a surprising number of family and friends joined us from southern locations in spite of us only giving them a couple of weeks notice! One suspects they were coming to thaw out more so than for the event itself. We also managed to pull in a handful of old friends from around town and some new friends from the sailing cruisers. while there were a few other people we would have loved to have with us, it was a pretty terrific group all things considered.

After doing the paperwork at the registry office in the morning we headed to a friends house to set up for the celebrations. He had very generously offered up his stunning waterside home and it was the perfect venue. Our families worked tirelessly to pull together a simple but elegant menu and an elaborate drinks offering. My sister really went to town with her brief of ‘slightly nautical’ and had a lot of fun inclusions. She also made sure there was half a bottle of champagne per guest!

In the lead up I had sewn a dress out of an old sail for a bit of fun, the hope was that this would set the tone for a very relaxed day. We did not want an extravagant event with all the commercial trappings. Out of the same old sail I made a few keepsake bags for wedding favours. With less phone reception than hoped, I was unable to arrange flowers (I prefer them in the garden anyway,) so I made an origami bouquet out of an old chart that was being discarded. it also came in handy for thank you cards, complete with either a little ketch or two swallows representing the 10,000nm we have sailed so far (sailors would tattoo themselves with them as they were earned.)

We arrived at the event by dinghy of course, despite the inflexible nature of my stiff dacron dress I managed to mount the dock and we proceeded to have a slightly humours exchange of vows and hose-clamp rings. Earlier I had to send Mark back to the boat several times to find a nice looking screwdriver to tighten his with. I was lucky enough to receive a family heirloom ring in the end but for Mark it was SS316. A great family friend stepped in to play at being celebrant and performed perfectly.

The event went off beautifully thanks in particular to the tireless efforts of my mother, grandmother, sister and now brother-in-law. A friends husband also did a phenomenal job of keeping glasses topped up and we got through a lot more of that champagne than I ever imagined. We had the most perfect day and a really fun evening from which we are now slowly recovering. We even treated ourselves to a boat maintenance free day!

2 Comments:

Lyn and Ken Hodges: It was wonderful to share your beautiful day with you. We would not have missed it for the world! We look forward to sharing your experiences through this blog as you 'sail off into the sunset'. Our love goes with you. June 26, 2015, 5:14 a.m.


brad: Sounds just perfect! Congratulations again June 29, 2015, 11:35 a.m.

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Tucked up in Cullen Bay Marina

Date:June 15, 2015, 6:51 a.m.

We spent a relaxing couple of days anchored off the Darwin Sailing Club at Fannie Bay and enjoyed a walks ashore to see the houses that we grew up in. It is pretty neat to be back here after all these years. Today we started to tackle a few jobs and business items before moving through the lock this afternoon and taking a berth in the Marina. We will base ourselves here for the next couple of weeks. Could not believe that we are overlooking the racing yacht that I (Cat) once crewed on and really learnt to sail on, many years ago!

1 Comments:

Anne: Hello from Uhambo, I can see you allready in Darwin. We will see you on the way to Capetown... June 24, 2015, 10:06 p.m.

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Anchored in Fannie Bay, Darwin!

Date:June 13, 2015, 11:01 p.m.
Position:12 25.63 S, 130 49.34 E
Track to here:Download

Yesterday afternoon we dropped anchor in Fannie Bay. We had a nap, told the family we were alive and then picked up Peter from 'Leprena' and headed into the Darwin Sailing Club to enjoy the typically spectacular Top End sunset over a cold drink. It was the perfect way to mark the milestone. Over the years I recall the quality of food at the club oscillating somewhat but am happy to report it was excellent (bistro style) and came in stomach bulging Top End portions. There have been a number of small renovations since I worked at the bar to dress the place up and on a Saturday night it was pleasantly busy.

It's hard to believe it has only been around 6 weeks since we left New Zealand. We have used a very small amount of fuel especially since leaving Townsville. Even then it was mostly for complicated manoeuvring and charging the batteries, we have had such a great run in terms of sailing weather. Nevertheless, the night before we arrived the wind kicked right up, from varied directions and in order to make the correct tides through the various channels in these shallow waters we spend an exhausting night changing and tending sails constantly. Things started to settle down on my pre-dawn watch and like a naughty child, the wind was all well behaved by the time the sun was up to make things seen. We've had relentlessly strong wind since leaving Townsville exactly a month ago but 30 nautical miles out of Darwin it died completely! We had to turn on the engine to get ourselves quickly out of the straits between the Vernon Islands before the tide changed and then with Darwin insight Our excitement took over and we decided to give in and motor the last three hours.

It has been many years since either of us were back here, (we met here at high school.) There are a now towers in the CBD and even from our anchorage we can sense the growth. We have treated ourselves to a berth at the fairly centrally located Cullen bay marina for the next couple of weeks, which surprisingly worked out cheaper than some of the other options who had high liveabord charges. It should be fun to catch up with old friends and enjoy the charms (and terrific food) of Darwin. If any of you are in the area, come drop by!

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Passing Cape Don

Date:June 12, 2015, 4 a.m.
Position:11 17.07 S, 131 43.56 E
Speed over Ground:7.0
Heading (True):200.0
Wind Speed (kts):15.0
Wind Direction (True):45.0
Sea state:Slight
Swell (m):0.0
Track to here:Download

So today is up there with our Top-5 best days of sailing ever and probably the best day we've had of sailing since leaving New Zealand. Cat was reading a book almost all day which is the first time I've seen her read anything while we are sailing. I knew we should have packed the marbles so we could play a game or two...

