Here we are leaving Hillarys Marina for the last time.
Forecast is Easterly winds around 20 knots becoming SE and easing
We have 10 knots in the marina right now - 8:00am, took us until 09:30 to get away, a few things to do - water tanks to fill, rubbish to take out etc. On exiting we were greated with 20-25 knots maybe a bit more some of the time - plus a 3.5m swell.
Caution I thinks ! 2 reefs. The first reef was out within the hour, and the second by 12:00am. Sat on 8-10 knots most of the morning. Since 2:00pm the wind has been around to the SE and has been dropping - speed has too - doing close on 6knots most of the time.Swell is dropping too - its not bothering us at all.
Fell in a wind hole about 2:30am and decided to run the motors - at 1800rpm we were greeted with a high level of vibration, at first I thought the blade must have some growth on them - did not get better - I could see the engines physically vibrating.. Sandys idea - maybe some seaweed or something is around them. Mmmmm - reverse gear selected - rev to 3000 rpm - piles of weed exited the back the boat - Full marks to Sandra - problem solved - to celbrate the wind came in and has sort of been on and off for a few hours.

Massive Reef Break of Seabird

Apart from one power boat over taking us first thing this morning we have not seen a single boat - the place is deserted. Its around 4:30pm now wind looks like packing up for the day - nope wind has woken up - we are 7 nm south of Lancelin, just checked we are doing 7.5 knots - dinner time and get ready for the night.

Dongara Abeam

7:00am and Dongara is abeam - or so the chart tells me - I cannot actually see it as its 25nm away, we do close on the land later. Well my seafaring buddies.
What a night, what I thought was going to be pretty slow and sometimes a little frustrating but turned out to be awesome. SE was quite light until around 10:00pm, when as forecast the Easterly came in and did we fly. 10 knots through most of the night, the swell built behind us and we were regularly surfing. Maximum on the Raymarine speed gauge is showing 14.7 but is reading at least a knot slow, so we were over 15 for sure. Its not the burst of speed that amazed me but the prolonged time Sirocco would spend on the surf. To top it all there was a full moon so never really got dark. The bow would dip slightly sea noise change and off she would go, just watch the speed climb. Awesome stuff. Wind has come round to the North a little so we are close hauled doing about 7 knots. Will put a lure over the side after breakfast in the hope of catching dinner - might have a pic to post ?

Geraldton

We decided to put into Geraldton. A few reasons, a problem with inverter (fan is catching something) that is easier to look at when you are stationary. Problem starting the starboard engine - think its the filter, in the end I think the problem was a bit of air, we are were both tired after the exciting sail last night, the swell is still at 3m and we are feeling a bit seasick, as well as that, the wind is in the north at the moment and although its light now its forecast to swing south, not with any real power but at least its south - plus it was 1:00pm when we arrived at the channel to Geraldton - we would not make Shark bay in the day light - so we decided to stop and our intension is to leave as soon as we can in the morning - 5 or 6 am. Its 210 nm to Turtle Bay on Northern tip of Dirk Hartog Island and if we leave early should make it (Day - Night - Day) if not we can put into shelter bay. We have decided that one overnight sail is enough when there is only 2 of us. Of the 210nm to Turtle Bay I think we will be motoring over half of it - see what happens. Oh caught a Tuna but he was a bit small - small for a tuna, and we felt sorry for him so let him go. Spanish Mackerel day tomorrow me thinks.

Rhiannon and Sirocco at Geraldton

Sunday 8th

Left Geraldton at 6:00am -really did. Forecast has the wind in South, either SE or SW. Was blowing about 6 knots from the North, where we want to go. We have been powering all morning, Around 8:00am pulled up the mainsail as the wind was moving off to the west and at least the sail would fill. An hour later unfurled the headsail. The wind now 12:45 is round to the South West but only blowing - just checked SSW and 12 knots - its supposed to build a little so we might be able to sail some of the distance. Trouble is there is a swell in from the West that is rocking the boat and there is not enough wind to fill the main so its flogging back and forth and annoying me.
Just past Port Gregory (around noon) - its the strangest place a reef about a mile long protects the shore which, at some points, is less than a metre high and never more than 2 high. The sea races out of only one of the two ways in at up to 5 knots as the swell breaks over the reef and has to go somewhere
There is a mooring or 2 you can pick up, which can be challenging with the water racing by, getting in and out of the dingy can be entertaining too.
Wind is forcast to freshen a little tonight which should, I hope, see us sailing. Next stop Shark Bay. There is no 3G coverage once 20 miles north of Port Gregory so will be a day or so before I post anything. Caught another Tuna but let him go as well. We are going to try and get our sleep patterns in better order so we are not exhausted after the night sail. Only other notable thing to report is that one side of the BBQ has stopped working - no gas is coming out - just gotta get that fixed.

Shark Bay

Arrived 8:00am after motoring the entire night, wind was either SW or SE but only 8 knots. Hung in with the main up until about midnight when I decided that the wind was not going to happen and was sick of the sail flogging, was worried about damaging it. The moon came up around 8:00pm so just like daylight again - thats real nice. We got our sleeping patterns in better order with Sandy and I trying to rest properly in a bunk rather than just laying around the saloon. I was awoken by Sandra at 3:00am to a piercing alarm, thought something had happened to one of the motors, but seems I was laid on my Man OverBoard wireless transmitter and that must have blocked the signal - the alarm is very loud - we stood staring at the instruments in a semi daze wondering what was wrong. Had a laugh afterwards, not a good way to wake up.

