Well we are nearly done and dusted. We are back at Rotto for the finale of our trip. Tomorrow we will be watching the Grand Final at the Governor's Bar with good mates Matt and Geoff (the latter last seen in Exmouth). Bloody shame the Dockers bowed out just after my last post up at Coral Bay…

We had a lovely few days snorkelling and hookahing at Coral Bay, just fantastic. What a contrast to our last visit. Nic has put some great videos on her website "nicatsea.weebly.com" In fact one of the reasons I haven't posted for so long is I can't get the computer off Nic. She is continually adding to and refining her website. But it does look great, and I'm happy for her to have taken on the role of official trip biographer. On that basis this will be a short summary blog, because Nic has all the gory details on her site - well worth a visit!!

We had the first of our southerly sails coming from Coral Bay to Denham. The night before we left we saw a yacht come in to Mauds Landing just on dark, it looked familiar but the sun had set and by morning the yacht was gone. Anyway we set sail the next afternoon planning to sail about 2 days non-stop down to Denham. It was a long slow process with South East to Southerly winds meaning we had to tack all the way down. On the way down we heard our new friend Scott on the yacht Angel, calling Carnarvon Sea Rescue on the radio, but he couldn't hear them responding so we did a relay for him and agreed to catch up for a radio sched later that night when he had arrived in Carnarvon. We ended up chatting for quite a while around 11pm when he had eventually arrived. Turns out we were about 10 miles behind him and it had been him that had popped into Mauds landing the other day, but he had also stopped over night at Cape Cuvier. We caught up on all the goss about sailing friends and promised to meet up in Quindalup for a beer in January. He is leaving his boat in Carnarvon so he can continue his explorations next year.

We arrived in Denham the next day about lunchtime, anchoring out of the small channel that leads into the town jetty. The next day we arranged to go into the jetty to refuel and restock the boat, which took most of the day. We had planned to get over to Quoin Bluff again but the weather forecast was a bit yuk so we decided to stay put. The weather did blow up, and that afternoon we started dragging our anchor. I thought OK we will see if we can get over to Quoin Bluff as that should be protected. It wasn't long though before I realised it would take us about 12 hrs motoring at 2-3kns, straight into the howling North Wester and steep short seas that had built up. We turned around to try our luck at the town jetty. No luck, a big trawler was parked up alongside and there was no room. I started making my way back out the channel, our only hope being to find a secure mooring just outside the channel but still deep enough for us and our 1.7m keel. We were in luck and found a mooring managed by ACRM Base (Australian Coastal Radio Monitors), a volunteer group that works out of Denham over winter and down at Capel all year round I think. I rang them on the radio and asked if it was OK to use the mooring, Wendy was more than happy and very helpful. We ended up staying on the mooring for another day and night as the weather blew through and were very appreciative of the security a mooring offers. Accordingly we made a donation to ACRM who do a great job for all the boaties by monitoring the radio and logging them on and off, and have been key to saving a number of lives in recent years.

From Denham we had one day over at Quoin Bluff, catching a nice spanish Mackerel on the way over. From Quoin Bluff we headed back to Gerritsen Cove near Steep Point. On the way we kept pulling in what I thought were undersized Spanish Mack's - by the time we were onto about the 5th one Nic said lets check the fish guide. Sure enough they were School Mackerel, and the size limit was 50cm as opposed to the 90cm limit we had been applying. We could have filled the fridge with all the size fish we had been throwing back!! Oh well.