After a lazy-ish morning we the tides worked well for us to be leaving at the sensible time of 8:30. Overnight the winds calmed off so we started motoring in glassy conditions. We started entering the Bowen Channel (which is largely uncharted) around 11am on the last hour of rising tide. While the rising tide gave us some unfavorable south-setting current it was not too bad at around 0.75 of a knot. The conditions for sailing however became absolutely perfect with 15-20 knots from the south-east which allowed us to run up the Bowen Strait in completely flat-calm conditions.

After we shot the Channel (details below) the conditions just kept improving. In the lee of Croker Island the seas were completely flat and the wind was kind enough to back to the East allowing us to continue running along the coast westwards. As we started to round Vashon Head and head southwards towards Cape Don the wind continued to behave and actually turned north-east. After a spectacular NT sunset we are now passing Cape Don with 10-15 knots of wind from the NE on a broad-reach in dead-flat seas.

We've arrived at Cape Don a little ahead of schedule so we have a contrary current at the moment however its starting to go slack as I write this and we are picking up speed again to 6-7 knots. Hopefully the wind keeps up and we will be able to shoot through with favorable tides the whole way. All going well we should arrive in Darwin and anchor off Fannie Bay around mid-afternoon tomorrow (Saturday).

Rounding Danger Point at the northern end of the Bowen Channel managed to land an 8kg Giant Trevally which Cat skinned and filleted promptly. We probably cleared 5kg of fillets from it. We got another huge bite about 30 minutes later (probably bigger than the first) but he managed to spit out the lure at the last minute. Catching fish of that size while running downwind with sails poled-out wing-on-wing is not a trivial matter. I don't think its possible to land anything around 10kg or more while moving downwind at 7 knots. We have a system now where Cat tends to the rod while I furl the headsail and then bring the boat around into the wind with mainsail-only. It takes a good 1-2 minutes to furl the sail and during this time the line is just flying out, fortunately we have 1000m (1 kilometer) of line on the big-game reel so we just let it out, we must give up about 300m of line in that time. Once the headsail is furled and the boat rounded to windward with main-only in a kind of hove-to position we are able to start to reel it in.

As mentioned the Bowen Channel is largely marked as uncharted on the charts that we have with just an ominous looking rock right in the middle with a few soundings around it to the north and south of the rock. The soundings seem to be indicating that there is some kind of bar or reef in the middle of the Channel. Peter the single-hander from Leprena who has become our cruising-buddy was an hour or so in-front and erred to the Croker Island side of the channel but radioed back and said it was pretty shoal and he was crossing the indicated bar to the other side. On that advise we erred to the western side of the channel and followed the indicated soundings to pass west of the marked rock by about 0.5nm. We had a flat bottom and depths of about 8-12m throughout except at the southern-end of the marked bar/soundings where the bottom came up to 4.4m and quite bumpy on the sounder indicating possible rocks. We were near the top of a 2m tide so if you shot that at low tide it would get interesting but still do-able.

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Anchored in Mount Norris Bay

Date:June 11, 2015, 1 a.m.
Position:11 25.96 S, 132 48.56 E
Speed over Ground:6.0
Heading (True):270.0
Wind Speed (kts):7.0
Wind Direction (True):135.0
Sea state:Slight
Swell (m):0.0
Track to here:Download

We would have missed the tide going over the top of Croker Island so we anchored for a good night's sleep down in Mount Norris Bay. We'll head off on Friday morning for the final leg to Darwin. We'll go up through the Bowen Strait between Croker Is and the mainland and then hopefully be passing Cape Don 4 hours before Darwin high tide to get through the Van Diemen Gulf and the Vernon Islands in one-hit with favorable tides the whole way. All going well we should be anchored off Fanny Bay by tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon.

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Passing Maningrida

Date:June 10, 2015, 1 a.m.
Position:11 30.76 S, 134 48.61 E
Speed over Ground:6.0
Heading (True):270.0
Wind Speed (kts):20.0
Wind Direction (True):90.0
Sea state:Slight
Swell (m):0.5
Track to here:Download

We have about 280nm to get to Darwin. If we arrive at Cape Don (Melville Island) at the right time for the tides then we'll probably continue to just shoot through to Darwin without stopping. If we have to wait for the tide then we'll drop the pick at either Crocker Island or Port Essington.

We got an early-ish start this morning in order to catch the ebbing tide over Stevens Island. We left our anchorage 1-hour before low tide and managed to just make it past Stevens Island at slack water. Actually the tide turned as we were passing the point and as we passed through a patch of rough water which marked the convergence of the two tides we went from about 1 knot with to 1 knot against. We were motor-sailing due to the light winds in the morning and we pushed through the current and within about 5nm of the point the effect has diminished so as to be barely noticeable.

We had an absolutely perfect day of sailing. The wind picked up not long after and by 9am we were sailing with light 10-12 knot southerly winds on a reach making 6-7 knots. Throughout the day the wind swung East and picked up slightly so we gradually eased the sheets to a broad reach and then eventually had to get the pole out and ran dead-downwind and the wind turned almost completely Easterly in the afternoon. The wind was a perfectly steady 16-18 knots all afternoon and into the evening. Clear skies and flat seas with very little chop.

There is a bit of a bottle-neck point where boats and ships pass north of the Crocodile Islands about 40nm West of Stevens Island. I suppose due to the timing that you have to make with the tides in this part of the world then there seems to be an above-average chance that you will encounter other boats at these bottle-neck points. We came across a single-hander by the name of Peter on the boat "Leprena". We had a good chat over the VHF and we were pretty much on a collision course. We actually converged to our closest point of approach exactly at the top of the Crocodile Islands and we were within yelling distance of one another. Unfortunately, because were both running down with poles with almost identical hull speeds it was not easy to increase our separation distance and we were uncomfortably close by nightfall. A few other barges and ships passing that point at the same time kept us on our toes.

