Prudhoe Island to Port Nelson

Hi Blog Readers, I am pleased to announce that the fishing has improved. We anchored at Prudhoe Island on Thursday - a picturesque bay with weathered sandstone sculptures, now becoming a feature of this part of the Kimberley. Susan and I enjoyed a leisurely beach walk, collecting coral sinkers for our hunters and gatherers, who are fast running out of lead sinkers. On our way back to the boat, we spotted fish jumping and headed over to put in our lines. Much to the delight of Cran and Peter we caught a meal in record time. Early on Friday morning they headed back to the same area and were able to catch last night's dinner. Parrot, Stripey Perch and Trevally are the common fish around the rocky edges and reefs of the islands and make good eating.
On our passage to Bigge Island our next destination we were fortunate to see a mother Humpback Whale and her calf breaching in the sea ahead. We slowed down as they passed to enjoy their display. Bigge Island was chosen so that we could look at Aboriginal art located in caves at the back of Wary Bay Beach. We were not disappointed, with two magnificent Kaiara paintings(a mouthless head with a large halo which represents the weather clouds), a form of Wandjina art. There were also paintings of turtles, stingrays, crocodiles, snakes other animals. These caves also contain a painting of a boat with three men each of which have a pipe in their mouths. It is a privilege to be able to enjoy this ancient art in its natural environment. In Europe they would be housed in air conditioned buildings behind glass. Its preservation is however a concern as it is at the mercy of the elements. Wary Bay is enclosed by large weathered sandstone one of which looks like the head of a large crocodile, another an Egyptian Sphinx and also a rhino. After some exploring we headed south to the next bay, Boomerang Bay. Late in the afternoon a yacht named Pioneer sailed past our stern and anchored nearby. They were nearly out of diesel (we were able to help them out)as they had motored most of the way from Darwin. Peter the owner was on the final leg of his circumnavigation of Australia, heading for his home town of Perth. He and his friend Paul joined us for sundowners and entertained us with tales of their journey and adventures and gave us some good advice for our future travels as we head down the west coast and around into the Bight.
The weather is warm with light winds and we are heading to Port Nelson to see to "Mermaid" Boab Tree where Philip Parker King careened his boat in 1820. King chartered most of the Kimberley and his charts were still used by sailors until recently.

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Governor Islands to Prudhoe Islands

We have had a week of calm weather with glassy seas, as a consequence the batteries are fully charged each day as we have had to motor or motor/sail most of the way. We do enjoy evening sea breezes while we watch the spectacular red sunsets for which this part of the world is famous.
At Jar Island we shared the bay with a Paspaley Pearl Farm and its mother ships (14 09'S 126 14'E). A walk ashore (or rather a rock climb and creek walk) took us to a cave behind the beach where we were able to enjoy some rock paintings including some more of the Bradshaw series. The cave floor was full of black soot and shells for long ago beach BBQ's. Our next stop in Vansittart Bay was Freshwater Bay a beautiful setting with good fishing and clear water as this bay also has a large pearl lease.
With the weather in our favour we decided to make our next destination Cassini Island out near Long Reef on the eastern end of the Bonaparte Archipelago (13 57'S 125 38'E). After a morning of washing and a short dinghy ride to the waterfalls behind the mangroves, we headed to Cape Bougainville to overnight before heading out to Cassini Island. The geography in this part of the Kimberley changes from the great sandstone cliffs to red sedimentary rock cliffs with many caves along the shore where the sea has eroded the rock. As we came into the bay where we planned to anchor for the next two nights we found that we would be sharing the bay with a fishing charter boat from Darwin - the Cannon. The Captain, Robin, gave us some good advice on where to anchor as there was a reef of red rock that only exposed at the bottom of the 7 metre tide. He then invited us aboard for coffee and then later in the day we joined the guests on the beach for a BBQ of Coral Trout and Mangrove Jack cooked to perfection by Stephen, the chef on Cannon. The charter group were from Melbourne and shared their fishing tales of catching Sailfish, Giant Trevally, Mackerel, Queenfish etc etc most of which were released - we are all a bit jealous of their success. Our fishing while promising had not proved as fruitful. The beach at Cassini Island were covered in turtle tracks and nests and we saw a few baby turtles swimming around the boat at night, attracted by our lights. We enjoyed a couple of long walks along the water's edge looking at the shells and corals and to our delight, not a plastic bottle or thong in sight.
Today, Thursday 13 August we are motoring west towards the Prudhoe Islands (14 25'S 125 15'E)in total glass conditions with zero wind. This area is similar to Greece with hundreds of small barren rocky islands some with white sandy beaches. It is very different to the east coast of Australia and quite beautiful. This morning we sighted a couple of pairs of whales, one group asleep on the surface looking like a pair of glossy black rocks until with a huge spume of air and water they sank below the surface.