Other notable occurances. At 4:15am heard on the VHF "Coast Radio Perth....." Hello those guys are 400nm away !. The starboard engine stopped at around 11:00pm for no apparent reason, restarted again OK. I'll replace the fuel filter once we are in Turtle Bay. We are taking the longer inside route to the top of Dirk Hartog Island as we were fed up with the swell - luxury to be travelling in flat water. Think we will be at Turtle Bay around 2:00pm. The plan for Tuesday was to do a Day Night Day sail to Onslow, but I now do not think we will make it. Will look at the chart to see where we can make. Still have not caught a fish worth keeping - the lure is in the water - every hopeful. ENE winds tomorrow so we should be able to sail North - then Southerly in the evening - thats what they are saying anyway, no heavy stuff against us which is the main thing.

Looking back to Steep Point from South Passage - Lovely Flat Water

Turtle Bay and Mackerel Time - 9th April

Just heading into Turtle Bay thinking - well Baked Beans for tea again, and was winding in the lure - saw him hit - a nice Spanish, not the biggest we have caught but not bad either. All those promises of 15 knots of SW well its arrived now - a day late, what luxury it was to anchor and turn the engines off. I have been in the water, to check the boat and cleaned some barnacles off the propeller blades quite a few large ones, I was still getting a bit more vibration than I thought they should have been and maybe that will help - will know soon enough. Forecast tomorrow is for E or SE winds 13 - 18 knots with a southerly change in the afternoon. If that happens would be a good sail. Intensions are to just head for North West Cape and see how we go we will make a decision where to anchor on Wednesday night based on - well where we are. Hot day today still 40 when we were anchoring

Johnny and Spanish

Heading to the NW Cape

Manged to get up and underway by 08:30 we were heading NNE to a waypoint some 60nm south of NW Cape, wind was out of the East and blowing 15 knots or so. Sirocco was hard on the wind and doing over 10 knots for most of the time, this is great sailing and usually never lasts, and by 11:00am the fun subsided, back to 6-7 knots until by the Northern point of Bernie Island the engines were on and the sea was mirror flat. SW sea breeze spring up and we sailed until 6:00pm. Motors on until 10:00pm - SE'ly in and a great sail all night running around 6-8 knots. Both Sandra and I got a far amount of sleep, although we are having weird dreams when on the move big time, guess we will get used to it, maybe we like weird dreams.

Apparent Wind !!

A bit of a note on apparent wind for all those interested. See pic above the boat is doing 11 knots - the wind speed is showing 23 knots and is 40 degees off the wind. A check on the true wind speed seconds after the shot was took shows the wind speed is 15 knots and 80 degrees off the bow, reason been of course is we are causing 11 knots of wind by moving forward, which drags the angle forward as well, as the boat accelerates in a gust, the wind angle comes forward which usually causes the headsail to luff, which slows you down. Sandra says thats enough of this technical stuff - and I was just getting carried away.

Tantabiddi - 11th April

Morning of Wednesday 11th after a dream night sail saw the wind freshenind and moving round to the East, close hauled at 11 knots with the odd blast to 13, wind carried on heading towards the NE until it got there, we were unable to make course and for a while tacked up the coast, hard work is this sailing to windward and was not in the Sailing to Darwin Plan. Last tack around 10:00am start the engines and simply punch into the weather with the hope the wind would keep changing but it never did. We ended up powering into 25 knots of wind and accompanying seas for 5 hours not a fun time, missed my afternoon nap. Arrived Tantabiddi around 3:30pm and were we happy, happy, strange anchorage protected by a reef but great leading lines and a bouyed channel. Swung off the channel and dropped the hook over what looks like sand and coral, 3.5m of water and 30m of chain out - we are not going anywhere. Wind is still NE but dropped to 11 knots or so - plan is to got to Exmouth tomorrow for fuel water and other supplies - oh might even go to the pub. Waiting for the strong Easterlies to abate, before ploughing Eastward. Pic below you cannot see the salt but the front of the boat is covered with it.

Sirocco anchored in Tantabiddi - Google it

Exmouth - 12th April

Left Tantibiddi around 7:30, a little headwind around 5 knots - only 10 miles to the cape, by the time we were there the NE'ly was in and blowing harder by the minute. 4 miles across the top then a fast 9 knot down wind sail to Exmouth. Poked our nose in the harbour and decided to tie up and get fuel, had a semi crash docking as the wind was up to 20 odd knots and blowing us on - somehow no damage- put in around 200 litres per side. Both tanks full up. Had to move off the service jetty as there as a broken down boat been retrived from the canal. Boat meaning a 40 metre steel monster, time for us to move and quick. Well somehow we managed to get off without wrecking anything, ended out backing out using a combination of the engines man power from the shore and the bow thrusters, plenty of close calls but zero impact, then followed a comical process of watching Sandra and I trying to tie up to end jetty with the wind blowing us off and Sandra trying to lasso a cleat, but we made it in the end not before Sandra ending up on the boat by herself with me on the jetty (had the stern line on) and me relaying instructions to the crew on board...hehe. We have filled up with water and ran 2 loads of washing though the machine so are good to go tomorrow. A few things have broke but have fixed a few too. Starboard engine has trouble starting after a period of sailing in a choppy sea, its picking up air somewhere - have tightened a few hoses. Vibration has been cured, was shells stuck to the propeller blades. Speed indicator is working properly now, growth under the hull in front of the sender. Waste tank gauge has stopped working - not big deal, gavity feed from one aux water tank to the main tank is not working - pipe is blocked with something - will try and fix maybe. Thats the trouble with complex boats more to break eh

