Following the Ambon Rally there was several things that needed changing and fixing. The wind generator was just too noisy and not at all suitable. The hydrogenerator kept constantly snapping the downlaul, the cork decking was looking very sad for itself, bits were peeling off everywhere. I had several leaks in the deck around fittings that had moved with loads. Also a strange problem with the starboard engine in that it was hard to start after a prior of sailing in any sort of swell, a after a period of running the genset.

Deck Updates using Nu-Teak, Non-slip paint in the cockpit.

New SilentWind wind gen, how silent and how good under test, check out the new bent mast to give the boom a bit more clearance.

Deck leaks have been fixed as has several other small issues, loose doors, repair or replacement of pumps. The problem with the starboard engine I have put down to the fact that the engine and genset share the fuel return connection to the tank, and hence are connected together. The genset is considerably higher than the engine and my theory is that fuel from the genset return is finding its way into the engine injector pump which makes the engine difficult to start. I have had the tank top modified so the engine and genset have independent pick-ups and returns - watch this space for the test results.

Kimberly Trip. Darwin to Dundee. 18th April.

Through the lock at 07:15, fueled up by 07:45, setoff up the harbour, discovered one of the grey waste pumps was busted, but managed to fix by replacing with a spare black waste pump. Motored for the first couple of hours, and then sailed with the screecher for a few hours, uneventful trip arrived and anchored by 3:00pm Went ashore and had a feed and a listen to the entertainment, back on board by 8:00pm. Gary who was sailing with us decided to press on across the Gulf, as he has less time to see the Kimberly than we have.

Dundee to Koolama Bay.

Up anchor at 07:30 and on our way, no wind or very little so motorsailing is the order of the day, quite a swell running which in light winds is making keeping the sails set a difficult job, thoughout the day we have managed to catch 3 Spanish Mackeral, so fish for dinner tonight. Continued motorsailing on and off when around 10:00pm we dropped the main as the flogging was getting a bit to much to bear and was not providing any drive. We continue on though the night, 03:00am the SE'ly is in and after a load of stuffing around managed to get the mainsail up, the new lazyjack system supports the bag far better but its way more difficult to get the main up without catching the batterns on the lazy jacks, then headsail set and off we go - speeds over 10 knots for a lot of the time. Motored the last 25 miles or so as speed was down and anchored in Koolama Bay just after noon on Sunday 20th. Had a nice afternoon nap.

King George River.

Waited to close on high water. Then time to take a trip down the river to see the falls. Followed the channel though the sandbanks at the river entrance using the electronic chart which seems accurate once inside the river itself depths varied from 3.0 to 11.0m. The journey down the river can only be descriped as sensational, towering colourful cliffs, just awesome senery.

Sandy taking us down the river.

King George River.

Shot of boats from the top.

Kings Cascade.

Had a few goes at anchoring as there was a few folks here, fancied anchoring so we could see the falls but just not enough room. Decided that afternoon to take a walk up what was supposed to be a track to the top, well not quite a track more like a climbing a rock face, but we all made it in the end, then a 15 monute walk to where the water gathers in pools before falling to the river below. The fresh water pools are fantastic, we all had a great swim, very refreshing. All made it safely down.

Kings Cascade Falls.

One of the many water pools - great swimming.

Somewhat of a challenging TRACK.

Spent the next day relaxing and trying our hand at fishing from the dingy, got a couple of small GTs, great dinner. Next day we left as there is a chance of a cyclone developing or at least a tropical low and its forcast to head down the Gulf, so we want to be moving away. Sailed a nice course up the Western side of the Gulf and round into Napier Broome Bay, to anchor at close to 6:00pm (WA time).

Bruce Bay.