From Steep Point we headed off early in the morning planning to sail down to Turtle Bay at the Abrohlos to catch up with Nic's aunt Lesley and Carolyn. It was a long bash south and the seas off the Zuytdorp cliffs were again horrible - not my favourite stretch of water!! After 40 odd hours of bashing and tacking our way south we were finally approaching Turtle Bay in the Northern Group of the Abrohlos at about 8.30 at night. I had been running the motor to keep us moving and hoping to get in at a reasonable hour so we would be reasonably fresh to meet Lesley and Carolyn who were flying over in the morning. The motor started losing power every 10 or so minutes, sounding like it was going to stop and then returning to normal. I knew it was a dirty fuel problem because it had happened a few months before we left on the trip and we had had to unblock the fuel lines. I was hoping it would make it into Turtle Bay so I could fix it the next day - but NO, Huey had other ideas. The motor finally conked about 4 miles out from Turtle Bay. I changed the filter and tried to unblock the fuel pipe, connected everything back up and reprimed the motor. It fired and ran, but died about 5 minutes later. OK, contingency plan… I had some spare fuel hose for exactly this scenario. I grabbed one of the jerries of spare diesel, connected the spare fuel hose into the inlet side of all the fuel filters, reprimed the motor and hey presto it ran like a dream. I was so proud of myself. Half an hour later the motor died…the jerry (20litres) had been drained…Bugger, the fuel return…I knew there was a return hose but I didn't think it would return so much to the main fuel tank. The motor normally uses 4litres an hour - I now know the return fuel is actually a key part of cooling the injectors. Anyway I thought no probs, I'll hook up another jerry and feed the return fuel hose into it. I did this and reprimed the motor - but there is no way it was going to start this time. I was beat, I said to Nic there is something here I am not doing right, it obviously needs to be bled in a more thorough way, but by now at 10pm in rocky and rolly seas I'd had enough. We agreed we had to sail into Geraldton to get the fuel problem fixed. Sixteen hrs later … 1pm the next day we arrived at Geraldton with the Sea Rescue guys on hand to tow us into the marina (we'd contacted them via radio earlier in the day to explain our predicament) - great job guys and another donation to a worthwhile cause. Lesley had arranged through a friend of a friend for a diesel mechanic to meet us at the jetty. He jumped on board and explained that when the motor runs completely out of fuel you had to crack the injectors and bleed it properly from there. The little primer pump I had been using wasn't going to fix the problem - oh well, live and learn! A simple fix thankfully, but so frustrating that I had to learn the hard way how to properly bleed the diesel motor. Lesley and Carolyn had done a day tour out to the Islands and they came and met us late in the afternoon. We all went back to their friends' house to watch the Dockers lose to Port Adelaide - bugger. The weather conspired against us and we ended up staying on the boat in Gero with Lesley and Carolyn for the next few days, managing just a day sail instead of being at the Abrolhos - but we had heaps of fun and we will try again another time!! We also met up again with Graham and Ann from Leeuwin Current who we last saw in Exmouth. They were now home after 18months of cruising, and finding it hard to settle back in. We had them down for drinks on the boat on our last night before leaving - a lovely couple who I'm sure we will meet up with again next time we are in Gero.

Nic and I had hoped to sneak across to the Abrohlos again but a weather window was opening up to get down to Rotto. After our trip from Carnarvon we weren't too keen to bash down against southerlies if it could be avoided. I figured if we left on the Friday morning we would get a bit of SE but then it was due to swing through the East and into the North all day Saturday before a big front hit in the early hours of Sunday - this was a chance to make a run and shelter at Rotto when the storm hit. The plan came off and we arrived at Rotto about 11pm on Saturday night. It was quite strange mooring up in Thompson Bay with boats right next door partying hard - it was the RottoFest. The next day the storm struck as predicted and I think some of the late night revellers were regretting their over indulgence as the winds hit 30+ knots and the boats rock and rolled mercilessly! Nic and I, being salty sea dogs by now, slept heavily through most of it.

The rest of the week has been spent relaxing, catching up on a few maintenance jobs, fishing, SUPping and enjoying Rotto. We head back to Freo on Tuesday and return to the real world! It has been a great adventure, and it is now time to start planning the next one!! FATBLUESKY standing by…..

We departed Exmouth at about 9.30am on Monday morning after enjoying a couple of great days there. Dived the Navy Pier which was fantastic with hundreds of different species of underwater goodies including sharks, groper, nudibranch, moray eels, dolphins etc etc. No wonder it is rated as one of the top 10 shore dives in the World. On Sunday we went around to Oyster Stacks and Turquoise Bay for snorkelling. The big swell meant there was quite a strong current, the drift dive at Turquoise Bay was particularly quick. Good fun. We had drinks with Graham and Anne on "Leewin Current" an Aluminium stink boat that they have been cruising from the East Coast back to their home in Geraldton. They have been away for 18 months! Graham is a keen diver and built the boat specifically for the Abroholos, so he gave us some good tips of places to dive if we get to visit on our way back down the coast.

We arrived around the corner from NW Cape at Tantabiddi by mid arvo. It couldn't have been a more contrasting trip than when we came around the Cape last time. It was calm with gentle breezes and we were able to motor sail close into the reef. We anchored out off the boat ramp at Tantabiddi and then supped over to the reefs in the sanctuary zone. It was glassed off and spectacular, like having your own private aquarium on a massive scale. Turtles, fish and the odd reef shark.