North West Cape Light

Taxied to town and bought essential supplies -nothing exciting, bread, milk pies etc or yes something exciting ice cream. Tomorrow we are heading off I don't know where. Weather looks OK nothing real strong against us. We intend to do a Day Night Day sail which should see us somewhere near Dampier, there is heaps of anchorages and also heaps of Islands that we have to avoid crashing into, there is no way we can simply lay a course and go to sleep - or there seems to be a few oil rigs in the way too - yikes. Decided as this was supposed to be a holiday, not a mission we should go out on the town, as it was the closest thing we were likely to see to a town for at least a week. Went to an Italian called Pinocchio's - and got picked up by Limo - Exmouth Taxis have one and at certain time its the only motor available. Back on board now and just finishing the blog. Sandra is already asleep time for me to go too. Bed time on a still bed, luxury. Zzzzzz.

Getting dropped off at Pinocchio's

Dampier and Beyond

Left Exmouth at 7:30am, which seems to be our favourate time to leave anywhere! our waking habits I suppose, zero wind, or about 2 knots from the SE. Caught another Mackerel, not as big as the last but a good size none the less. Continued on ... This section of our journey is dotted with hazards, unlike the section to Shark Bay you cannot lay a course - press auto and take the odd look forward once an hour. The wind was following exactly what was forecast 8 knots of SE, then NE then NW, which although not strong does give us some drive. Night falls, we are passing through Mary Anne Passage a track south of Barrow Island (could not see Barrow only a glow on the horizon). Decided time for me to get some sleep, 2 hours later was awoken "A couple of ships are heading our way" After a few evasive manoeuvres all is safe. Our progress NE is basically blocked by Dampier Archipelago, some 50 Islands or so which for anyone who has flown to Karratha look spectacular, on the sea the just stop you sailing in a straight line, the water depths can be around a metre a mile off the Island and great care is needed - we have to Zig Zag our way though the maze. Passed an unlit Well Head, would have thought the owner would fix that !

Morning saw us approaching Dampier, all I can say is a good job it was daylight, quite a bit of commercial traffic, most anchored but not all. Technical stuff here, or semi tech. Our Nobeltec chart program supports AIS, like most electronic chart programs do. AIS stands for Automatic Identification System and is compulsory on ships over - Mmm not sure 3,000 ton say. Information is transmitted by the vessel and is displayed on the chart or radar. Info includes Speed over ground, course over ground, bearing, status etc, displayed as a yellow ship shape on our chart. Dampier is a busy port - see below, not a great shot but we were getting tired, you can see at around 9 o'clock a little green boat on the waypoint line "THATS US". Saw quite a few mobile drill rigs, would have taken a photo or two but decided most folks would know what they look like !

AIS Overload ?

After a bit more Zigzagging we have arrived at an anchorage called Port Robinson, not really a port but a nice port for us, we are anchored off the SW end of Dixon Island, dropped the anchor in 4m of water around 1:30pm - stopped the engines finally, YES, and went to sleep. Did manage to wake for dinner and type the BLOG of course. Tomorrow just a nice day sail of around 50 miles I think, and we will try and sail, hoping the wind will be SE and not East. We expect to be in Broome by Wednesday, some friends are joining us for the "Watson Tour".

Cape Conssigny

Left Port Robinson around 7:00am - 30 mins earlier than normal as we decided to have breakfast on the move. Original plan was to head for Cape Conssigny then changed to Port Headland - then changed back after talking to the commodore of Port Headland yacht club who advised against anchoring in the dark off the channel, would be 8:00pm when we got there.
Motored some of the way but even managed some progress today under sail alone, so I was happy. Had a nice relaxing day arriving at the anchorage around 3:00pm - motored towards the shore until the sounder read 3.0m and dropped the hook, was mid tide on the rise so we will be fine for depth at low water.
Notable events today.... Fixed the blocked pipe from the auxillary water tank to the main tank - was simply a kink in the hose, the BBQ seems to be operating on both burners now - so its fixed itself. Oh forgot to mention the vibration from the engines is cured, checked the oils today and tensioned the fan belts before setting off, so a day of fixing things and nothing breaking.
The anchorage at the moment is super still - wind which was NE then N has dropped completely, it is of course pitch black with not a light on the shore, the moon is not out and is real eery.
Fishing ... not caught anything today, got a massive hit around midday but he got off, then noticed 15 mins later the lure had gone, so suspect whatever hit the lure damaged the tracer and we are now one Halco Lure short, will catch something tomorrow, also just realised we have not seen one sailing yacht on the water (marinas do not count) since leaving Hillarys.
Tomorrow we plan to leave early, we can, if we force oursleves leave in the dark as we simply point the bow of the boat out from the shore and set off. The water simply gets deeper as you get further away from the shore, easy to say at 7:00pm but not so easy to do at 4:00am. Destination is a bay 60nm south of Broome - thats about 240nm so a Day Night Day mission again, but should be easier as do not expect to see many other things out on the water. Picture of the anchorage, there is not a lot to see that is different but thought I would post something. It really all does look like this.