It would have been too good to be true if the perfect conditions continued into the night. Fortunately the skies have stayed clear but (as always) the night time loves to play games with you. The wind picked up about 1 hour ago to a stiff 25-30 knots so we had to go through the whole rigmarole of reefing the main which is not a trivial matter with the jib poled out (see notes last paragraph). We're now double-reefed in the main and poled out double-reefed jib. The wind is fluctuating between 10-15 with many gusts up to 25 knots. I suppose it is the wind adjusting itself due to the land effect (but why it did it gradually throughout the day and erratically by night is anyone's guess)... and all this is before 10pm... I can't wait to see what 2am will bring. For the non-sailors, 2am is the time when the ghost of Murphy appears on every boat to haunt all on board. Whatever can happen will happen... and it will most likely happen at 2am.

The way we reef the main with the in-boom furler (without using the engine) is: a) while running downwind we roll up the jib and set a small triangle of it on the same side as the mainsail and sheet it hard-on; b) while still running downwind, roll out mizzen and sheet it in tight; c) remove the preventer on the main. Cat then initiates a rather sharp rounding-up turn to windward. As we turn into the wind the sheeted-on tiny-jib and mizzen help drive the boat rapidly to windward with power. In conditions where we are reefing (say 20-30 knots of wind with moderate seas) this normally gives me about 10-20 seconds of time to release the halyard and roll down the main to the desired point and then tension the halyard again. If you're too slow then the bow blows off (or we accidentally overshoot and tack the boat) and you have to go through the whole process again. This involves rolling up and re-deploying the mizzen sail because the boat wont start running with the wind until the mizzen is rolled up again.

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Anchored at Djeergaree Island

Date:June 9, 2015, 1 a.m.
Position:11 37.54 S, 136 13.30 E
Wind Speed (kts):20.0
Wind Direction (True):140.0
Track to here:Download

A quiet day today, we had a lazy morning at our anchorage south of the hole in the wall. In the afternoon we cruised down the coastline 10nm and checked out Guruliya Bay before coming down to this anchorage near Djeergaree Island for tonight. We did some unsuccessful fishing along the way at "fish-o-clock" (before sunset).

Guruliya Bay looks better on the charts than it does in reality. The inlet on the chart gives some expectation of getting holed up in a lovely nook but in reality the bay is larger than it seem on paper and there are no sandy beaches to land.

It seems that most of the anchorages here require anchoring further off the beach than one would like owing to the fact that the lovely sandy beaches slope down to a rocky ledge below the neap-low tide level after which sand resumes after at about 8m depth or so. (Not like Lizard Island where we could pretty much drop the anchor on the beach and the glorious sand slopes away gradually). Keeping a sharp watch from the bow is not very useful due to the opacity of the water which I doubt allows us to even see the 2m draft of our boat. A few times now we have tried to probe a little too far towards the beach and the bottom comes up suddenly to a very uneven rocky and shoal bottom. We just stick to the 8m rule now and that seems to be a good distance from the ledge on a sand bottom. I feel that there could be opportunities for probing a little further towards the beach in some areas but that would require a pretty extensive dinghy survey with our lead-line and for the sake of a few meters it doesn't seem worth it.

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Anchored at The Hole in the Wall (Gugari Rip)

Date:June 8, 2015, noon
Position:11 33.31 S, 136 21.39 E
Wind Speed (kts):20.0
Wind Direction (True):140.0
Track to here:Download

An early-ish start today, we left Gove and headed to catch favourable tides through three passages. Cape Wilberforce, across Malay road and between Cotton & Wigram Islands and finally through the famous Hole in the wall or Gugari Rip of the Wessel Islands. The weather was promising with a pleasant 15-20 knots and we waved goodbye to Gove with her Bauxite all rosy red in the dawn.

The Hole in the Wall is spectacularly narrow with a current that rips through and is impossible to motor against. However when we were inquiring with the locals as to how to tackle this stretch they were rather dismissive. One very experienced gentleman, who was sparing with words, hurrumpt and fixed us with a meaningful glare, never mind the Hole in the Wall, he said, it's Cape Wilberforce you need to get right. Truer words were never uttered. As we approached the first passage between Cape Wilberforce and the Bromby Isles the wind had begun to build slightly and the sea state was a short sharp choppy mess, may as well have been back in the Gulf of Carpentaria, uncomfortable but not problematic. As we approached the Cape from the South, with what we thought was a very wide berth, a huge sea kicked up with with abnormally short, almost breaking waves. Lucky for us Tuuletar managed it just fine, we however, a little less so. A couple more grey hairs to add to the collection. When doing that passage again we would swing very very far North and East to reduce the effect of that sea. we tackled it in the flood tide as advised and the currant assistance was in the order of 3 knots. Once passed the Cape and the small cargo ship tackling it from the other end things calmed down and while lumpy we were able to enjoy the scenery.

The short stretch up to the next group of Island, called Malay Road, was slightly less choppy and we passed between the Islands around noon. This was a polite miniature of the experience of Cape Wilberforce. By now however a series of rain squalls had begun to pass over us whipping up winds to over 30 knots and making things rather unpleasant with the choppy sea. Instead of pressing on to the Wessel Is. to catch the beginning of the ebb tide cycle we stopped for lunch and a rest and waited for the end of the Ebb tide to tackle the Hole in the Wall. We anchored in the bay just North of the passage at Wigram Island. It is rather exposed, rocky inshore, with a swell that wraps around the point. So we were quite glad to see the weather calming down a couple of hours later as we'd hoped. Would have been a lousy sleepover otherwise.