The next few days we used the hookah in the mornings to dive and supped and snorkelled again in the afternoon with the breeze barely getting above 10kns the whole time. Just magnificent! We left Tantabiddi at 5.30pm on Thursday and motored all the way to Coral Bay (Mauds Landing) due to lack of wind. We have found out that there are about 30 000 whales that migrate up and down the coast each year. We can attest to this, because about every kilometre or so we would see whales breaching with full bodies launching out of the water, or spouting or fin slapping. 

The weather is expected to remain pretty calm for the next few days, so we will take the opportunity to catch up on all the diving we didn't get to do last time because of the weather. But today we have to settle down to some serious business - watching the Dockers play Port Adelaide to try and finish in the top four!! Fingers Crossed…..

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....

Hanover Bay to Broome  July 2014, by Fiona

Lloyd and I left Perth on a cold rainy July morning for the two hour flight to Broome. 

After loading up with fresh food to resupply FatBlueSky, the next day we drove two hours to Derby. Already we were appreciating the beautiful warm weather, dramatic change in the landscape and spectacular sunsets. 

Our adventure started when we took off the next morning in a small KAS helicopter from Derby for another two hour flight. The view from the air was incredible, with the massive tidal influence on the rivers on display. One third of the way into our journey we landed on a boulder in the middle of nowhere where the pilot had a secret fuel stash under a big rock. Next stop was the white sandy beach at Hanover Bay selected by Colin and crew as a good landing spot. The pilot, Guy, had never been there but had the coordinates and was as excited as us to be going to a new place. Our first view of the stunning turquoise waters of the Kimberley was breathtaking but nothing could surpass the feeling when we flew over a mountain range and there below us was FatBlueSky with four enthusiastic people waving madly. Guy buzzed the boat then landed on the beach and Col, Nic, Mon and Paul arrived in a flash with cold champagne to greet us.  Soon Guy took off with Mon and Paul and we were out on the boat being introduced to Kimberley cruising life with a lunch of sashimi prepared from a Mackerel that Paul had caught earlier in the day and fresh bread baked by Colin. The wonderful welcome we received counterbalanced a slightly shocked feeling that we had just been dropped into one of the most remote and beautiful places on the planet.

The next few days were spent exploring the Prince Regent River. We stopped overnight in Purulba creek anchored next to a stunning rock face that our voices echoed off. These acoustics encouraged Colin to get out his bagpipes and play a couple of tunes. A crocodile that had swum up to the boat and then sidled over to the rocky wall to keep an eye on us politely kept out of sight after this performance.

We woke up to a rainy day for our trip up to King Cascade. The navigation was tricky with lots of sandbars and islands and we were happy to see the charter boat, Reef Prince, come up behind us and then show us their usual track. Arriving at the waterfall with plenty of warnings about the infamous  fatal crocodile attack in 1987 on a pretty American model, we were happy to take the advice of crew from the Reef Prince about the best track to climb up to a freshwater swimming hole above the falls. Fortunately we had the place to ourselves because the rain made it too hazardous for the elderly guests on the charter boat to climb up. The sun came out on cue and we had a lovely climb and swim, being mindful to get back to the boat before the tide hampered our mooring to a small tree, and to negotiate the sandbanks back down the river.

St. George Basin provided another overnight stop on our way to High Bluff. The tide provided fun whirlpools to negotiate and pushed the boat along at near 11 knots at times. This speed was surpassed the next day going through Roger’s Straight at up to 12 knots before we went past the beautiful Tengarra Bay.  We sailed past Kuri Bay and past one of the only other private yachts that we saw on our trip, a single handed bloke sailing a catamaran. That day we saw a turtle, dolphins and our first glimpse of a whale. As we entered Sampson Inlet a sting ray jumped out of the water and did a backflip through the air. We shared Sampson Inlet with a large private motor yacht Anya and after the crew were astounded at Lloyd and Nic’s inability to catch a fish, they shared a spare snapper with us. 

The next morning Col and Nic went off to pull some fresh oysters off the rocks and brought back a few tasty morsels. Lloyd and I went exploring in the dingy up through a stunning gorge to a small sandy beach, looking for the ubiquitous freshwater pool and waterfall that lay beyond. Some fresh looking crocodile prints and tail swish marks on the sandy beach, combined with an outgoing tide, made us cautious so we stayed in the dingy and rowed it into a beautiful rock pond full of fish, fed by a small but noisy waterfall. Mindful of the story of another couple a few years earlier who had their dingy chomped by a croc and were stranded for several days, we beat a hasty retreat in the tinny, back down the shady gorge, to the safety of FatBlueSky.

