Well it is Sunday now and we are still in Coral Bay. We expect to get the lock nut for the prop tomorrow, hopefully and maybe get on our way late tomorrow or early Tuesday. The wind has been consistently blowing 15-25kns from the east to north east and further up past NW Cape this has been reaching 30kns east-NE so we probably would have parked up in Exmouth anyway. A southerly change is coming through on Tuesday evening so we may have to make like we have a porpoise and get our passage making shoes on to get up to Broome taking advantage of those winds while they last. We still have about 600 odd miles to cover and only about a week and a half left to do it (on a good 24 hrs sailing we can do about 140miles so some serious sailing ahead of us) We will still need to make a stopover in Exmouth to resupply. So if we can get away on Monday and do our Exmouth stopover on Tuesday that would be ideal - but of course requires Aus Post to come to the party.
While stuck here we have done a bit of supping and fishing and snorkelling, but the constant wind and waves has made it a bit uncomfortable on the boat - we have definitely got our sea-legs! Still no luck fishing, Nic did catch a snook when we were trolling from the dinghy a few days back but we put it back because I wasn't sure if it was size (it was we discovered). The next evening we fished using baited lines, but with no real bait we used salami and bread. Not a single bite and we ended up eating the salami and bread as we motored back to the boat - we haven't tried fishing again, although there are some rather large squid hanging around the boat taunting us that they are in a no fishing zone - very very tempting!!
The wind does tend to ease a bit in the evening for a short while, but last night the tide against wind pushed us side on to the waves and drifted us over the mooring lines right in the middle of cooking dinner. Very annoying! I used the dinghy to pull us away from the mooring lines and then put out a stern anchor to hold us into the waves and off the mooring - problem solved and a reasonably comfortable night.
Today we are going for a long walk on dry land to get over cabin fever, and then will watch the Dockers game this arvo on the iPad - I downloaded the AFL app as the tele has no reception (I know it is tough this cruising life!) Go Dockers!
While stuck here we have done a bit of supping and fishing and snorkelling, but the constant wind and waves has made it a bit uncomfortable on the boat - we have definitely got our sea-legs! Still no luck fishing, Nic did catch a snook when we were trolling from the dinghy a few days back but we put it back because I wasn't sure if it was size (it was we discovered). The next evening we fished using baited lines, but with no real bait we used salami and bread. Not a single bite and we ended up eating the salami and bread as we motored back to the boat - we haven't tried fishing again, although there are some rather large squid hanging around the boat taunting us that they are in a no fishing zone - very very tempting!!
The wind does tend to ease a bit in the evening for a short while, but last night the tide against wind pushed us side on to the waves and drifted us over the mooring lines right in the middle of cooking dinner. Very annoying! I used the dinghy to pull us away from the mooring lines and then put out a stern anchor to hold us into the waves and off the mooring - problem solved and a reasonably comfortable night.
Today we are going for a long walk on dry land to get over cabin fever, and then will watch the Dockers game this arvo on the iPad - I downloaded the AFL app as the tele has no reception (I know it is tough this cruising life!) Go Dockers!