Cape Conssigny

Next Stop Admiral Bay

Well we managed to get up just before 5:00am and by 5 had the anchor up and were motoring out of the anchorage in pitch black, relying totally on the electronic chart, we need'nt have worried, depth steadily increased once out to the 10m contour (5 miles offshore) changed course towards Port Headland with a track to take us behind the 17 ships anchored waiting to get in. Sailed in a great SE breeze at around 8 knots for a couple of hours, then the wind died completly, now, 2:00 pm WST we are 10 miles or so past Port Headland Channel and heading to the next waypoint, North Turtle Isle, 13 nm to go then we can change course to Admiral Bay.
We have had a bad days fishing I have lost a total of 3 lures, and the last time a heap of line as I could not stop the run, now there is loads of seaweed in the water that is constantly fouling the lures, so have given up for the day, try again tomorrow I think, also its hot as hell 37 degrees at the moment. There is not a breath of wind and sea is totally flat and almost ripple free, will post this now because I do not expect a signal until we get to Broome sometime Wednesday afternoon.

Flat Sea north of Port Headland

Broome - 18th April

I'm writing this around 15nm north of Admiral Bay, no signal yet so can't post, will have to wait until closer to Broome, had a better day fishing yesterday, caught a Tuna and 2 small Mackerel which we though back and later in the day a decent Mackerel - yeah fish for dinner again ! Good thing did not loose any lures either. Even managed about 3 hours actual sailing yesterday morning before the wind gave up again, looks right now, 06:30am, that its trying to spring to life again, the deck was soaked this morning with condensation, as there was not a breath of wind all night, we did manage to get up at 4:00am to get going, and I can tell as Sandra is asleep on the couch now. Just checked there is a very light SSE building (8 knots) which unless it comes around on the beam more will not help us, well will help us but we would only sail in 3-4 knots as we are heading NNE and our forward motion is taking most of the force from the breeze - yeah apparent wind again. Lots of Spanish chatting on the VHF from Port Headland, the range surprises me. Sandra has just woke up and announced she needs food - so breakfast time - Beans on Toast, time to crank up the Genset.

Spectacular Sunrise on the way to Broome

Broome Experiences

Had a bit of a hard time in Broome, I was foolish to think that obtaining fuel and water would be as simply a matter of tying up alongside and filling up. But Broome Port Authority see it in a different way, Government bureaucratic process is alive and well and flourishing by the day. One has to fill in 3 forms just to come alongside, then negotiate with the Port Authority to get a berth and West Kimberly Fuels to get fuelled, West Kimberly were most helpful the reverse has to be side for the Port Authority - or forgot for a second we are talking about the Government here. The Port Authority kept telling me the was no room, but hello I am anchored 300m from the jetty and its empty, finally managed to get Berth 2 but only until 7:00am as another vessel was booked in. We tied up at 6:30am not another vessel in sight, fuel guy arrived at 7:20 and we were filled up by 7:45 and on our way a little after 8:00, filled up with water too and washed the decks down - oh soaked out bed too - must remember to shut the hatches before we do that in future.

Outboard Woes

Rob and Jess arrived around 2:30pm and I was going to pick them up from the beach with the dingy, outboard started and stopped, was unable to get it to agree to make like an outboard, ended up rowing to the shore, good job there was not a lot of wind, easier on the way back with 2 paddling and the tide and breeze behind us. Once on board we commenced operation fix the outboard, decided in the end it was fuel, had the carby in bits, did not seem to be filling, turned out to be the new fuel outboard tank I had fitted, seems like it was allowing air in and not drawing fuel up fully, couple of cable ties to hold it over and everything was good.. Left the boat at 6:00pm in the fading light to "Eat Out" and go shopping, had a good meal and made Woolworths by 8:30pm rush around the isles and got a final taxi back to the boat ramp, had to climb a fence into the boat yard as the gates were locked, but we prevailed and arrived back at the dingy to discover it floating in around a metre of water, luckly we tied it on. I will have to get used to these tides.
Well we are on our way. Next stop the Kimberlys, hope to anchor in King Sound sometime Friday morning - Strickland Bay is the target at the moment. Will post when I can.