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Berkeley River to Governor Islands

The sail to the King George River was lively under spinnaker allowing us to cover the distance quickly. This gave us time to enjoy a beach walk and for Peter and Cran to fish off the rocks along the point where they caught dinner - a sizable Queenfish. The patterns in the sandstone on the beach show the many layers of sediment which formed them millions of years ago. The following morning we motored in to the King George River on the rising tide and up to the head of the river under the high sandstone cliffs and past mangrove lined tributaries where the fishing for barramundi looked promising however is proving illusive. We have had success gathering lovely plump oysters thanks to Peter and Cran who also caught a nice sized Mangrove Jack.

The King George River ends at a 100 metre high rock wall which in the wet season has spectacular double water falls - we enjoyed taking the dinghy right up to the rock wall where water now trickles down into the river. Many of the rocks around the waterfall are honeycombed by the force of the water that plunges down the gorge in the wet.

We are experiencing balmy winter weather with brilliant blue skies, cool evenings and warm days and not a cloud in sight. This week we have the added bonus of a full moon which rises in the dark blue sky of the evening above the red cliffs - we hope the photos will do it justice. Today we are under way to the Governor Islands in Napier Broome Bay in light winds and saw our first whales this year. We are looking forward to another beach walk today this time on a island with a surrounding coral reef so there could be fish for dinner tonight!

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Darwin to Berkeley River

We have just started our Kimberley experience and are currently anchored near the head of the Berkeley River with high red sandstone cliffs each side of us. The trip from Darwin across the Bonaparte Gulf was a bit uncomfortable (awful) with 20/30 kt winds, it was the close seas that were the problem with 3 metre swells coming at different angles and breaking over the boat. It was a rough introduction to overnight passage making for our friends Peter & Susan. It took 34 hours to complete the 200Nm passage but the splendour of the Berkeley River certainly made up for the rough trip.

Yesterday we anchored at the Casuarina Creek falls. It is a side creek off the main river which has a basin at the end with a small island in the middle. We climbed to the top of the cliffs and walked up to the rock pools. We were fortunate to locate some of the Bradshaw rock paintings which are more than 40,0000 years old. It was good to have our first swim in 6 weeks safe from the threat of crocodiles. After a couple of other catamarans left we were able to anchor right in front of the falls and had to run a stern line from the boat to a boulder at the base of the falls to stop the boat swinging as there wasn't room to swing on the anchor without bouncing off the cliffs. It was quite surreal with 20 metre cliffs all around the basin and our own private waterfall just off the back of the boat. This morning Peter & I collected fresh water in the dinghy from the base of the falls and we all got in and washed down the boat to remove all the salt from the passage. It was great having access to unlimited fresh water but needless to say Peter & I had showers each time we collected water but it wasn't a problem with 30+ degree temperatures. At the head of the river I caught my first barramundi this afternoon but it was undersize at 35cm so was released. Tomorrow we will explore the head of the river and visit the Amphitheatre Falls before going back to the mouth of the river for an early morning bar crossing on Tuesday and a 45Nm trip up to the King George River. We have some great photos but unfortunately we can't upload them until we have normal internet access.

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Brisbane to Darwin - A pictorial summary

Our 2009 adventure begins in May with plans to circumnavigate Australia over the next 18 months. We are fortunate to have many friends and family joining us along the way. Gary started the adventure with us from Brisbane to Tin Can Bay. We met up with friends along the way, Margaret and Brian in the Sandy Straits, Trevor and Christine joined us in Bundaberg for a Lady Musgrave experience. In Yeppoon we were wined and dined by Kevin, Delveen and Frank, friends from our Louisiandes adventures in 2008. We sailed north to Cairns where Brian and Betty joined us for our journey around Cape York and down to Weipa where our niece Chloe was invaluable helping us reprovision and showing us the town sites. In Gove, Lionel and Dorothy joined us for the sail across to Darwin, with many good fishing tales to share. Below are some of our photo highlights!

