Well it has been a while since I last blogged. Fiona did a great job as guest blogger for Hanover Bay back down to Broome. Meanwhile, I have been too busy enjoying the cruising life to get back on the computer plus internet connection is still pretty limited in these parts, but here goes.
Back in Broome, Maxine and Arnhem again put us up (put up with us) at their lovely abode. We enjoyed some great meals and fun nights while during the day restocked the boat. Nic fell in love with the camels on Cable Beach (she is easily pleased!). On the final Saturday afternoon we took Maxine, Arnhem, Scarlet, Alan and Sudha out for a gentle sail down to Cable Beach, anchored for lunch and then a motor back up to Gantheame Point. Arnhem showed off his rope skills by doing two “Turks Heads” knots to mark the centre of the steering wheel, plus a “Monkey Fist” which is a handy gadget that can be used for clonking rowdy sailors on the head or garroting pirates! Fantastic mementoes of a great time in Broome.
We left early on Sunday morn to head to Lagrange Bay which was about 70nms. We arrived late arvo and anchored up for the night, with a curious Dugong swimming around the boat. Our original plan was to hang in close to the coast and pull in at night along Eighty mile beach, but the weather had other ideas with strong E and SE winds predicted for the next few days. We had arranged to pick up my mate Geoff at Dampier on the 9th of August so we decided just to straight line to Dampier and get there a few days early. The breeze - true to form picked up to 25-30kns during the days and we had a quick and rolley trip down to Dampier arriving on the Wednesday lunchtime.
We caught up with one of Nic’s friends in Dampier and did our shopping then picked up Geoff from the airport on the Friday. We had dinner at the lovely Hampton Bay Yacht Club and meet up with a local Rory who gave us the low down on all the best Islands to visit in the Dampier Archipelago. Saturday lunchtime we headed over to flying foam passage in search of some aboriginal art Rory had told us about. After anchoring up we dinghied ashore and went looking for the art. A few hours wandering up dry creek beds, across spinifex grass and down and round about, but to no avail. We didn’t find the art, we did however discover some oysters so the trip was not a complete failure. On return to the boat we figured we were probably actually in the wrong bay! Oh well. During the night we had a “glass off” and had a whale just drift past the boat snorting - we think he was asleep and just running with the current. On Sunday morning we headed over to West Lewis Island, the breeze had gone into the East and a familiar pattern had set in 25-30kn E - SE which was predicted to hang in for the next few days. Well that it did! We finally made a run for the Montebello Islands on Wednesday which was the lightest of the days but still 20-25kns.
Our chosen approach to the Monte’s was around the southern end of Trimouille Island. This takes you from 30m shelving to 5m over the course of about 1nm and with 5days of honking easterlies and 20-25kns and a 1.5m swell behind us I started to get a bit nervous as we got closer. There is a very narrow channel and as expected waves were breaking all around us, it made seeing the channel easier! I was pleased to see relatively calm water on the other side of the shelf so we decided to go for it. We could also see what appeared to be spouts of water on the many little islands dotted around the entrance. As we negotiated the passage the waves started breaking all around, I was at the wheel fiercely focused on keeping the boat on track and not broaching and keeping an eye on the depth. Then all of a sudden we realised that the spouting we had seen was not waves bashing against the islands but whales spouting, lots and lots of whales spouting - they were everywhere! Including one conveniently popping up right in front of the bloody boat! With a channel of about 10m wide to get the boat through and a 15m whale broadside in front of us I didn’t have a lot of options. I just hoped he would get out of the way. Which he did, gently rolling down and out of the way. This happened at least half a dozen times as we made it over the shelf into calmer waters and made our way the next few miles to our anchorage. Really amazing stuff to have these huge animals just metres from the boat.
Another yacht Bucephalus was in the bay as we arrived so we anchored a courteous distance away from them. We had seen Bucephalus in Dampier and saw them heading out here a day or so earlier. We found out the next day they had travelled down from Darwin. The boat was actually from USA and the owner had jumped on board in Dampier with one of his mates who was a world champion spearfisherman. So they were spending the next few days spearfishing.
The breeze was unrelenting for the next few days only ever easing up for a couple of hours in the late afternoon. This meant supping and fishing activities were restricted to these times, the rest of the days spent reading and relaxing - tough life! One morning we awoke to the sound of a whale spouting, jumping up on deck we found a whale right next to the boat. He swam back and forwards, under and around the boat for the next half hour. If that wasn’t enough about an hour later he bought back three friends and they did the same thing all over again. I think they were trying to tempt this lazy fat (blu-esky) whale (our boat) to play with them. With no response they soon got sick of us and eventually swam away. This happened nearly every day we were anchored up in Main Bay off Trimouille Island - great stuff.