Tied up at the Massive Jetty waiting for the fuel guy

Next Stop Silica Bay - 20th April

OK - quick change of plan after reading an article in a fishing magazine. Silica Bay is on the Northern end of Hidden Island and looks spectacular, we just have to go and check it out. I'm writing this after a good 3-4 hours sleep we have been motoring nice and easy since sundown motors only on 1400 rpm. and at the moment making 5.5 knots with a current against us. I dont want to go any faster as it needs to be daylight well before we get there. Currently its 2:20am and we will be abeam of Cape Leveque light around 4:00am - we would like to see it, well we can see the flashing light now, I mean we would like to see the Cape - we will be well past the point by dawn but still be able to see it, I think.
We had a good sail today, SW for a good portion of the afternoon not strong but Sirocco still managed 7-8 knots most of the time, we had to change course late afternoon which saw the wind behind us but we still kept going at around 4 knots, did not need to go any faster.
The heat is bothering us all, its still 29C, with very little wind, we are all finding it hard to sleep. Sandra has loads of insect bites and I a few, from last night I think, we will have to start using the hatch screens.
Rob caught a nice mackerel today, a nice eating size. Rob and Jess did the honors and cooked it on the BBQ whilst underway it was delicious. Everyone is awake, Rob and Jess out on the day bed, coolest place at the moment, both slept a good bit there I think. Sandra is out in the forward cockpit doing the safe thing and keeping a lookout, we did see one other boat (True North) come the other way, us ships passed in the night around 10:00pm. I am sat inside typing the BLOG.
We are surprised on the 3G coverage we are getting. Read an article in a sailing mag about how Telstra had been installing towers to assit Aboriginal communities, the section the writer was refering to was from Cairns to Darwin but its looking like the same thing might have happened here. Will see what happens in the next few days. We expect to anchor early morning, will go ashore and have a wander and might move on to another spot later, will see how we feel....Silica Bay was awesome as is all the scenery here the sand is a pure white colour and looks and sounds like walking on snow, only 40 degrees warmer. Jessie and I went for a climb and took some awesome photos

Huge Tide Rip on the way to Hidden Island

The shot above was taken 2 nm from Silica Bay - we were showing 7.0 knots on the speed but at times only doing 1.9 knots over ground - 5 knots against us. On the whole we have been lucky with the tides mostly been with us or light current against us - except this time.

Sirocco anchored in Silica Bay

On to Cornilurus Island

Decided we would move on to a different anchorage, read that there was a chance of some oysters on the rocks that was enough to tempt us to up hook and go for it, plus although Silica Bay is 110% fantastic I was a bit worried about the close proximity to the rocks of the stern, always looks closer on board and in reality was quite a distance away. At the moment we are getting spring tides which have a range now about 9.0m, so if you anchor at low water your boat is going to be 9.0m higher in 6 hours time, the point is you need enough chain out to handle that situation. We anchored in a bay on the southern tip of Corliuras Island - a great spot, anchored in 10m of water and went on a oyster hunt.

Oysters and Wine anyone

Another fantastic sunset. You get them every day like this here.

Horizontal Waterfalls - 21st April

We are heading for the Horizontal Waterfalls. Its in Talbot Bay about 15 nm from an Island called Koolan. The tide flows though the narrow gaps filling the gorge as quickly as it can. When the tide turns the water floods out in a torrent, high speed inflatables blast though the gap to give thrill seekers a hit ! We arrived close to high tide and after an hour or so took the dingy for a ride though what I reckoned would be a flat water, well even though the tide was falling, (we could see it on the cliffs and Sirocco was in a metre less water than when we arrived) the water was still pouring into the first gouge.
We took the dingy through anyway, motored around a bit and had a bumpy swirling ride back against the current, mini whirlpools everywhere. We returned a few hours later when the cruise ships jetboat started blasting for the opening and took some pictures, put our lifejackets on this time too !! I think in another hour things might have been a bit more spectacular, but I also think our poor dingy would have had a hard time against the current. We needed to get going, it was almost 3 hours after high water and I was keen to take advantage of the outgoing tidal flow, we up anchored and headed out, during the 15 nm trip though the islands we had up to 6 knots of tide with us - motors pushing us along at 6 knots with the GPS showing 12 knots and the autopilot having a hell of a time with it all.

Sirocco Anchored close to the Horizontal Waterfalls.

Horizontal Waterfalls, just starting to flow.

High Speed Inflatables that blastes through the gap, they call them jet boats but they have outboards ?

Seaplane taking off in Talbot Bay, ferrys passengers from somewhere to see the waterfalls

We we not alone at the Horizontal Waterfalls - Cruise Ship Orion was there when we arrived. A luxury power yacht, a Sunseeker 60' model I think, and later on the seaplane, busy place !

Orion Cruise Ship

Prince Regent River

I did think about anchoring in the dark at a place called Raft Point but then decided to strike out to Prince Regent River, well the river is the final destination but there is heaps of large bays before we get there - in order... we pass though Hanover Bay, then Munster Water, then Saint Georges Basin, and then yeah a few others its about 25 nm from the first bay to the river itself. At the moment its 8:00pm, we have been charging on into the dead of night at close to 10 knots since 5:30pm. A nice SW'ly seems like its set in for the night blowing about 13 knots or so, I alter course by 20 degrees or so in 6 miles time and that will take a bit of power out of the breeze but hopefully we will be able to sail most of the 100 nm we need to cover, will anchor somewhere in the basin at first light, and have a good sleep no doubt. Breeze lasted until midnight when we once more started the motors. Onward through the dark night we go. Noticed a bit of vibration from the engines, could not have been any growth on the blades as Rob spent an hour in the water cleaning them with a BBQ scraper. Decided in the end it was just some sort or resonance and pushing the revs up another 200 rpm solved the issue, you tend to get paranoid about anything that changes noise or tone in real remote places, well I do anyway. About 2:00am the autopilot decided it was not going to track the waypoint anymore. Just switching to standby and back to auto and track fixed that.