Col and Nic caught a snapper in lower Sampson Inlet and we spent one of many evenings looking at the amazing night sky.

A night in Deception Bay was followed by a day visiting the remarkable Langgi which must be viewed at low tide and is like snorkelling through interesting rock formations without the water. The living molluscs are still clinging to the rocks waiting for the water to flow back in every few hours. More whales seen today but only a few compared to what lay ahead. Lloyd was keen to put up the asymmetric spinnaker for our sail into Raft Point and it gave the 106 guests on National Geographic Orion something to photograph while they were being transported to the beach in 10 Zodiacs for a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony and a hike up to see the famous Rock Art. It was also a talking point for one of their crew who was a yachtie and had recently sailed his catamaran across the Pacific.

Horizontal Waterfall was our next overnight stop. Nic needed to fly back to Perth for family reasons so she booked on a seaplane to Broome. There was a thriving business with several seaplanes flying guests in and out throughout the day and even an overnight hotel. Lloyd and I took the high speed tour through the waterfalls. It was a thrilling ride and a unique tidal phenomenon that was an amplified version of what we had already experienced with the massive Kimberley tides.

Dugong Bay brought us our second close encounter with a croc. Our timing was a bit out so we found ourselves exploring a mangrove lined gorge which was only about 5 metres wide at a less than ideal low tide. Cautiously, not wanting to spend too long there, Lloyd had turned around to motor out, only for Colin to notice a 5 metre Croc eyeing us off while blocking the exit. Thankfully he sank below the surface and Lloyd hooned it out of there while we hung on very tight. Our Kimberley cruising guide published in 2007 does mention a large resident croc and we are happy to confirm he is still there!

Silvergull Creek was another interesting stop. We went up river to meet the new residents Mal and Shel who have taken over from Phil and Marion who had lived there for 16 years. Marion had sadly died after a long illness, only 3 weeks before but had left the creek about a year earlier. Mal and Shel gave us a guided tour of the establishment including a freshwater spring and tank for swimming, vegie gardens, tobacco plants, a BBQ area for yachties, and even a tourist shop for guests from the charter boats. They get about 3,000 visitors per year and are very welcoming. Mal and Shel recommended our next few stops that were highlights of the highlights: Crocodile Creek and Silica Beach.

We arrived at Crocodile Creek at 8 am in order to navigate the sandbars that would prevent our entry at low tide. We found the deep pool right up next to a water fall and tied the bow to a rock and the stern to a ladder up to a freshwater pool. This was definitely paradise but we remained wary of dipping into the temptingly beautiful pool. 106 Orion guests in black Zodiacs to the rescue! The crew from the Orion tossed their guests into the pool for us and not one of them was eaten by a croc. They also told us they had not seen a croc there all season and they visit every couple of weeks. As soon as they left, a tedious process  involving getting all the oldies back down that ladder, we had the place to ourselves again. We enjoyed a relaxing swim, climbed up the waterfall to another pool and even did our clothes washing in the freshwater pool.

That evening I caught my first fish, a sea mullet. It was delicious. After champagne and star gazing we dozed off to sleep to the sound of our own private waterfall just metres from the back of the boat.

Another early morning to catch the high tide and we were off to Coppermine Creek.  Here we were escorted into the creek by 3 playful dolphins who frolicked in our bow-wave for ages.  Once anchored, Col and Lloyd went off in the dinghy for some fishing. They weren’t gone long when they came speeding back.  Alas, no fish caught, but they had got ‘slightly’ stuck on a mud bank while being distracted watching a large croc sliding into the water 100 metres away.  Some maneuvering with the outboard motor and all was good again.  Soon after a large private fishing boat ‘Southern Image’ came motoring past with 2 families including young kids on board.  When told about the croc, the skipper asked hopefully if he ate children. Perhaps multiple kids on a boat in a remote region can take its toll.

Silica Beach at the top end of Hidden Island was our next stop.  Lovely white squeaky sand. Then the trip across the top of King Sound. With 20-25kts from the south east it was one of the few times we got to sail without the motor running. As we approached Cape Leveque the strong winds running against the fast tidal currents created regions of flat water right up against 2 metre high breaking waves.  Lloyd had great fun negotiating the tricky conditions. After the weeks in the Kimberley arriving at Cape Leveque felt like getting back to civilisation, mobile phone reception and a Cafe! 