Final maintenance being completed before a rushed departure.

Crossing the Wide Bay Bar on a good day with Gary on wave watch.

Brian & Margaret help with maintenance on the beach in the Sandy Straits

Mackenzie's Jetty, Fraser Is

First catch of the trip on route to Lady Musgrave from Bundaberg. That provided several meals.

Christine, Ann & Trevor enjoying a cooked breakfast at Lady Musgrave.

Reef & underwater life at Lady Musgrave Island.

Sunset on our first overnight sail of the trip. Yeppoon to the Whitsundays.

Ann on lookout duties coming into Dunk Is.

Finally underway after rigging repairs in Port Douglas. Low Isles

They put on a full moon & fireworks for us in Cooktown.

Ann, Betty & Brian doing the tourist thing in Cooktown at the James Cook Museum.

Finally made it to Lizard Is. Well worth the wait...!

Cape Melville, part of the diverse coastline of the Cape.

Betty & Brian enjoying a dip in croc country at Morris Is, Cape York.

Look at what we have scored for dinner. Now how will we cook it and the other 4 painted crayfish..?

Painted crayfish grilled on the BBQ with a kaffir lime pesto... delicious.

Lettin'Go crew Cran, Ann, Betty & Brian at The Tip, Cape York

Another Tip photo opportunity. Cran & Ann with friends Jan & Mick off the yacht Zoa Brunk

Gove Yacht Harbour, NT. A very different kind of place; friendly, laid back & carefree with forgotten boats.

Lionel with his first catch of their Gove to Darwin leg, a nice Queenfish.

Shooting through the "Hole in the Wall" at 12 Kts.

What a treat on the other side of the "Hole in the Wall", great white beaches on the western side of the Wessel Islands. Dorothy, Ann and Lionel exploring the treasures washed up on the beach.

Fresh smoked mackerel as part of a pre dinner snack.

The Arts & Craft Centre at Galiwinku, Elcho Is. A great collect of works.

Exploring the ruins at Victoria Settlement, Port Essington. NT's first settlement abandoned after 11 years. 1838 - 1849.

Cullen Bay Marina, Darwin. Finally made it but now we have to fit into the lock to the marina. 1 metre to spare each side but it looked much smaller than that on appoarch.

We have now just left Darwin for the Kimberely with friends Peter & Susan onboard. Blog updates will be via satellite phone until we get to Broome so it will be limited to text only. Photos will be posted once we are at Broome and have normal internet access.

A busy month heading south

It has been a month since our last update. In that time we have gone from the Whitsundays to the Fraser Island/Sandy Straits and had 2 periods ashore off the boat.



The northerly winds didn't last long but made for good sailing south while they lasted. We had some long days (10 - 11 hours) from the Whitsundays to Yeppoon but they were very comfortable with just the spinnaker up and getting along at 5 - 7 kts. The last day with the spinnaker was from the Percys to Port Clinton when we had problems getting the spinnaker down at the end of the day. A pulley broke at the top of the spinnaker sock and jamed the rope that is used to lower the sock. That meant that we couldn't gather in the spinnaker before bringing it down which is a problem with such a big sail. It took us a while but we finally managed to get it down and stowed without any damage to the sail or injury to us.



We booked into the marina at Rosslyn Bay, Yeppoon as a strong southerly wind change came through. Here we caught up with people off 3 rally yachts (Eaglehawk, Hadja, and Querida) for sundowners on Eaglehawk. It was good to catch up everyones news since we were last together. We left the boat in the marina and caught the train to Brisbane for a week. As well as seeing Cran's family, the Rooneys were having a long weekend at Stradbroke Island to celerbrate Brian's 80th and Carmel's 40th. It was a great weekend catching up with everyone with the bonus of good weather.



After returning to the boat we had 4 relaxing days anchored at Long Beach, Great Keppel Island where we caught up with Mark & Susan off La Scandell again and met new cruising friends Mike & Lyndall off catamaran Montage who sailed with us down to Pancake Ck. We went on to Bundaberg while they sailed on further to Hervey Bay.