On Monday we finally had some lighter breezes and took advantage to go over to Chianti Bay on Alpha Island. The Montebello’s are of course the spot the British Navy let off three Nuclear Bombs in the late 1950’s so a few of the Islands have signs warning that people should not stay ashore for more than an hour. Alpha Island is one of these. We finally had a “glass off” in Chianti Bay so took advantage and went supping around the bay. Beautiful clear waters, turtles everywhere. On returning to the boat we found a huge Potato Cod lurking around - a truly massive fish.
Well unfortunately, Geoffa had to be back in Perth at the end of the week so we took advantage of one more day on the Tuesday, then headed off to Exmouth on Wed morn for the 130 odd mile trip (20-26hrs). We carefully picked our way out of the Montebello reefs. Still a lot of the area is unchartered or “inadequately surveyed” according to the charts - so it is important to keep a close eye on the depth gauge and a constant lookout for “bommies”. We made it OK with a minimum depth of 40cm under the keel at one point! But we were going very very slowly!
As we departed the reefs of the Monte’s we were rewarded with a lovely big Makerel on the lure. Standard fair now was to make some sashimi for lunch - beautiful way to eat fish! Store some in the icebox and one fillet ready for dinner. Hard to beat this life!
We enjoyed a nice sail until late arvo, and then the breeze died a bit so we went back to the normal motor sailing. Arrived in Exmouth at 3pm on Thursday. Geoffa turns out to be good family friends with the Harbour Master - small world experience number 101 on this trip! So a quick catch up for those two. We enjoyed a lovely steak burger and chips (oh the joy after so much bloody fresh fish!) at one of the local restaurants then home to bed.
Geoffa flew out this morn (Friday) and now Nic and I are left to stock up and plan the next few legs on the long trip home. A bit strange to be by ourselves again after a couple of months in the company of great friends and family. We have a key to get in the gate here now (thanks to geoff’s contacts) so I am wondering whether Nic will be able to surprise me with some new skills I am still unaware of! We are diving the Navy Pier tomorrow, and will take the hire car on Sunday to do some snorkelling a bit further down the coast at some spots we won’t be able to get to on the boat. Probably leave here on Monday to Tantabiddi assuming the predicted 5m swell has subsided by then - onwards and upwards....
Back in Broome, Maxine and Arnhem again put us up (put up with us) at their lovely abode. We enjoyed some great meals and fun nights while during the day restocked the boat. Nic fell in love with the camels on Cable Beach (she is easily pleased!). On the final Saturday afternoon we took Maxine, Arnhem, Scarlet, Alan and Sudha out for a gentle sail down to Cable Beach, anchored for lunch and then a motor back up to Gantheame Point. Arnhem showed off his rope skills by doing two “Turks Heads” knots to mark the centre of the steering wheel, plus a “Monkey Fist” which is a handy gadget that can be used for clonking rowdy sailors on the head or garroting pirates! Fantastic mementoes of a great time in Broome.
We left early on Sunday morn to head to Lagrange Bay which was about 70nms. We arrived late arvo and anchored up for the night, with a curious Dugong swimming around the boat. Our original plan was to hang in close to the coast and pull in at night along Eighty mile beach, but the weather had other ideas with strong E and SE winds predicted for the next few days. We had arranged to pick up my mate Geoff at Dampier on the 9th of August so we decided just to straight line to Dampier and get there a few days early. The breeze - true to form picked up to 25-30kns during the days and we had a quick and rolley trip down to Dampier arriving on the Wednesday lunchtime.
We caught up with one of Nic’s friends in Dampier and did our shopping then picked up Geoff from the airport on the Friday. We had dinner at the lovely Hampton Bay Yacht Club and meet up with a local Rory who gave us the low down on all the best Islands to visit in the Dampier Archipelago. Saturday lunchtime we headed over to flying foam passage in search of some aboriginal art Rory had told us about. After anchoring up we dinghied ashore and went looking for the art. A few hours wandering up dry creek beds, across spinifex grass and down and round about, but to no avail. We didn’t find the art, we did however discover some oysters so the trip was not a complete failure. On return to the boat we figured we were probably actually in the wrong bay! Oh well. During the night we had a “glass off” and had a whale just drift past the boat snorting - we think he was asleep and just running with the current. On Sunday morning we headed over to West Lewis Island, the breeze had gone into the East and a familiar pattern had set in 25-30kn E - SE which was predicted to hang in for the next few days. Well that it did! We finally made a run for the Montebello Islands on Wednesday which was the lightest of the days but still 20-25kns.