On the trip down to Beagle Bay we saw numerous whale pods, mostly just splashing on the horizon as they breached.  On approach to the bay we came across 3 whales right on our course.  Over about half an hour the whales entertained us with breaching, rolling, and fin and tail slapping before they headed off to deeper waters. Beagle Bay also provided our only, brief encounter with a Dugong.

With Broome and fresh food beckoning we put in a couple of longish days with a stop over at Cape Baskerville. Observing different whale pods from close up and a far over 3 days was magical.  Just after sunset, on our 19th day on-board, we approached Gauntheame Point.  Fresh Barracuda caught that day provided a fitting meal to end our remarkable Kimberley adventure.  Many thanks to Col and Nic for doing all the hard yards to make this possible.

Well what can I say about the last 6 weeks - other than absolutely bloody amazing! Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, without fail every day nature would outdo herself. I will try to summarise…

Last blog we were at Pender Bay with Mon and Paul. We sailed up to Cape Leveque and stopped there for two nights, the Kooljiman campsite is here with eco tents and a little restaurant. We were able to watch the Dockers slaughter the Eagles in the Derby on that day - but I have not heard how they have been going since then - not because we haven't had contact - just I didn't want to hear about a recent performance!

From Cape Leveque we headed to Sunday Island just around the corner and at the start of King Sound. I experienced my first shark on the fishing line, a gruelling workout for 20mins or so only to lose the rig as we got it to the boat. This became a familiar pattern over the next few days. From Sunday Island we crossed King Sound to get to Coppermine Creek. Our first Kimberley lesson learnt being that tide beats wind every time. We thought with a reasonably strong wind predicted we would have enough to push through the currents. We soon found ourselves motor sailing at full revs and about a 15-20kn breeze, but pushing against a 5-7 kn tide and making about 1-2knots. I can hear a few Kimberley cruiser friends saying "I told you so" - but we didn't make that mistake again. For the rest of the trip all our passages were planned with the tides - there is no other way to do it up here. 

At Coppermine creek we had our first intro to the Lemon Shark - or Ooby Dooby Shark as we nick named them. A very slow docile creature that spends hours just droobing out around the back of the boat. When one first appeared as Nic was "bucketing off" on the back deck she nearly needed an extra wash of her bather bottoms. But we soon learnt they were pretty harmless. 

From Coppermine we went around the corner to Dog Leg creek and nosed in to check out the fuelling barge. I had not planned to refuel but Chris who was manning the barge radioed us as we made our way in, so I took advantage and topped up. He also took advantage of us with the Fuel prices! But a great service in a remote location. We waited for a favourable outgoing tide to scoot past Koolan Island and pop out the other end to make our way on an incoming tide (we've got this sussed!) towards Dugong Bay. This really starts to become some of the speccy Kimberley Scenery. We edged into Dugong Bay through a narrow tidal Channel. The Bay then opens up into a vast expanse surrounded on all sides by high rocky cliffs. Paul had gone the whole day without catching a fish …. something was awry.

From Dugong we went around to Horizontal Waterfalls. as the crow flys this is about a mile, and we could see float planes and Helicopters buzzing over Dugong Bay on their way to or back from the falls. But for us it was about a 20 odd mile trip out and back the classic Kimberley "fingers" of land. We got to the falls late afternoon and were able to get on the final tour of the day for $50 each. This took us up into cyclone creek at one end of the bay and then back and through the famous falls. Very spectacular stuff, and not something we would have contemplated doing in the little tinny.

Next day an early start to go up to Raft Point, I must mention at this stage that Mon had worked out there was no way we were going to get to Hunter River without rushing too much. We scoured the cruising guides and found a "nice white sandy beach" at Hanover Bay. We texted the helicopter company via Sat Phone with the coordinates and they came back saying "no worries looks like a good beach". 

We used Raft Point as a kick off early the next day to go across to Montgomery Reef. This is a huge expanse of reef that gets exposed at low water. However again because of tides you have to go over there with an outgoing tide - aim to be there when the water is pouring off the reef, hang for a few hours until the tide turns and then skidadle back to Raft point. This is exactly what we did. edging our way up into a sort of gully in the reef that reveals itself as the tide goes out. Water pours down channels in the rock. It reminded me a bit of one of those vast underwater megacities that a cunning villain has built in a Bond movie and then menacingly reveals itself and threatens to set of a nuclear missile that 007 has to defuse etc etc. Unfortunately we did not get off up onto the reef, which is meant to be pretty special as you can see turtles and fish etc stuck in many pools by the outgoing tides.