Hanover Bay

We are anchored in Hanover Bay, the original plan was to go and take a look at the river but further reading only recommends this at neap tides and we are full on spring tides at the moment (9 metre range). So we are heading off to Bigge Island tomorrow, which is about a 45nm sail, or motor depending on the wind gods.
We have had a good day today, went ashore this morning and, well did nothing for a few hours, walked up and down the beach, thats about all. Back on board and I went to sleep as only had a couple of hours last night, slept for 3 hours while Sandra busied herself with washing, we have ran the watermaker pretty much all day since 11:00am, done 3 loads of washing all is dry and put away now. Genset was on for the washing machine so Sandy cranked up the bread maker, so fresh bread tonight um. Not any real fish of consequence caught over the last day or so. Freezer is playing up so probably not a good thing anyway, will have to get that sorted, am thinking of getting a bigger unit somehow, the temperate guage is reading 5.0C and it just cannot be as most stuff seems frozen, so maybe its just the $2.00 gauge ?
Weather is clouding over and there is lightening in the sky, and just now some thunder may even rain and if it does I will get to try my water catchment system - will take a pic of it in operation if water does fall.

Sandra on Hanover Inlet beach

Only our foot prints this time.

Lone Fisherman Rob

Tonights dinner is Mackerel, potatoes tinned vegies of some sort, depends on what the cook selects and fresh bread.

Fresh Bread for Dinner, how cool is that.

Rain Rained about 7:30pm and a huge lightening show as well, the girls refused to strip down on deck and shower for fear of been struck by lightening. The boat got a wash and so did I connecting the water catchment system, which worked well apart from the inlet fitting needs to be a little smaller. Tested the water with my water tester that came with the watermaker and was near enough pure. The rain did not last, heavy for about 45mins or so, enough to half fill one tank, so better than nothing and free water.

Rain Water Collection System.

Bigge Island - 23rd April

Overcast today, first day without constant sunshine, Sandra still managed to get sunburnt by sleeping on the trampoline. We sailed in a SE'ly about 40 of the 55 nm, wind came in from the NE so we motored the rest. My original intension was to go into Boomarang Bay, but when we got there we had trouble finding any sheltered water deep enough to anchor in without hitting the bottom at low tide, the chart was telling us there was, in one area of the bay at least 4.5m above chart datam (Chart Datam is the lowest astronomical tide), there should always be at least that much water, but we could not find it most of the time we were recording 8.0m or a bit less and we had that much water to loose as the tide went out, current tides here have a range of 10.5m.
So we moved on to Wary Bay 5 miles to the north, motored towards a nice sandy beach in 13m of water 12.5m, 12.0m, 11.8m, 1.9m hell - gave her heaps of reverse and backed out, Mmmm that was close, anchored a bit further out in 13.0m.
Launched the dingy and went ashore. Real interesting place this, and judging by the amount of footprints on the beach above the HW mark, well a lot of other folks think so too, the rock formations are amazing. In several of the caves aboriginal art paintings decorate the walls. One cave also contains a burial site, Rob counted 3 skulls.

Rock that looks alot like a Sperm Whale, well does to me..

General View of Wary Bay, looking North.

Aboriginal Paintings, have a heap of photos, way too many to post...

Burial Site.

Return Trip to the boat proved interesting, or worrying more to the point. While exploring I noticed that for a long way from the shore, the water was looking very shallow, decided we better get going sooner than later as I did not fancy carrying the dingy 400m across sand to where the water looked like was going to end up. We all jumped in the dingy and set off - the shallow water arrived almost straight away, but it was not sand but coral. We had a hell of a time trying to prevent the dingy scraping along the coral and I was worried about putting a hole in the one of the side tubes. Rob and I sort of got out but you could not put any real weight on the coral as it just broke up and you fell though, we pushed and semi paddled to where we hoped water was, and finally made it. When the tide went out Sirocco was anchored about 60m from the coral, still in 11m of water so we were good.

Parry Harbour

We were heading to Napier Broome Bay, but after talking to my son Steve on the sat phone decided we were in for Strong Wind Warning from the NNE, exactly the way the wind was blowing then, and we were motoring against it, turned out to be wrong mainly due the fact I did not know were Wallal was. The wind has been NE for the last 24 hours and is supposed to be variable, we need to pretty much go that way NE I mean. In the end altered course for Parry Harbour, which is just a massive bay and think its called a harbour due to its size, we decided to stop there anyway and have a rest from punching into the headwinds, and we could make Napier Broome Bay the next day anyway. Rob has just caught a Mackeral and we are having Mackerel steaks for lunch. We anchored in Parry Harbour around 5:00pm. At sundown wind was NE and by morning was ESE and 20 knots pretty much where we need to go !

Sunset just after anchoring in Parry Harbour.