Our chosen approach to the Monte’s was around the southern end of Trimouille Island. This takes you from 30m shelving to 5m over the course of about 1nm and with 5days of honking easterlies and 20-25kns and a 1.5m swell behind us I started to get a bit nervous as we got closer. There is a very narrow channel and as expected waves were breaking all around us, it made seeing the channel easier! I was pleased to see relatively calm water on the other side of the shelf so we decided to go for it. We could also see what appeared to be spouts of water on the many little islands dotted around the entrance. As we negotiated the passage the waves started breaking all around, I was at the wheel fiercely focused on keeping the boat on track and not broaching and keeping an eye on the depth. Then all of a sudden we realised that the spouting we had seen was not waves bashing against the islands but whales spouting, lots and lots of whales spouting - they were everywhere! Including one conveniently popping up right in front of the bloody boat! With a channel of about 10m wide to get the boat through and a 15m whale broadside in front of us I didn’t have a lot of options. I just hoped he would get out of the way. Which he did, gently rolling down and out of the way. This happened at least half a dozen times as we made it over the shelf into calmer waters and made our way the next few miles to our anchorage. Really amazing stuff to have these huge animals just metres from the boat.
Another yacht Bucephalus was in the bay as we arrived so we anchored a courteous distance away from them. We had seen Bucephalus in Dampier and saw them heading out here a day or so earlier. We found out the next day they had travelled down from Darwin. The boat was actually from USA and the owner had jumped on board in Dampier with one of his mates who was a world champion spearfisherman. So they were spending the next few days spearfishing.
The breeze was unrelenting for the next few days only ever easing up for a couple of hours in the late afternoon. This meant supping and fishing activities were restricted to these times, the rest of the days spent reading and relaxing - tough life! One morning we awoke to the sound of a whale spouting, jumping up on deck we found a whale right next to the boat. He swam back and forwards, under and around the boat for the next half hour. If that wasn’t enough about an hour later he bought back three friends and they did the same thing all over again. I think they were trying to tempt this lazy fat (blu-esky) whale (our boat) to play with them. With no response they soon got sick of us and eventually swam away. This happened nearly every day we were anchored up in Main Bay off Trimouille Island - great stuff.
On Monday we finally had some lighter breezes and took advantage to go over to Chianti Bay on Alpha Island. The Montebello’s are of course the spot the British Navy let off three Nuclear Bombs in the late 1950’s so a few of the Islands have signs warning that people should not stay ashore for more than an hour. Alpha Island is one of these. We finally had a “glass off” in Chianti Bay so took advantage and went supping around the bay. Beautiful clear waters, turtles everywhere. On returning to the boat we found a huge Potato Cod lurking around - a truly massive fish.
Well unfortunately, Geoffa had to be back in Perth at the end of the week so we took advantage of one more day on the Tuesday, then headed off to Exmouth on Wed morn for the 130 odd mile trip (20-26hrs). We carefully picked our way out of the Montebello reefs. Still a lot of the area is unchartered or “inadequately surveyed” according to the charts - so it is important to keep a close eye on the depth gauge and a constant lookout for “bommies”. We made it OK with a minimum depth of 40cm under the keel at one point! But we were going very very slowly!
As we departed the reefs of the Monte’s we were rewarded with a lovely big Makerel on the lure. Standard fair now was to make some sashimi for lunch - beautiful way to eat fish! Store some in the icebox and one fillet ready for dinner. Hard to beat this life!
We enjoyed a nice sail until late arvo, and then the breeze died a bit so we went back to the normal motor sailing. Arrived in Exmouth at 3pm on Thursday. Geoffa turns out to be good family friends with the Harbour Master - small world experience number 101 on this trip! So a quick catch up for those two. We enjoyed a lovely steak burger and chips (oh the joy after so much bloody fresh fish!) at one of the local restaurants then home to bed.
Geoffa flew out this morn (Friday) and now Nic and I are left to stock up and plan the next few legs on the long trip home. A bit strange to be by ourselves again after a couple of months in the company of great friends and family. We have a key to get in the gate here now (thanks to geoff’s contacts) so I am wondering whether Nic will be able to surprise me with some new skills I am still unaware of! We are diving the Navy Pier tomorrow, and will take the hire car on Sunday to do some snorkelling a bit further down the coast at some spots we won’t be able to get to on the boat. Probably leave here on Monday to Tantabiddi assuming the predicted 5m swell has subsided by then - onwards and upwards....
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