Did I mention Paul had not caught a fish now for 2 days? He was visibly shaken, I could see the edges of his mouth occasionally twitch. As we got back close to Raft point, he asked if he could get in the dinghy and have a crack at fishing off the point. "No worries" go for it. He was off. We arrived back at Raft Point and spent the afternoon relaxing, Paul was gone for hours. Just as we were starting to get a bit worried the tinnie appeared around the point. As the tinnie got closer the sun reflected brightly off Paul's teeth revealed by his ear to ear grin as he had caught two great big "Queenies" and a bag full of snapper. He was a happy man again!!

That afternoon we climbed up to see some Aboriginal rock art. Truly stunning. From Raft Point we continued up to Langgi for a brief stop, some amazing rock formations here - horses heads, elephants, old men etc etc as described in the cruising guides - truly stunning. But it seemed to me none of the guides stated the bleeding obvious - a lot of the rocks were very phallic. I couldn't help thinking and the crew all agreed we had really just witnessed - as my cousin had once described the Pinnacles - "a plethora of pricks"! But special all the same. We kept on to Kid Island at Deception Bay, then the next night to Sheep Island in Camden Harbour. This was the spot of an ill-fated settlement in the early 1830's. A Boab tree on Sheep Island sits next to the grave of Mary Pascoe, the first white woman to be buried in the Kimberley after dying in child birth at age 30. The tree also has a commemorative plague for a police constable "speared by natives". It is hard to imagine just how tough and isolated it would have been in these parts - or more to the point why you would have even considered going there?!

From Camden Harbour around the corner to Hanover Bay and our transfer site for Mon and Paul and pick up for Fi and Lloyd. Hanover Bay inlet has a lovely freshwater inlet that we anchored near after sussing out the "bright white sandy beach". We had made it a day early!!

We arrived in Broome on Saturday around lunchtime after 4 days of sailing up from Exmouth. Nic and I were both a bit buggered so we decided to rest and relax on the boat and watch the footy plus enjoy the spoils of our fishing adventure. Monica and Paul were at the races and in no rush to get on board, and Arnhem had a gig on that evening so everyone was happy.

Sunday morn and we launched the dinghy and arranged with Arnhem to come and pick us up. Cable beach at Gantheame point is the local boat launching ramp, and on this Sunday there were over 100 vehicles parked on the beach, as well as people just BBQ'ing and relaxing, a very unique sight as the tide goes out leaving hundreds of metres of hard pindan sand that lets you drive to the waters edge.

Arnhem took us to their lovely house and Maxine kindly lent us her car so we could start the mammoth task of restocking the boat for 6 weeks and 4 people. That took us all Sunday and all Monday with numerous trips back and forth to the boat and into town. The "horror stories" of mooring at Broome did not eventuate, and we were lucky with flat calm conditions. 

A strong wind warning for Tuesday gave us a day off and we lazed around Broome enjoying some of the local Cafe's and picking up any last minute bits and pieces we could think of. Wednesday morn we set off heading up to Cape Baskerville about 50miles up the coast. Paul had a line in as soon as we left the mooring, and had caught a Blue Fin Tuna within 20minutes. Shortly after we had a nice Mackerel…lunch and dinner sorted!  My fishing prowess was being totally shown up, with the final nail in the coffin when Paul was simply pulling in one of his lures and a 1.5m Spanish Mackerel decided to jump out of the water and try to land in the cockpit! 

We had another day of fishing on Thursday as we left Cape Baskerville and headed about 30miles up to Pender Bay. Stopping on some special spots on the way to get some snapper. The girls combined showing their "girl power" and caught the bulk of the fish, while Paul and me were relegated to baiting the hooks and taking the fish off as they were reeled in. We arrived in Pender Bay just on dark. Today we are heading up to Cape Leveque which is considered the start of the Kimberley. Some strong wind warnings for Sat and Sunday so we may get stuck at Leveque for a day or so with a chance to watch the Derby. Mon and Paul have settled in, Nic is adjusting to not being able to swim due to crocs, but all the crew are very happy and content!! How could you not be?

