Darwin 18th to 30th June
The Tipperary Marina has been a good home for our stay in Darwin, being central to the town and its essential services. Took a bit of fending to get through the lock but well worth it to avoid the tides. We spent the whole week getting the boat ready for the next leg to Broome, being the longest and most remote.

Kirrily and Darren arrived on the 28th and did some sight-seeing (WWII tunnels, museum), but amongst getting over the jetlag (30 min time change) and buying stores, there wasn’t much time to spare. Next stop is the Berkley River and then coast hopping around to the Hunter River. Peter and Kim will fly into an island in the mouth of the river, where the boat will meet them and Darren and Kirrily will fly out, connecting with a Cessna at the Mitchell Plateau. Spindrift will be out of reach for a while so the next blog probably wont be published until around the 20th of July, flown out by chopper.

aggressive! The muddy made a delicious meal for dinner that night...

We left GulawinKU for Boucaut Bay, near Cape Stewart running before a strong S/E wind with poled out genoa, ( thankfully we are not going the other way, this wind would be monotonous if we tacking into it) the in this area the wind changes to E/N/E around midday, sometimes with a surprised jibe of the mainsail.

Next day sailing to Cuthbert Bay, S/E wind again, surprised to be receiving phone signals from our mast mounted antenna, so I rang Kay to keep in touch, lots of the Aboriginal Settlements along this coast seem to have mobile and broadband, we went ashore when we arrived at Cuthbert Bay a lot of the beach here is covered with pumice stone and volcanic rock, must have been lots of upheavals here a couple of million years ago, Phil caught another mackerel so Sylvie made a mackerel mornay, not bad at all.

Short run today to North Goulburn Island to stay the night at Mullet Bay, sounds alright, but we didn’t see any mullet, lots of mackerel and tuna chasing sardines, had a walk ashore found a bogged Suzuki, looks like it had been there for 10 years. We were invited aboard “Jemimah” (a mono we have been travelling with since crossing the Gulf) for an evening meal. Rosy had made a delicious chicken curry followed by sticky date pudding and thickened cream…yummy to say the least. A couple of nights earlier Mike & Rosy had a treat of bangers and mash aboard Spindrift (quality meal at short notice)!!


On Saturday we left for Malay Bay running with a poled out genoa again. A strong wind warning was issued for today however it did not seem to eventuate (approx 20 kns). When we arrived at Malay Bay Phil and Barry went ashore. Being the hunters and gatherers of the crew they managed to seek out an unlucky mud crab. The resourceful pair found a rope on the beach and back at the crab hole Phil says “put the rope around his claws”. “What a good idea” says Barry as the crab tries to take the end off his finger!!! The Northern Territory mud crabs seem to be particularly aggressive! The muddy made a delicious meal for dinner that night.

Next morning we sailed onto Cobourn Peninsula and to Port Essington. We visited the aboriginal museum at Black Point (near the end of the Peninsular). Alcraro Bay is the next anchorage approx 25 nm from Port Essington. After Alcaro bay we sailed on passed Cape Don and into some tide rips and on to Cape Hotham, and spent the night in the mouth of the Adelaide River. On Wednesday morning the tide coming out of the Adelaide River gave us a sling shot that carried us all the way to Darwin, now anchored outside the Darwin Sailing Club, then into Tipperary Waters Marina, going through the lock was a bit hairy, but we didn’t lose any fiberglass coming through. Phil and Sylvie leave the boat here in Darwin and fly home, Spindrift will miss them.

From here we go with Darren and Kirilly, to the Berkley & King Georg Rivers, and then on through the Kimberley

Thanks for the comments from Sandy & Tom and Stu & Narelle, also Phil and Belinda, Liked your comments, Phil , leaving memories not dreams, pity you’re so far away in Sydney, you could have fitted in one of the legs

7 - 10 June, Gove to the Wessel Islands

Hi to all our BLOG readers, thanks to Lloyd , Mick & Coleen, for their comments, might have a spot later on Mike.

We had a great sail to Elizabeth Bay had a 3/4 run all the way, where we caught up with a couple sailing a 38ft mono “Jemimah” , and invited them over for a beer, nice couple, we arrived at the bay about 1600, a lot of tide rip on the end of Cape Wilberforce, this made her dance around a bit.

Next morning we set off to the Hole in the Wall, also known a Gugari Rip, this is the pass between two of the Wessel Islands, Rip indeed, if you don’t hit the gap at the right time, you could well need a change of under pants by the time you get to the other end. We timed the tide right and had a great run through, although it was very turbulent at the entrance. Anchored at Raragala Island for the night, and “Jemimah” invited us over for a sundowners. We went ashore here and Sylvie saw some wallabies in the bush, they must have been cut off from the mainland some 9000 years ago, still surviving well today.