We have been here before on our trip up. A nice peacefull bay 1.5NM south of Cape Talbot. Signs if croc tracks ashore but no actual beast seen, we kept an eye out for sure Spent 2 nights here, the second day Dave and I went up into a small creek with the dingy. I caught one Mangrove Jack and Dave, well about 8 or 9 I think. We had a hell of a banquet that evening, it was to my cost however as I got badly bitten by sand flies. Customs flew over and asked a few details, Sandy put them right - from Darwin, going back to Darwin, thats about it. Lifting the anchor gave us problems, I noticed it did not sound quite the same at Kings Cascade, some sort of rattle to it, and the chain counter has been alarming out from time to time. Turned out the motor fixing screws had come loose, Dave retightened them and that seems to have fixed it - fingers crossed

Bruce Bay Creek, home to the sand flies.

Mission Bay.

20 nm south of Bruce Bay is Mission Bay, arrived mid afternoon, anchored the usual couple of beers dinner and bed, hard work this holidaying. There was signs of life ashore A family fishing, they left before sundown. Went ashore the next day just to check things out, very soft fine sand, not much else there. Getting weather reports on the sat phone from Paul T and this low pressure is a pain. NE'ly winds across the gulf for like ever. Fuel tanks are about half full so we should be OK if have to motor home but do not want to punch into 20 knots of headwind, might change thinks me hopefully.

Soft Sand at Mission Bay.

Sir Graham Moore Island.

Anchored in a great little bay around a headland called Vaia Point, yet another sensational anchorage, totally protected. Decided to go ashore and watch the sunset with cheese and biscuits. The rocks we climbed for a good vantage point were very unstable and we kept well away from the edges, great views though. Oh yes we went ashore after pumping up the dingy, it seems to have developed a leak, re-glueing the only patch failed to resolve and I was sure we had holded it fishing. But in the end it turned out to be a seam close to the very end of the tube on the starboard side, will have to get that looked at when we return, its not a major leak so no big deal but needs fixing.

Sun Set at Sir Graham Moore Island.

Unstable Rocks I reckon.

Jims Bay.

We left Sir Graham Moore Island with the plan to sail around the corner and go back to Koolama Bay, looked like we could run the spinaker or screecher for some of the time. However as soon as we had the screecher set the wind dropped and went astern, we tried the large kite and in the process installed it in the new sock, so that was a worthwhile exercise, however the wind was super light, about 4 knots and just not enough to fill it. The wind has been the most frustrating part of this trip. Either none or dead against us. We put into Bruce Bay again as we were just not going to make anywhere else before night happened. Went ashore for a walk the next day and Dave caught a couple more Mangrove Jacks, one really big, so fish for dinner again tonight, waited another day with the hope of a wind shift but its not a happening thing. NE 15 knots is the latest. Next day off around the corner so we are at least a bit closer to Darwin. Koolama Bay looked favourate, but we decided on Jims Bay as its closer and we are motoring everywhere. On closing Cape Talbot we had wind against tide, 10 - 15 knots of wind with a 3.5 tidal steam - the sea got pretty excited and we really should have been further offshore, but only lasted for 30 minutes or so and we were in flat water again, well flatish. Got as far inside Jims Bay as we could and anchored in 3.2m of water. No bugs tonight - YES.

Entering Jims Bay.

Darwin Bound.

Awoke with the hope of a Southerly or a SE'ly - no such luck - straight out of the NE. Checked the weather with the guys an Darwin - forcast is for E or NE winds but only 5 - 10 knots and max of 15 overnight perhaps. Wayne tells me a high is forming in the Bight and stonger winds are forcast for Sunday, so decided on the morning of Wednesday 30th April to head for Darwin. I reckon we will have to motor the entire way and am trying to keep the revs around 1500 rpm on each engine just to make sure we have enough fuel, I don't want to run out 10 nm from home. Its slow progress for sure, but winds are still light (noon on 30th) and I am ever hopeful we will get a wind shift at least enough to pull a sail up and give us a hand. Hooked a Wahoo but he got off at the last minute - oh well.

Dave and Anne relaxing on the way home.

No luck with the wind and ended up motoring the entire way to Dundee beach and in fact the entire way from Dundee to Cullen Bay - caught a couple of nice Mackerel on the way home. Ended up having loads of fuel and an early start at Dundee saw us going though the lock at 11:00am on a massive tide, now on with fixing up things !! All in all a good trip.

Good Fishing, sort of made up for the lack of wind.