We left Exmouth at 9.30am on Tuesday morning with about 530 miles in front of us and hoping to get to Broome by the weekend. The weather looked about as good as it was going to get. We had to tack our way up through the Dampier Archipelago, motoring and sailing into North Easterlies at 10 up to 15plus knots.  There were oil/gas rigs everywhere (not surprising really) and many many islands - looking forward to exploring this area on our way back down.But for now just pushing through.

We cleared Legendre Island (tip of the Archipelago) late on Wednesday night with the next target Port Hedland. We got across to PH on about 4pm the next day, lots of big ships here with PH being the busiest harbour in the Southern Hemisphere. I was glad of our Automatic Identification System (AIS) which shows us what ships are around, how fast and where they are going. But more importantly they can see us. 

With days of sailing ahead of us the focus turned to fishing again. I had limited time left to prove my manhood before our friends Monica and Paul get on the boat at Broome. Paul is a world champion fisher person, and for me to have travelled 1200 odd miles up the WA coast without catching a fish would be a failure I could never live down.

I put out a line with a beautiful bright squid rig on it. If I was a fish, I could not resist. A few hours later and Bang, something took the line, but Ping. Lure was gone. I said to Nic, we need a wire trace, some piano wire or something. Unfortunately we didn't have any wire fishing trace on board. Nic said how about using my old G-string? I had a bit of a double take, but then realised she was talking about a spare G-string on her guitar. Perfect!

I set it up with a nice shiny lure, and started trolling. Unfortunately no luck. Finally on Saturday morning on our final run to Broome - I said to Nic lets have one more go - I have to get a fish. Lo and Behold  - Bang, we got a fish on! I slowed the boat, started reeling it in, it was hooked - no getting off this time - Nic's G-string was doing the trick. As I pulled it closer to the boat I was saying to Nic, gee this is a good fish. It feels big, and then looking up saw a shark on the end of the line - oh no. Then it was gone, but there was still a bit of a fish. A half a spanish Mackerel to be exact - chomped in half.

So there you have it. The unluckiest fish in the world, caught by me and then chomped by a shark before it could suffer the disgrace of me landing it. I pulled the remains on board, and we still got 4 nice big fillets. My manhood is intact, and we are having fish for dinner tonight! Safely moored now in Gantheame Bay and looking forward to catching up with our Broome friends and picking up our crew over the next few days.

I think I have been underestimating Nic's life skills. We arrived at the Exmouth Marina on a Saturday, I rang the Dept of Transport (DoT) person to let them know we were coming, and he was great, telling us where to pull up etc and said he would catch up with us on Monday. When we got here, there is a locked gate at the end of the jetty, you can get out OK and you can latch it so it doesn't lock, but all the other people with boats on the jetty probably want it locked. I rang our DoT man to see if we could get a key, but he said just leave it unlocked - "this is Exmouth". Cool I said. 

After our first excursion the gate was locked and we couldn't get back in. Nic piped up, no problems, I can get out of handcuffs with a safety pin! I'll unlock the gate. My mind started spinning a bit - how on earth would my girlfriend know how to get out of handcuffs, was there a side to her I was unaware of? But true to form she used a piece of string and a stick and we unlocked the gate - clever girlfriend. 

Next thing she did, while on a roll, was said lets get a piece of wire and see if there are any spare keys in the lock box on the jetty. Sure enough there was. Well done girlfriend! I said while patting my trouser pocket to check my wallet was still there.

Finally she suggested we change our plans so instead of going all the way to Darwin, we simply turn around at Hunter River which is the drop off and pick up point for our friends and family. That will knock off about 7 weeks and give us a relaxed return journey to visit all the spots we have missed on the way up. Clever girlfriend.

We are planning now on leaving tomorrow (Tuesday morn). The weather and winds are looking a bit more favourable. We have about 500 litres of diesel on board, after filling up the flexi tanks. Finally we are going to go all out and see if we can land a fish as we travel over to Broome in the next four or five .. or six days??!!

We departed Mauds Landing (Coral Bay) at 2pm on Friday arvo. After days of carefully watching the weather predictions to try to get a nice window to get around NW Cape, I decided this was it. I knew we would still get some pretty strong easterlies getting around the top, but I had tried to plan it so they would be waning by  the time we got there (about sunriseish on Sat).

