From Lizard Island to Gove

18 July

Great conditions for an 8.00 am start, Connor and Marion having had an hours lead. Heading back toward the mainland and then north north west to Cape York. Beautiful sail, saw dolphins and a whale and perfect for an overnight trip, except for the reefs, currents and falling wind, all of which meant that Gavin didn’t get the sleep he should had as my watches were short and disturbed. Still, my first overnight sail and I enjoyed it, the stars were amazing as there was absolutely no light from the virtually uninhabited Australian Coast and just a few prawn boats and the occasional beacon to break the dark, with no moon that night.

I slept for a few hours and woke at 5.30, dawn just beginning to peak through. I found when out at sea that the dusk and dawn shots were the photo highlights of the day

Gavin had been on watch over 3 hours so I took over for a while until the sun was up. We had motored through most of the night as the wind had dropped off and the usual trade winds form the south east had been replaced by a light westerly off the coast. Fortunate Anyway is very light on fuel and we are 3/4s full this morning. A shower with all the hot water the engine running had produced and breakfast, really good.

19 July

Wended our way North through the reefs and using Allan Lucas’s book “Cruising the Coral Coast” as one guide. Mainly though, especially at night the GPS system is essential for guidance and peace of mind. Not that Gavin had those luxuries the last couple of times he has done this trip so it is good to know that he can manage with charts and compass if the GPS systems fail,

About 4.30 we got to Night Island and dropped anchor. It was a beautiful day and we slept extremely well.

20 July

Away early continuing the trip North through the reefs and crossing the shipping lane every so often. Very comfortable sailing. The coast guards seemed interested in us circling us a few times but then headed away.

As soon as night fell the winds increased and Anyway was listing from side to side, a lot I thought. Cooking dinner wasn’t much fun, although the view from the galley was stunning, and it didn’t help when my dinner plate whooshed across the bench top and much of my dinner had to be retrieved from the bench.

The night was long and frankly hard although again Gavin did most of the work. Even though I got a few hours sleep I felt shattered during the next day. I think it is a combination of tiredness, anxiousness and trying to stay upright in the boat. In other words feeling completely out of my natural environment.

During the night a large cargo ship passed us as we crossed the general shipping route. A very polite European voice on the radio, reminded me of my friend Yasenko, announced that they were about to overtake us on our starboard side. We hadn’t seen them, they came out from behind a headland and we were glad they were so vigilant.

21 July

Dawn came, as it always has done so far, and after daybreak, a cruise liner, the type that is really a mini city, passed us going the other way. We also made contact with Connor and Marian who had continued to stay an hour or two ahead of us, also having had one night’s stop en route.

Then there was a race against time to get to the Albany Pass at the top of Australia before the tide and current turned against us. We reduced sail and turned on the engine to increase our speed as the wind was quite light and almost behind us, the seas sloppy, a combination that is not Anyway’s best sail.

Made contact with a catamaran which was near by, asked where they were headed. A drawl Australian voice said “Going for a sail mate, up to Indonesia”.

Then we were at the Passage, there were many predictions about the tides, currents etc but we cruised through followed by the Cat. Beautiful spot with a few dwellings and briefly, very good cellphone reception.

At the end of the passage is Cape York, northernmost point of Australia’s mainland and a tourist mecca, not exactly crowds but apparently a steady stream of people.

Rounded the Cape and anchored. The Cat followed. Lovely bay but windy. The crocodile word was mentioned again. No swimming. The cat left after a few hours, on a mission to get to Darwin to join the rally leaving for Indonesia on 28 July.

22 July

The beginning of the first real off-shore part of the journey from Cairns, across the top of the Gulf of Carpentaria to Gove, about 370nms, it doesn’t look a long way on a map of Australia, very deceptive. It will be three days and whether we reach Gove before the third night remains to be seen. Sunrise, spectacular, the first tourists up on the hills to catch it as well.

The first day passed with Anyway averaging 6.5knots, the sea going green as land disappeared behind us. The Gulf remains quite shallow all the way across, c. 60 metres. A Spanish Mackerel jumped high in the air. A couple of boobies circled overhead at sunset, looking for a resting place. The last time a bird did that did it interfered with the radar and windvane so we tried to make them leave, not sure that “shoo” had much effect. Then setting the sails for the night, the top batten on the mainsail got stuck behind the shroud as Gavin was putting a reef in it. A bit tricky to remedy but that was the only problem that day. A swell came up during the evening and made for a very difficult night, for me at least, trying to sleep while my body was rolling from side to side. Not much decent sleep for either of us.

23 July

Found a tern huddled on the boat to rest the next morning. It really did look as if it had a hard night; I sympathised or is it empathized.

My first attack of sea-sickness, not bad but enough to make me feel like crawling into a little ball and waiting for the motion to stop. Couldn’t do much other than listen to tales of Horatio Hornblower, very appropriate given our setting. Otherwise was occasionally serenaded by Gavin, who by now is doing a good impersonation of Robinson Crusoe. Note change of appearance from serious english musician to tropical muso.

The swell continued until the afternoon, then, as it decreased the wind did too. By nightfall we needed to use the engine to keep us on track, it ran until the early hours.

24 July

A much better night and a good sail although falling behind a bit which meant arriving at Gove late evening. Another bird took refuge on the boat, don’t know why they are so far out at sea. A pod of small dolphins accompanied us as we reached land. Only a couple of feet long, dashing back and forth in front of the bow, appeared to having a great time.

Gove approached, or rather we approached Gove. It is a bauxite mining town and the processing plant formed an eerie light as we edged our way into the harbour to find a place to anchor, preferably near the yacht club which is about 10 km out of town. 

After midnight when we finally dropped anchor and a couple of hours required to wind down after the journey, 370 nms across the Gulf. Had a couple of drinks to wind down and slept well.

25 July

It’s the dry season and its raining, a bit grey as we take the dinghy to the boat club and note we have missed the bus into town, Nhullanbuy, but soon hitched a lift. The local bird population seemed keen to join us for lunch.

Hearty lunch and taxied home.

26 July

Beautiful weather today and also my daughter’s birthday. I manage eventually to contact her, a little sad I wasn’t with her. However today was about getting organized for the last part of the trip through to Darwin, shopping, washing getting more water on board. Gavin had just said how much he was enjoying fetching water in 25 litre containers when we were told that we could have got it directly from the careening poles. 

Dinner a the yacht club, a beautiful spot and trying to re-establish itself as a venue for the wider community.

About 4K people live in Nhulunbuy, it is all about mining, Rio Tinto provides direct or indirect employment to most of the people there. There is talk about the mine reducing its operations, even closing, that would mean the end of the town inmost respects.

Its very reliant on importing produce, the food is barged from Darwin once a week for Woolworths and Darwin is 700 km away.

Met some other yachties there and also a couple who worked in Nhulunbuy and who may call by Wanaka next year. I enjoyed the stay, very friendly people and great to have a couple of days to relax in a lovely place.

However the Bauxite processing plant still looked foreboding on the way out.