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.

25th Cooktown Next morning we sailed on to Cooktown. Fuelled up at wharf taking on extra fuel as from here on we expect fuelling stations to be limited. Did a “Cooks tour” of the town and visited the sight where Cook beached and repaired the Endevour. Strong wind warning out so have stayed an extra day catching up on bookwork and winch repairs. Off to Lizard Island tomorrow. From here on we expect communications to be spasmodic so will blog when we get the opportunity.

24th Bloomfeild River
On the way to Cooktown we stayed at the mouth of the Bloomfeild River overnight, we tried to get into the river but was blocked by banks, there must be some way in but we couldn’t find the crazy maze entrance and picked down behind a hill for the night, a few line squalls passed over during the night and, we thanked our oversize Delta anchor for holding on.

Townsville to Cairns

24th May on to Cooktown Left Cairns at 6.30am. Drizzly rain, no wind so motor sailing once again. Sailed past the front door of Iris’ house which has a beautiful position right on the beach. Gave her a big wave whist she was standing on her front lawn at 7am (might have got her out of bed)! At present we are 17 miles south of Pt Douglas where the dividing range meets the coral coast. The Crew of Spindrift

21st& 23nd May onto Cairns Left Mourilyan at 0500, to make it all the way to Cairns, booked into Cairns Marina for two nights, Phil arranged with Bill’s Marine for a complete check over and maintenance of our two motors here, before we leave civilization. Sylvie got an early start on the washing and re- stocked the boat beer low here must fix this. Last night we went to dinner with Iris Fenn at the Football Club and had supper after at her place, mega cook indeed, we had a selection of four different sweets, we were still full at breakfast time. Whilst at Cairns we had the two motors overhauled. Great service from Bill’s Marine. Also installed some anti splash guards for the motors. Visited night markets and all had a Chinese massage!!!!

20th May Hinchinbrook Island Hinchinbrook Island is rugged to say the least, obviously old volcanic country, almost entirely Igneous rock, we sailed on out of the channel and on to Dunk Island for a midday beer, and became tourist for the day, ordinary hamburgers are $17.50 each here, so we went back to the cat for lunch (spotted mackeral). Overnight at Mourilyan Harbour, this place is so concealed you have to line up the entrance before you can see the way through, good quiet night.

19th May Townville
Pat left the boat here. We booked in overnight at the Marina [i]Phil & Sylvie went off to Jupiters Casino to break the bank, we think the Casino is still solvent. We departed Townville at 0700 and sailed on past Palm Island, surprised to see it very quiet here, we sailed on to Lucinda, passed the amazingly long Molasses Jetty and went into Hinchinbrook Channel, picked down for the night at Hancock Island, great spot for the night, few mozzies.

Townsville

18th May
Don’t know why they call it Cape Bowling Green & Bowling Green Bay we have been taking greenies over the bow most of the morning, not much of a bowling green when we were there, now heading for Townsville to fuel up and stay the night at the Marina, Pat gets off here. During the run to Townsville we managed to get the new staysail up and pulled her real tight. We shipped a bit of water over the bows but everything held, shes a beaut little sail. Lots of wind around both outside and inside the boat thanks to the curry. The entry to the Breakwater marina is interesting. Quite a shallow area around the channel.

Cape Bowling Green

17th May
Left Gloucester at 0600 the wind went on the nose and we had to motor all the way to Cape Bowling Green and stayed the night. Phil had cooked a curry for dinner which was absolutely superb. Although we had our doubts over the repercussions of eating curry on board.