We were in Bundaberg for Patrick's birthday - yes another Rooney birthday. We also had a couple of days with Trevor, the previous owner of our boat, and his new partner Christine. They have a rural property at Mullet Ck north of Bundaberg. We had an evening at the Yandaran pub with Trevor, Christine and Trevor's neighbours Clive & Theresa. The pub was having a Rocky Horror theme night, a live band and a pig on a spit. A real country pub, it was a fun night for all. It was a relaxing weekend and good to see what Trevor is up to now that he is land based.








We are now in the Sandy Straits anchored off the Kingfisher Bay Resort. We have been here a couple of days. Unfortunately, Cran put his back out on the way down and was forced to have a rest day yesterday but he is improved enough to launch the dinghy and go ashore to the resort today. The resort has facilities for day visitors, including yachties, which has 2 swimming pools, a bar, bistro & showers. Tomorrow, we plan to go up the Mary River to Maryborough for a couple of days. We have friends there on the boat Vagabon from our marina at Newport. We have just missed them on the way north so it will be good to see them again.



The long range weather forecast looks like we will have favourable winds to cross the Wide Bay Bar and get to Bribie Is on Wednesday or Thursday next week. Then back into Newport and start the boat maintenance & business jobs as well as catching up with friends & family.

Back in the Whitsundays

Well we are back in the Whitsundays on our way south. The region is a huge tourist area with Airlie Beach a backpacker hub with heaps of backpacker accommodation as well as being the gateway to the islands. Most of the bareboat charter fleets operate out of Airlie now with only one from Shute Harbour and one from Hamilton Is. Despite all the tourists and charter boats it is still a fantastic boating area with 74 islands to explore and plenty of safe anchorages no matter which way the wind is blowing.

We arrived here on Sunday and went directly into Macona Inlet to catch up with friends, Mark & Susan off "La Scandell". They joined us for drinks, dinner and a talkfest where we caught up on each others adventures since we were last together at the start of the Louisiades Rally. It was great to catch up and hopefully we will again in the Sandy Straits on the way back to Brisbane.

By the time we left on Monday to go into Airlie Beach to do a small amount of provisioning Mark & Susan were already into their maintenance day - painting the decks.

The trip from Dunk Is has been mixed. Dunk to Orpheus Is then to Horseshoe Bay Magnetic Is were good days, not too long, calm seas and reasonable winds. We got into Horseshoe Bay in time to go ashore for lunch at the gallery/restaurant Barefoot, Food & Art. We had lunch there on our way north and were glad to get there in time to experience it again. From Magnetic Is to Cape Upstart was a long day (11.5hrs) into a choppy seas with the wind just off the nose. We were able to motor sail but it was a very rough & uncomfortable trip. Cape Upstart to Gloucester Is was also long (10hrs) but better conditions.

Today we woke to totally calm conditions - not a breath of wind. We decided to have a Whitehaven Beach stopover on our way south. By the time we got to Whitehaven the wind was up to 10 kts but it was still great to anchor off the brilliant white beach in clear waters. The beach is 5 Km long so there is plenty of space for everyone. On previous visits we found that most of the yachts and the big day charter boats from Airlie go to the southern end of the beach where they spill a couple of hundred tourists onto the beach for a few hours, so we anchored towards the northern end of the beach where there weren't any other boats for about 300m in either direction. Perfect for a quiet swim off the back of the boat. Within an hour we had 2 boats come an anchor within a 100m and a helicopter land on the beach straight in from us with a couple who spent 30 minutes on the beach having a bottle of champagne but not even getting their shoes off and feel the sand on their feet.

We have come around to Crayfish Bay on the southern side of Whitsunday Is for our night anchorage, very protected for the current northerly winds. Tomorrow we will get away early and put a few big days in to take advantage of these northerly winds and get as far south as we can while they last. If the forecast holds we should make Yeppoon by Saturday/Sunday where we want to catch up with friends and will need to reprovision. If the southerly trade winds hold off a bit longer then we may hopefully get to Bundaberg mid next week where we leave the boat for a week while we go to Brisbane to catch up with Brian Rooney, Ann's father, for his 80th birthday celebrations.