The approach to the Hole in the Wall is rather impressive, you cannot see it until you are very close. We lined up early so as to avoid any confused waters at the edges but it was a fairly calm entrance. It is a fantastic spectacle flying between the cliffs at 14 knots. That is the fastest speed over ground Tuuletar has done since we've been on board. As long as you sick to the middle, the canal effect will gently but swiftly shoot you through the 1 mile passage. If you look to the edges of the water however, you can see the turbulence and get a sense of the incredible forces at play. At just 20 meters wide in the narrowest part of the canal it was well worth the trip through there. We set up the Gopro camera to video the passage and will post that sometime soon. As the land flattened into the sea on the North Western exit the waters remained calm and there is a good anchorage just South, to which we made it just after 17.00 local time. The wind is still up but we are very comfortable and enjoying a roast dinner. We will likely explore the Wessels a little tomorrow before taking off for Port Essington Wednesday.

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Enjoying Gove & Nhulunbuy

Date:June 7, 2015, 11:40 a.m.

We have had a great couple of days in Gove, The Boat club could not be more welcoming. They open from 12-2 & 530-8pm 6 days a week for you to arrange temporary membership ($10pp) and a key to the facilities ($100 deposit) with laundry, toilet & showers. Don't let the Bauxite dust fool you, many of the laundry machines are fairly new and work well. The showers are outdoor type, basic but clean, nice and hot (if you like) with reasonable pressure. As I turned on the first tap a small Gecko scooted out, as I turned the second a cute little frog popped out and I grinned and thought welcome back to the territory, though I was not game to see what critters were in the loo...

The bar folk could not be more friendly and prices are quite reasonable. The food errs on the expensive side BUT it is certainly great value with mammoth territorian-sized portions. We had the great fortune of making new friends not only with the Catamaran fleet but also some locals (who also happen to have a Cat.) we had a ball meeting them and they generously assisted us with invaluable local knowledge as well as a ride into the town of Nhulunbuy which is 12km away for a few green vegetables. Tuesday is Barge day generally so you may find slim pickings if you are later in the week as we were, nonetheless there was plenty of reasonable produce left for us. The town itself is not much of an attraction but the people are a delight and especially friendly. It's good to be in the Territory again!

We would not recommend getting too creative with your anchoring at Gove, the big low tides we've been having reveal many uncharted rocks and recent cyclones have added a few new wrecks. There is a heartbreaking number of yachts still high and dry around the bay, some badly damaged after cyclone Nathan earlier this year. Nevertheless we received a very warm welcome, being told we were the first cruisers in for the season and we felt it was well worth the stop.

Armed with some good local tips we are looking forward to an early start tomorrow to catch favourable tides for Cape Wilberforce and Gugari Rip AKA 'The hole in the Wall'. The former of which seems to be the one the locals take most seriously whilst they were almost blasé about the famous latter. The forecast gives us a good steady 15-20 for the next few days and we look forward to making good progress towards Darwin.

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Anchored at Gove/Nhulunbuy

Date:June 5, 2015, 10:53 a.m.
Position:12 12.16 S, 136 41.97 E
Track to here:Download

It was an unpleasant day of confused seas, surprisingly large swells and rain squalls. Not much fun at all but we did manage a very good pace to arrive in Gove at twilight. Keeping up 6.2 knots over such a long passage is pretty good for us but the Gulf of Carpentaria lived up to its nasty reputation. On the positive side, the abundance of marine life is very impressive. We saw many huge turtles, enormous numbers of fish, a few shy indo-Pacific hump backed dolphins and a large playful pod of False Killer Whales. The latter of which brightened a miserable day by spending a long time in our company, surfing the bow wave. At up to 6 m long they are amazingly fast and acrobatic.

Arriving in Gove at Twilight it looks very much like you are pulling into the harbour of a major city. The lighting on the structures and cranes at the mining port gives the illusion of a collection of skyscrapers and a dense city centre. We are also starting to get the amazing top-end sunsets we remember from our youth. Anchored just outside the line of moored boats we are going to wait for all the Catamarans to arrive tomorrow before checking out the Gove boat club.

1 Comments:

Roger & Julie, Clawdette: Hi Mark & Catherine, very sorry to hear once again that the Gulf of Carpentaria lived up to its nasty reputation, we are not looking forward to tackling it west to east, which is meant to be worse! Love following your log, you have achieved so much! Thanks for making the site available to use, it's great! We've only just started but our friends & family are enjoying following along. Not sure of your plans but we do hope we can catch up on our way over the top to Sydney. Our very best wishes too for your upcoming wedding :-) June 7, 2015, 9:54 a.m.

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Gulf of Carpentaria - Day 2

Date:June 4, 2015, 6 a.m.
Position:11 50.00 S, 138 24.00 E
Speed over Ground:6.0
Heading (True):260.0
Wind Speed (kts):20.0
Wind Direction (True):155.0
Sea state:Moderate
Swell (m):0.5

The wind swung to the SSE this morning which put us on a reach which we maintained for the day and now into the night. The southerly wind seems to have settled the sea a little and being on a reach we are not suffering from the slewing as much as last night. We were running a full jib and two reefs in the main all day but at sunset we reduced sail to a triple-reef main, staysail and little bit of jib. The many smaller sails makes it easier for us to reef if conditions come up like they did last night.

We are making good progress with averages mostly above 6-knots. Our ETA at Gove is looking like it will be just after sunset tomorrow (Friday). If we have a really good final day then there is a chance we could get in before sunset.