Next morning we set off for a short run to Elcho Island the Western Island of the Wessel group, rounding Stevens Island we encountered some heavy tide rips, we sailed through wthis with a poled out jib, and got thrown around a bit as you can see from the attached photo, picked down at Refuge bay, where we sat and watched, Ryan’s video of the World Super 18 Champs.

Next day we had another short run to Galinwinku, a small town, on the Southern end of Elcho Island with a population of about 3000. Nice people, the photo of Phil taking some of the kids for a ride in the dinghy, was hilarious, they wouldn’t let him go. We also saw our first croc today.

That’s all from the crew of ‘Spindrift’ for now, heading for Cape Stewart tomorrow.

2nd to 5th June, Sesia & Gulf of Carpentaria.
We stayed in Seisia all day on the 2nd to fuel up, fill our water tanks & Sylvia stocked up on the stores. Sesia is a nice little town, a bit spread out, and is the port for most of the Toores Strait Islands, also a well managed town, ( no drunks around the town). As we cross the gulf, we start with a light breeze but over night the breeze got up a bit and is a nice 15 Kn on our port, stern qtr, so we are 3/4 running at about 7 Kn. I will have to finish this later, the boat is rolling too much, and the computer buttons are moving all over the place...

The photos here are of Phil catching what he thought was a barramundi, he had the barra bit right but it turned out to be a barracuda, so it went back into the water, he did better the next time round landing a nice yellow fin Tuna, and Sylvie cooked up a yummy mornay with it.

The Gulf seas are something else , never seen such confused water, we picked up some strong winds on the way, so we put the hammer down, and were pulling into Gove by 11 am on Thursday, only 2&1/4 days to cross. Gove Yacht Club looks a bit down at the heels. We are staying here for two days. We went into Nhulunbuy the town for Gove, nice place (a bit like Tom Price). On Saturday morning we will be off to the Wessel Islands and through the Hole in the Wall, on our way to Darwin, we will be out of contact for about 2 weeks

When we were sharing the boat passage with the large ship, a few days back, North of Lizard Island, Phil and Barry were watching the ship intently while Sylvia was off watch and in the Starboard cabin, unaware that a ship was right behind us, when the Captain of the ship sounded a blast from his claxon to advise he was turning to starboard, the noise shook “Spindrift” and Sylvia nearly put her head through the cabin roof.



Thanks to all those who have made a comment to our Blog, Cheryl, Ross, Bill, Pat, Narelle, Ben & Lynda, Richard & Lowanna, Charlie & Beaty, Julie & Jim, it is good to hear our Blog is being read.

30th , 31st May, Escape River & Around Cape York
Sailing through to Escape River, we were surrounded by about 300 mutton birds all having their breakfast. Phil caught another Tuna and chucked him back. We spent a good night up the river, and Phil caught up with a Texan sailing the same way as us. We were up and on our way to Cape York. We have now started on the charts so kindly lent to us by Terry & Jan Fitzgerald. We called in to the ruins of Sumerset (once planed to be Australia’s Singapore) on our way through Albany Pass (interesting visit). We rounded Cape York and went ashore for a photo op. Now in Seisia sailing for Gove in the morning Tuesday 2nd June. Blog will be held up for about 4 days, will catch up again then.

29th May Shelburne Bay
Another fast run, making up time, with rooster tails out the stern, we had set the kite, but the wind got up too strong , starting to bend the pole so we reset the genoa, slowed her down to about 9Kn, much more manageable. We sailed on to Shelburne Bay for the night. Lots of volcanic action here with ancient lava flows along the beach, we spent a nice calm night here and caught up on some sleep.
28th May, Cape Melville
From Lizard we sailed on to Cape Melville on the outer edge of the Barrier Reef, running before a strong S/E breeze, this was our fastest passage so far, reaching speeds of 15 Kn, and averaging about 10 with the Genoa poled out. Nearly run foul with a large ship, as the shipping lane took a turn, and we already had our hands full, he missed us by about 200 meters, but that was too close for comfort.We are going to anticipate their moves earlier next time. We stopped off for the night at Cape Melville, and were surprised at the wind bullets coming over the hills, about 45Kn, all night, we have marked it down as a bad place to stay the night. We found out later it is apparently known to yachties as Australia’s Cape Horne.

27th May, Lizard Island
Had a nice sail to Lizard Island, ¾ running most of the way.We pulled 9 kn a few times. Lizard Island is a nice place with a very high hill that Cook climbed to find his way out through the reef. We started up the track to the top of the hill, got about ¾ of the way up sadly a bit of rain made the rocks too slippery so we had to return. It was a great view from the part of the hill that we had reached up the hill. When we joined the sailing group for a sundowner on the beach we talked to the person that Lloyd had bought his boat from, he is on his way to join the rally to Indonesia.