Napier Broome Bay

We are heading to Napier Broome Bay, to a little bay 1.5 nm south of Cape Talbot called Bruce Bay, by yachtsmen I think, its around 50nm away. Wind is blowing around 20 knots from the ESE which means we should be able to sail the first 20 miles then will have to motor dead into it, thats the thing here, you cannot sail in a straight line from one point to another as there is heaps of submerged rocks and Islands and big rocks in the way. Anyway we set off with both centre boards fully down and one reef in the main, trying to get as close to the wind as we could. Sirocco will sail around 35 degrees to the apparent wind but that is really only 60 degrees to the real wind, well did we take off charging though the seas, decided, even before we had a cup of tea that we really had too much sail up the real wind was 20 knots but we were seeing over 30 on the wind guage, shortened down to the second reef in the main and rolled up a bit of jib, before this we hit 16.6 knots "upwind". We still had a bumpy wild ride for a couple of hours.
Mainsail Problems Noticed just before we dropped the main that we had lost a batten and one other was out of the leach holder, dropped the main and the loose batten stayed in place, we were lucky could have lost that too. We motored the remaining 30 miles to Bruce Bay, anchored in 5.0m of water, the tides here are reported to be only 3.0 range, a bit different from the 10.0 a few days ago. Have checked the battens and a lot are quite loose so will sort that tomorrow.

16.6 upwind, just before Sandra requested the second reef.

Upwind to Darwin! - 24th April

OK we are nicely anchored in Bruce Bay, its Wednesday 25th April, the forecast tomorrow, Thursday, is ESE 20 - 25 knots, way to much wind for flogging upwind. Although 25 knots does not sound like a whole lot of wind, it is when you add up to 15 knots of boat speed to it. On Friday forecast is 15-20 knots, much the same conditions we had today, as well as that the wind usually eases during the night, and forecaster Paul T reckons as we get away from the coast the wind tends to swing around to the SE, way better, 15 knots from the south would be wicked, but doubt we will get that. The plan is this, providing the wind is as forecast we will leave on Friday morning to cross the Gulf, I intend to start with 2 reefs in the main, boards fully down and try and make a good course that does not stress the rig, boat, and crew too much. We have 250 nm to do upwind, if we travel fast we could be on the right side of the Gulf on Saturday morning, it might be Melville Island - see how we go. Currently we have covered 1773 nm so we will be over 2000 by the time we can shout Darwin Ahoy.

Crossing the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf

Friday 27th - forecast is for the wind to move slightly towards the SE. Wind speed 25 knots but easing to 20 knots by the afternoon, usually the wind eases during the evening and it should be 20 knots on Saturday. So at 06:30am we raised anchor for the last time and headed out. Wind behind us for 7 miles then hard on the wind, both centre boards fully down, 2 reefs in the main, headsail reefed a little too.

Cape Londonderry - seas still moderate as we have not cleared the land yet, Last land before Darwin 250 nm away..

Rough As - yeah seas very confused, breaking all over the place, Sandra was all for turning back, but we decided to push on, lots of waves breaking over the boat sometimes a constant spray feeding the front windows and several large waves breaking over the starboard side, the boat was travelling around 10 knots and we were constantly adjusting the direction to keep the boat sailing around 40 degrees to the apparent wind. We could not quite make course and were going to end up around 40 - 50 miles north of Darwin. We pressed on. Evening arrived and the wind moderated slightly and I unfurled the headsail fully. Day dawned - happy days, I was unable to sleep and got around 1 hours sleep all night so was quite tired by morning.
Saturday Wind picked up to a shade over 20 knots, we were still seeing close to 30 knots of apparent speed, around 07:00am I got seasick, happens to me only very occasionally and only when I am very tired after a long night, by noon the wind and the seas were moderating and I got some sleep in the forward cockpit even though a bit of spray was coming on board, woke up feeling better. Rob thought it a good idea to start the motors and head for Darwin instead of waiting until we were pointing direct into the wind and waves, good idea I thought. The motors did object to this decision and took a bit to get going, I think the turbulent seas had somehow caused air to get in the fuel lines, started after a few attempts - relief all round !.
50 miles or so to Darwin, seas moderating and wind easing all the time, slowly increased the engine revolutions and boat speed By 3:00 pm there was zero wind and hardly any seas. Nice place this after all !. Decided we must be in the Territory by now so raised the flag!

NT and Australian Flags raised.

Cullen Bay Marina - 28th April

20 miles from Darwin I got a 3G signal, called the lockmaster - Cullen Bay lock closes at 11:00pm, no worries decided we might be able to make the 7:00pm (NT time) lock opening, punched up the motor revs to 2500, and with a bit of a following tide were making 10.4 knots over ground, arrived at the lock gates at 6:55pm and drove into the lock, 700mm to spare either side so hell of a tight squeeze, into the marina in fading light and was met at pen G10 by friends and family to help me reverse into our berth. By 7:30pm engines were off and all was quite except noises of high 5s and congratulations - 2045 nautical miles covered since leaving Hillarys. Sandra and I enjoyed Rob's and Jessie's company and help immensely, I learnt heaps about catching, preparing, cooking and eating fish.

Salt encrusted Sirocco in Cullen Bay Marina.