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Gulf of Carpentaria - Day 1

Date:June 3, 2015, 5 a.m.
Position:11 19.45 S, 140 52.43 E
Speed over Ground:6.0
Heading (True):260.0
Wind Speed (kts):22.0
Wind Direction (True):135.0
Sea state:Moderate
Swell (m):0.5
Track to here:Download

We left Bamaga (Seisia) this morning at 9am. The gribs were showing winds in the gulf around 13-17 knots from the SE for the next few days. The BOM forecasts were also showing today and tomorrow having winds SE 15-20 knots. We figured this would be about as good as it ever gets.

I managed to fairly well confuse myself with the tides and currents and was a bit nervous we might get a bad tide. The problem arises with general comments in the pilot info, guide books and on the charts stating that the current flows west into the Gulf on a flood tide. This makes sense... but then you look at the tides for the area and they are a nightmare. There are about 10 tide stations within 5 miles of one another around the Torres Strait and they all have completely different timings and heights. In the end, none of them that I could find corresponded to a west-flowing current on a flood tide... in fact the flow was westward on an ebbing tide at Bamaga... go figure. Even the charts didn't paint the clearest picture. In the end the good old Queensland Tide Tables was spot on. Use the information in there for the tidal stream at Hammond Rock.

We left Bamaga at slack water around 9am and headed along the coast picking up about a 2-3 knot favorable current. We motor-sailed the first bit with a full jib on a broad reach partly because I wanted to charge the batteries to 100% before our up-coming 72-hour sail but also because I wanted to cover as much ground as possible on the favorable tide to get clear of the shoals and areas of strong tidal-streams before they turned against us. We were flying along at about 10-knots and it was nice to look at the ETA on the navigation software and have it show that we would be in Gove in 36-hours at that rate... but alas all good things must come to an end and once we were clear of the shoals the ETA was a more reasonable 50 hours.

I also found it difficult to get good information from guides or pilotage information for the shoals west of the Endeavour Strait. The whole area is a very large extensive shoal patch with lots of banks. It reminded me a bit of Morton Bay on steroids. Alan Lucas recommends a path directly West of Bamaga which goes out through an obviously wide and relatively deep (13 meters) passage north of Red Wallis Islet. This is a fair bit north of the rhumb line and I was keen to sail along the coast for the view as well as to stay in the calm water in the lee of the coast for as long as possible. No mention is really made of any passage through the Inskip Banks. In the end we just followed the shoreline at about 0.7nm off the beach. The beach dissolves into sandbanks at Crab Island and we just kept following them at the same distance. This takes you into a relatively obvious passage on the charts. However for the new-comer like me it is always a bit daunting looking at the channels in sandy patches like this on the chart. I'm always thinking, "but what if a cyclone just came along and decided to re-shuffle the banks?!" . In the end we seemed to pick a good passage with a good tide. The peak tidal stream was at about the time of low-tide at Crab Island as we were passing over the banks. We were able to see breaking chop on the sandbank all the way out for 6 miles. We just kept the breaking chop to our left and followed the deepest part as indicated on the chart and it seemed to be spot on. We had depths of at least 10m all the way through. It is always a bit freaky being 6 miles offshore, cruising at 10 knots in a 2-3 knot tidal stream, seeing almost no land around due to the low-lying land and haze and seemingly surrounded by breakers and sandbanks.

I now understand why the Dutch gave up probing further towards Cape York from the west 150 years before Captain Cook claimed the east coast at Possession Island. If they had have had the courage to push through the shoals then Australia might have been colonized 150 years earlier and be quite a different place today.

After clearing the shoals we had a perfect day of sailing. I noticed that there is a strong land-effect on the wind as we were clearing the land. Around Crab Island the wind was shifting up to 90-degrees and between 12 to 25 knots. It seemed as though the wind was ESE parallel to the beach north of Crab Island and changed to a more southerly once we were west of Crab Island. The wind was stronger in close to the land and the sea more turbulent and choppy due to the tidal stream and shallow depth. Once we cleared the shoals and were out in the "deep water" (15 meters) things started to settle down and become more regular. The wind was less gusty and more in-line with the BOM forecast of 15-20 knots. It took about 20-30 miles for the sea to settle down into a regular wave-train from the SE, prior to that it was just a mess of (fortunately small for us) chop from every direction.

That said, the land effect on the wind seems to extend right across the gulf. At night the wind tends more southerly and back to a more ESE during the day. We are currently experiencing the southerly as we sail along. The wind picked up after sunset and got up around 20-25 knots touching 30 at times causing us to reef several times. Its much more gusty and variable wind than I would have expected considering we have a perfectly clear night with not a cloud in the sky. We started to get a little taste of the short choppy seas that the Gulf is infamous for but it has really been pretty good overall. The chop hits our stern quarter at a funny angle causing us to slew downwind quite badly. If we had the Raymarine autopilot on he would be complaining bitterly about the whole affair and keeping us awake all night. Fortunately the Hydrovane loves it and we're cruising along silently and comfortably except for the odd surge which kicks us right up on our side. But it is fast and we could be doing 7-8 knots but chose to sleep easy instead at a more reasonable 6 knots average.

We caught a 6kg Cobia (fish) which was the first time we've caught one of that type. He was badly hooked so we had to mercy kill and they are not bad eating apparently so we'll give it a try.