The sail was nice and smooth to start with nice 15kn ESE winds pushing us along at about 5-5.5kns. Another beautiful full moon rose early as the sun was setting. Very spectacular again. I dropped the mainsail just before sunset as the breezes were predicted to strengthen during the evening and especially in the early hours (2am ish) As the evening wore on the winds behaved themselves peaking at about 20kns at times and then dying again. We made good progress up the Cape. Then about 3-4am we started to gradually turn north as we got towards the top of the Cape. This coincided with the predicted strengthening of the winds. It was also my off watch!

I could start to hear the boat begin to pound a bit into the waves, so I came up early and started to furl the heady and trim the sails a bit better to take advantage of and adjust to the conditions. The breeze steadily strengthened to the point that when we were trying to get around the Cape and tack into the Easterly it was probably blowing about 25 and peaking in the high 20's. This combined with the currents made for very confused seas. It brought to mind a cartoon I vaguely recall with Mickey Mouse as the "Sourcerer's Apprentice" with waves jumping up willy nilly seemingly all around the boat. Downstairs Nic was entertaining herself with trampoline tricks in bed - except she was an unwitting participant! There was also a bit of restowing going on with things that had been resting comfortably on the table finding far more comfortable spots on the floor! Anyone who has done a bit of offshore sailing will know this is all pretty normal, but for Nic it was a bit of an eye opener - she handled it all very well, with a good sense of humour!

Now arrived safely in Exmouth. We are planning to head off probably late Monday evening as the weather is predicted to become a bit more favourable (read Bloody Howling Easterlies are expected to stop!). Our plan is to cruise along pretty closely to the coast up to Broome stopping if possible if we start to get too bashed up. That is the plan - but of course Huey may have other plans. We hope to get to Broome by the weekend - but what will be will be - with just over 500NM to get there we have a bit of sailing to do! As I write this the crew is disco dancing around the cabin to "Lady Marmalade"  - so spirits are pretty good and ready to take on the challenge.

The prop parts didn't arrive until Tuesday. Australia Post "Express Post" took 4 days to get here - but I sort of expected that. Coral Bay is a bit out of the way in the scheme of things. I have been reading that 900 jobs are going to go in Aust Post, but the CEO is getting about $5m a year as a wage. Given that people are what make a business work, over estimating how many workers you need, and then having to get rid of 900 of them seems a bit of a failure by management at some stage? I'm guessing the last CEO employed them and this one has to fire them. I wonder what the average wage of an average Aust Post worker is and how it divides into $5m?

I did ponder during our waiting days that I could probably have sailed a boat from Fremantle to Coral Bay in less than 4 days in non-stop sailing time. Maybe there is a spin off business in an exclusive cruising delivery service for AP - might not make a lot of money, but it would be cool to get your bits delivered by a fellow yacthie.

Anyway we got our bits. After various calls to the CB post office it was confirmed at 1300hrs on Tuesday that our bits had arrived. However don't be fooled readers! It is not as simple or easy as it sounds. The breeze had been blowing North East at about 20kns all night, so we couldn't just get off the boat whenever we wanted. Luckily at about 1pm (1300hrs) the breeze died down, we took the dinghy towing the SUPs to the edge of the "no go" boat area, then SUPed into CB. We picked up the bits and also wandered up to the Pub to get a 6 pack. Nic has been drinking an awful lot and I am a bit worried about her.

We SUPed back to the dinghy with black clouds gathering all around. We got back to the boat, quickly hooked up the Hookah and got all the necessary tools ready (big crescent, hammer, allen keys, bigger hammer) to put the prop back on. Everything went according to plan. Nic was a great TA (technical assistant) as we both worked underwater refitting the prop. She even took a break to scrub some barnacles off the bottom of the keel as I was attaching a new sacrificial lead anode on the prop shaft.

Job done, we clambered back up onto the back "duck board". I looked around and said to Nic, "we are going to get wet soon". Within 15 mins a SW change came through and it was blowing 25-30kns. We'd packed everything that moved away and snuggled up below with a glass of champers to celebrate (hopefully) the prop being reinstated.

Today (wednesday), awoke thinking we would get away around lunchtime to go to Exmouth. Some small pressure to keep moving. But a nagging feeling, the weather forecasts are not great. They have 30kns in them. Seas and waves are going to be 3.8m, I don't really want to head off in a strong wind warning. I think we will have to wait until Friday before the winds start to line up. I know that sounds strange, but it is about working with nature and not against her. That is what cruising is all about.

Nic's having fun doing her own website at www.nicatsea.weebly.com