Final Reflections, what broke, what worked, what did'nt,

We had a few problems, most major first, just before we dropped the mainsail before the final 50 miles we noticed that one of the rigging fixing points to the deck had broken away, we were hammering the boat hard and its obvious it was not built strong enough, I need to rebuild this using carbon fibre instead of E-glass before the boat can go sailing again. The freezer cannot handle heavy loads and when fully loaded could not maintain temperatures below freezing and we had to defrost it with the heat gun several times, and we through some fish overboard - will need to be sorted before any more long sailing missions. We lost a batten out of the mainsail, I need to source a new 7.0m long round batten, that will be a challenge. Some stitching is coming way on the trampoline, will need to be restitched sometime. The invertor fan is still catching somewhere, needs a new one ! I need to get more rest on a night, somehow !
Watermaker was just fantastic, makes great water, 35 litres an hour. Hot water was great, loads of it. Anchor was tremendous, dug into the mud real well think it would hold in 70 knots of wind, very pleased with the Rocna. Bread maker was fantastic, the invertor adds another 60 amps of load to the battery and only in the last hour.
Needs or Wants A staysail would be good for higher winds. Wind Generator is back on the want list, solar panels are great but do not work at night and a lot of the time one is in the shade of the mainsail, we draw at least 20 amps when sailing, so need to put that back in, OK if the engines need to be ran, but if you are sailing we need more charging capacity.

Bare Sand Island and Crab Claw Resort - 9th June

OK first sailing weekend since arriving in Darwin. Boat has been fully fixed up, well fixed enough to go sailing, always things to sort out on boats its an on going mission. Exited the lock at 09:00am, on board are the Watson's Johnny, Sandy, Steve and Paul. 2 friends Damian and Ariane have joined us too. Bit of a bump getting though the lock but nothing too bad. Set sail for Bare Sand Island, managed to get the smaller symmetrical spinnaker up and drawing nicely after a bit of messing around. Probably sailed a little over half way. We arrived pretty much on low water and could not get behind the Island, at this state of tide there was just not enough water, so we anchored in around 2.5m of water pretty much in the open sea, but no swell and very little wind. Went ashore, not much to see except sand, no turtles spotted. Folks arrived late on other boats and we could see torch lights on the beach so then would be the time to go ashore and see turtles, but wine and beer had taken over the proceedings by then.

Our small spinnaker drawing nicely.

Bare Sand Island, see how it gets its name.

Really.

Crab Claw Resort Left Bare Sand about 09:00am, a bit of sailing in the SE'ly until we turned that way, but a great day with flat seas and tons of sunshine of course. Arrived 90 mins before low water and anchored real close to the beach in 3.0m of water, figured we had only a metre of water to loose so we would be fine, we were the closest yacht to the beach a real short dingy ride, nice in the dark when you are croc watching. Set off and put the crab nets out.
Went ashore, had a swim in the pool and a beer in the bar. Back on board for a shower and clean up then back to the bar for a meal and a few more beers, hard work this boating stuff.
Had a lazy start the next day, left around 09:30am after retriving the crab pots - 3 in one pot, 2 in another and nothing in the last pot. Paul cooked up a bacon storm on the BBQ, sandwiches all round. Pretty much sailed most of the way up the channel from the resort although quite slow some of the time, then had to resort to the iron sails as we did not want to be too late back as we had a hound to rescue from the kennels. Got into the lock at 3:30pm without any dramas, good work all round by the crew, tied up unloaded and was home by 5:00pm.

Sunset at Crab Claw Island.

Looking over the anchorage at Crab Claw.

Ashore at the Resturant / Bar, meal was .. OK. Awesome view for sure.

Sadly we did not catch any fish, next trip is a fishing only mission - 2 weeks time I think.

Dundee Beach - 28th July

Left the lock early - about 7:00am. Quick detour into Fannie Bay to hoist the mainsail and to avoid the LNG tanker Pacific Notus. A SE'ly was starting to build and after a couple of miles we switched off the motors and sailed the 40 miles to Dundee Beach. A few course changes had to be made but for most of the time we were beam reaching - great catamaran sailing at close on 10 knots. We decided to stop around 5 miles short of the Lodge and do some fishing as the fish finder was showing quite a bit of activity. But alas nothing of any real eatable quality, only school sharks. Not worth the effort. Anchored around 3:00pm in 3.5m of water around 400m from the beach. Had a couple of beers and watched the tractor towing boats up the sand ramp.
Went ashore and to our surprise met up with Rob and Jess, who I thought were leaving on Friday night. Had a good value meal at the Lodge watching the sun go down and listening to some free entertainment. Surly is a great place and we are looking forward to going back. Breeze sprung up and we had a wet ride back to the boat in the dark. One day my lads are going to realise that its not a good plan to wear your best Nikes and socks when landing on a sandy beach in a rubber dingy - hehe.
Very little wind when we set off but within an hour has picked up - SE'ly again and by 11:00am we were hard on the wind with 2 reefs in the main.
First real sail with the new jib and I have had the clew cut a little high so have decided to add an additional track, (we can sheet a bit closer anyway and probably sail closer to the wind). So need another couple of Lewmar clutches - a short bit of track and another 2 T track blocks, a better solution than moving the existing track, and easier.
Made the 3:00pm lock and squeezed though with another couple of boats behind us. A great weekend.

Pacific Notus leaving for Japan with a load of ConocoPhillips LNG.

Entertainment Dundee Lodge Style.

View of the outdoor Lodge area, Sandy awaiting the first glass of wine.

Cullen Bay Lock - we have 700mm spare each side, which to me is nothing.