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Cat-attack at Seisia/Bamaga

Date:June 2, 2015, 7:40 a.m.
Position:10 50.84 S, 142 21.79 E
Track to here:Download

This morning we enjoyed a lovely sunny walk up to the tip of Cape York to get the obligatory photo next to the sign, see photos... It was nice to get ashore and we were astounded at the number of white-turning-red 4WD's in the carpark. We had a really nice time chatting with some of them as we scrambled over the rocks along the short walk. It was almost high tide but the Spring tide made it very easy getting the dinghy ashore and more importantly getting back to it.

We got sailing pretty quickly after that to catch the 2.5 hour overfall of current around to Seisia. With a small rig and 25 knots of wind we were cruising along at 10.5 knots! We zigzagged through the shallows and as we rounded into the little Port we discovered five sailing masts all belonging to catamarans. They turned out to all be members of the Kimberly Cruising Club with intentions to head there this season so it looks like we will be seeing a bit more of them. We had a nice but brief catch up with one of them before heading ashore to check out lovely little Seisia. Well, mostly the general store really. Which was remarkably well stocked, except for the bread as the big AL warns. You can get fresh Tasmanian Oysters there but nothing other than Wonder White bread. Apparently a passing local picked up one of the cruisers and drove them and their jerry cans out to the service station and the service station manager himself dropped them back, all unsolicited, what a friendly bunch. It is a very smart clean little town with all the basic supplies you need.

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Anchored at Cape York

Date:June 1, 2015, 9:57 a.m.
Position:10 41.50 S, 142 29.92 E
Wind Speed (kts):20.0
Wind Direction (True):135.0
Sea state:slight
Track to here:Download

We are now anchored at Cape York which is pretty neat. The sail up here only took a few hours, the first stretch was rather choppy but not big, once we got past the overfalls and into the Albany passage the current picked us up and added three knots to our speed. We glided through in comfort and enjoyed the scenery which was rather lush and rain-forested. A working boat had kindly warned us that there were five catamarans taking up the anchorage earlier this morning but we arrived to see the last of them leaving to head presumably to Seisia. Maybe we will see them when we make our way around there tomorrow. It is a good jump-off point for crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria and Wednesday through Friday is shaping up to be a good looking weather window.

Unfortunately today heavy rain dashed our hopes of heading ashore to stretch the legs. At least it is keeping things cool, and the weatherman is promising sunshine tomorrow so we should have the right tides to get the dinghy ashore to enjoy a quick trip before another short sail.

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Anchored at Escape River

Date:May 31, 2015, noon
Position:10 58.06 S, 142 40.75 E
Speed over Ground:0.0
Heading (True):0.0
Wind Speed (kts):15.0
Wind Direction (True):135.0
Sea state:Slight
Swell (m):0.0
Track to here:Download

After a an amazing sail up the North QLD coast we are anchored at Escape River. The bar is rather shallow and we had about an hour of adverse wind against tide prior, which was not big but rather messy. We couldn't complain too much, it was our first uncomfortable stretch of water in three days. We were coming in at dead low in the mid afternoon, in a spring tide. As we nosed around the Peal farm checking out one of Alan Lucas's anchorages, they kindly radioed us to let us know of another spot where we would be more comfortable in these conditions. (On the southern side just past a sandbar and tucked up against the mangroves, see co-ordinates, about 5m depth, could anchor a bit closer in to the bar than we did as there was another boat there.) We were grateful for that as we were very much looking forward to a good nights sleep and the Peal farm anchorage looked rather exposed to the South East trade-winds. The pearl farmer was spot on and we enjoyed the dead flat calm waters, sleeping like babies even as the wind howled through the upper rigging.

We are taking off early this morning to catch a favorable rising tide to shoot the Albany Passage, through which the current is notoriously fast flowing. A short hop today we will aim for the anchorage at Cape York.

2 Comments:

Pene Quin: Very interesting keeping up with you. The genset is all fixed on LadyP and next week we get a new switchboard installed. Himself got a brand new GPS. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=893751115 He's very excited. Wet and windy Queen's Birthday week-end so no sailing :( June 1, 2015, 2:53 a.m.


tom: I told Pru this website was a sort of Facebook for boats, like Faceboat and Pru says, it should be called ShipFace. good to see some other salty sea blogs up now ! June 1, 2015, 8:27 a.m.

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On the move again

Date:May 29, 2015, 1 a.m.
Position:14 8.00 S, 144 23.00 E
Speed over Ground:6.0
Heading (True):270.0
Wind Speed (kts):20.0
Wind Direction (True):135.0
Sea state:Slight
Swell (m):0.0
Track to here:Download

After a fantastic week at Lizard Island we unfortunately had to say goodbye otherwise we might never have left there. We stayed much longer than we planned firstly because we absolutely love the place but also because the forecast indicated that the trade winds would be settling this weekend. We can't say enough good things about Lizard Island. The diving and snorkeling is probably the best we have seen anywhere so far. The beaches are stunning and there are plenty of walks around the island to keep you fit.

The trade winds were absolutely howling this week (as per usual) so we kept delaying our departure hoping for a slight easing. In the end we just had to leave today with the forecast still 25-30 knots. We were a little concerned it would be a rough one and we were planning to stop and anchor if we were not confident we would have good boat-control overnight because the channels get quite narrow; the waters are reefy; and you are regularly sharing it with tankers of all sizes. However, once we were out the sailing inside the reef today has been wonderful. There simply seems to be not enough fetch inside the reef to kick up a big sea in anything less than 30 knots. We sailed downwind with a poled-out jib only with 2 reefs and we were making 7 knots most of the day. Conditions were even smooth enough that we ran the Hydrovane to keep us on a straight path dead downwind. We've decided to continue covering ground while the going is good and sail overnight tonight and possibly tomorrow night to get to Cape York in one hit.

We're now broad-reaching across Bathurst Bay and Princess Charlotte Bay with the cutter-rigged staysail and small-amount of jib only. Seas are flat and even though it is still blowing 20+ knots with the odd squall to 30, it feels very smooth and comfortable with no cause for concern whatsoever. This is my favorite rig as it keeps the boat slightly heeled over so we have good stability; there is very little stress on the rigging because it is distributed between the staysail and the jib; and it is very fast.

The only thing that we won't miss about this part of the world is the trade winds when you are at anchor. The wind blows relentlessly and there seems to be no good anchorage with protection from the wind. Its like the Fremantle Doctor in WA... but without the easing overnight... it just blows... and blows... and blows. These are some of the windiest anchorages we have ever stayed at. It was driving Cat and I a little crazy towards the end of our stay in Lizard Is. The noise in the rigging, the swinging and gusts/bullets (which come down from the hill at up to 45 knots) knocking you around at anchor make the feeling at anchor always and little tense. Even dinghy rides ashore are a guarantee of an absolute soaking. It was a welcome break away to go for a scuba dive or a snorkel just to get away from the wind! There are some upsides to the wind though: a) it keeps everything a perfect temperature. It wasn't cold and getting in and out of the water was sublime; and b) our wind generator actually produced some power for a change. Our batteries loved us because they were at 100% (float voltage) the entire time, morning and night.

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Lizard Island

Date:May 28, 2015, 8:24 a.m.
Position:14 39.79 S, 145 27.11 E
Track to here:Download

At first glance Lizard Island is a dry windswept place which makes you wonder how the surprisingly large 5-star resort commands its eye watering rates and then you go underwater…

The dives are all shallow but rewarding the pristine coral & fish-life is superb. Most of the species we encountered approaching their natural size limits, including Simon, the Giant Grouper who was nearly as long as our dinghy and definitely heavier. Hands down the best snorkelling/diving we’ve ever seen, just off your anchored yacht.

We braved a wet dinghy ride around to the Blue lagoon and the reefs just off the marine research station where, impossible as it seemed, it was even better, this is definitely where they take all the postcard photos. Unfortunately conditions were far too blown out for us to visit the famed Cod-hole on the outer reef but you have to have a reason to return right?

We walked around the denuded island encountering many of the Large Lizards for which it is named and also took the steep climb up to Cook's Look. For once were grateful for the 35 knot winds to cool you off. The view makes the steep climb worthwhile and it was the only way to get a (very poor) phone signal.

The resort is almost finished after two cyclones in two years and was covered in 220 fluorescent worker ants, some sleeping over and others opting to fly in & out daily. It is pretty amazing to see 4 flights a day to such a remote place. They were all very friendly and with the water pump broken at the camp site, provided water access and would take a bag of rubbish for $5, (see the chef at the Marlin Bar unit the resort opens.) The researchers were just as active and their fleet of little yellow dive boats where always out and about at all hours. They were rather excited about the small crocodile in Watson’s Bay where we were anchored, us less so.

We were anchored up with some rather plush and rather large power boats who we had a really nice time getting to know. One turned out to have some family friends on board and they completely spoilt us with a 5 star dinner and some terrific Australian Reds - who needs the resort bar? It was particularly nice as while we have really enjoyed the NZ wines, we had been missing a robust Aussie red and these were a real treat. We also enjoyed the company of a Kiwi pair who managed the crossing in half the time we did on their 80 foot launch but had to use a tad more fuel I’m guessing.

The anchorage is rather exposed to the wind and we felt each and every 35knot gust. One of the boats recoded 47 on the worst day but the holding was good and it did not matter once you were underwater anyway.

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Michaelmas Cay for a splash

Date:May 20, 2015, 4:32 a.m.
Position:16 36.19 S, 145 58.41 E
Wind Speed (kts):15.0
Wind Direction (True):135.0
Sea state:Slight
Track to here:Download

We overnighted at Michaelmas Cay on one of the great public moorings that Queensland maintains to protect it’s reef. With these great sailing conditions we are thinking we may continue with the idea of overnighting to cover distance and stopping for a bit longer at a few of the nicest spots. You could get stuck here for years trying to make the most of this area! The moorings provided good comfort in the trade winds and with a consistent 20 knots the only movement was a small chop which made it over the reef for a couple of hours around high tide. There is even good phone coverage out here so we have internet to get some business jobs done.

The Cay is one of the major bird nesting sites in the reef and home to a noisy 20,000 seabirds. You can land on the cay and walk in a roped off section between the hours of 0930-1500. Anytime before or after and you’d struggle to find a bird free patch of ground. All day the birds fly in carrying fish, it is a particularly impressive sight around dusk as they all fly home. Not so impressive and rather odious is the excrement and regurgitated fish that a couple of lazy boobies left us overnight. Brilliant. Officially my least favourite birds now.

We got the SUP out in the morning and used it as a platform to snorkel & free dive from. The visibility was not great but the reef and the fish certainly were. We have been spoilt with some terrific diving in Fiji and New Zealand but you just can’t match the Great Barrier Reef for pristine coral and variety of (often large) fish. The giant clams here are really cool and there are plenty of chilled out Turtles. Mark was not that impressed with the large and over friendly black tip reef shark that keeps hanging around the boat but he finally swam off so we were able to check the state of our hull & anodes after the passage. All clean and looking good.

2 Comments:

Scott Fleming: Hi guys, these are great photos, I am envious :) at Kangaroo Island and 14 degrees here. Brrrr. Enjoying the blog/stories, great writing. Mark, can you help with a question? I have sent Sonja an invite to the blog, but for some reason she does not get the invitation. I have double checked the address, it is correct. sonja.m.f@outlook.com She tells me nothing is in her junk box, so we are at a loss? So far, other invites to other people have worked OK? Cheers, keep on enjoying Regards Scott May 21, 2015, 8:41 a.m.


Pene Quin: Awesome pictures :D June 1, 2015, 2:55 a.m.

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Sailing through the Reef

Date:May 19, 2015, 12:46 a.m.
Position:16 41.01 S, 145 55.59 E
Speed over Ground:6.0
Heading (True):320.0
Wind Speed (kts):12.0
Wind Direction (True):135.0
Sea state:Slight
Swell (m):0.0
Track to here:Download

We spend a day of SUPing and knocking off some business work at Magnetic Island before taking off the next morning. The sailing conditions were so lovely and we were making such good ground with current assistance that we decided to sail through the night. We dodged ships all night and passed Cairns this morning. We are currently snooping around some of the inner reef and its tiny Islands to find a nice spot for a swim. Not a particularly original idea, there are an astonishing number of tourist boats out here.

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Thanks for the comments

Date:May 16, 2015, 1 p.m.
Position:19 6.00 S, 146 51.00 E
Speed over Ground:0.0
Heading (True):0.0
Wind Speed (kts):20.0
Wind Direction (True):180.0
Sea state:Slight
Swell (m):0.0
Track to here:Download

Firstly, thank you to everyone who left us comments on the website while we were on-passage. We finally had a chance to catch up on all our emails and read through all the comments that you left while we were at sea. Its been great to lift our motivation for the second leg of the journey around to Darwin. Next time we passage I'll fix the website so that we might be able to receive the comments (and respond) while at sea which will be fun. So please keep the comments coming and they are much appreciated.

After a very busy couple of days with Ashley and Brenda from Ashemykaihken in Townsville we sailed out to Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island yesterday. A full 7nm which feels strange to do after having just completed a 2000nm passage. The trade winds are really pumping at the moment, driven by a high of 1041 in the Australian Bight... enough to make your ears pop! Its a weekend here and there are several local boats who had a rough one coming out in the morning. We waited until after lunch because I was still installing seacocks; voltage-sensitive relays; changing oil (again) and doing a bunch of other odd-jobs. We ended up sailing out in a pretty solid 25 knots but it was actually a really nice sail, Tuuletar doesn't mind a bit of wind and sailing inside the reef meant there was no swell to speak of, just a bit of chop.

We were sailing quite hard on the wind which is a change for us and it was good to gauge the performance of Tuuletar sailing to windward. I always give her a hard time about how she doesn't go well to windward, but that is a bit unfair because that is judged on her performance in the ocean (blue-water). There are really no cruising boats that go well to windward at sea. We have found that when the wind comes on the nose out in the ocean almost all of the cruising boats end up reaching at 90-degrees to the rhumb line. The problem is that if you do try to sail hard on the wind then the boat starts slamming into oncoming waves which totally kills your speed. On top of that, the slamming tends to be very rough on crew and morale and I haven't known any cruisers who can tolerate it for longer than an hour or two. As a result everyone sails off the wind a bit and ends up reaching until the winds change direction.

Its a different story when sailing inshore and shorter distances like yesterday. We got the staysail and mizzen up and then rolled out a small amount of foresail until we could feel Tuuletar punching through the chop with power (as opposed to just hobby-horsing which is a real speed killer). With the right amount of sail she picks up nicely and started driving hard on the wind at 6-7 knots. Just perfect. So maybe my criticism of Tuuletar when sailing to windward is a bit unfair, in the right conditions she can drive to windward quite nicely. We still won't be doing it at sea like those Volvo Racing boats though... but that's more a limitation of the crew than the boat probably.

As mentioned earlier, the trade winds are really ripping through at the moment. The gribs just show 20-25 knots from the south-east with almost no break. There is only a slight easing this Wednesday/Thursday and then it continues. Relentless. Tonight the official forecast his it reaching up to 30 knots for a bit so we've decided to change our strategy for cruising the coast a little bit. In an ideal world you have all those lovely day-sails with convenient stopping points every 30-40nm up the coast and you sail for 6-8 hours each day and then rest for the night. But in developed trades a lot of these anchorages are rolly and you really don't get to see that much because you anchor at sunset and go again around dawn. As a result, we'll probably wait for this strong-patch tonight to blow over and then sail overnighters while the wind is good. When the wind eases then we'll find an anchorage in the area and enjoy the calm weather. Sailing by the wind as opposed to pre-defined stopping-points seems to be the best way to go. It also means that we can cover some pretty good distance while the going is good.

So we may leave tomorrow morning (Monday) from here and do a 34-hour stint with 20-25 knots of tailwinds decreasing to 15-20 knots in one large hop up to the Port Douglas area. The GRIBS are showing that the wind should be easing as we get there so we might be able to anchor off one of the reefs (Mackay Reef or Endeavour Reef) and use a couple of our 7 dive tanks that we got filled. On Thursday or Friday the wind looks like it will pick up again so we'll try to get to Lizard Island on that. If the trades don't decrease enough for a dive then we'll continue on to Cape York over the following week.

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Departing Townsville

Date:May 15, 2015, 5 p.m.
Position:19 15.00 S, 146 49.00 E
Speed over Ground:0.0
Heading (True):0.0
Wind Speed (kts):25.0
Wind Direction (True):135.0
Sea state:Rough
Swell (m):0.0

Heading over to Horseshoe Bay in Magnetic Island to get ready for doing some coastal hops to Cape York.

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