Hi Everyone.
Well, we left you a week ago across the Gulf of Carpentaria in Seisia waiting for good weather to cross over to Gove, our first real taste of civilization since Cooktown. So the social scene picked up as the weather improved, and the nightly happy hour/BBQ started up again with the prime subject being when to leave and cross the Gulf. There were high (30 knot) winds and big (4 meter) seas over on the other side, and it was none too pleasant where we were. We were able to connect periodically to our wifi provider, and the weather was expected to moderate Tuesday and Wednesday for sure, Finally, everybody decided to wait for Wed. to be sure of calmer weather on the other side, 350 miles away. Some were even considering waiting until Thursday, but we shoved off first thing Wed to very light wind and calm seas, but we still needed to get through a patch of sandbanks called the Endeavour Strait and get out there. We didn't have much fuel, and we were worried about the light air as we really couldn't motor all the way. As it turned out, all the boats, 16 in all, took off that morning, some for Cape Wessel, north of Gove and the rest to Gove. After swearing that we should have left Tuesday and gotten good wind, it kicked up, and we had a riotous ride for the next day and a half with 25-30 knot wind and 4 meter seas which did diminish on Thursday. All of it was coming from behind us, so it wasn't too bad. Some of the smaller boats actually set record times and came in shortly after we did on Friday morning. We caught a big Spanish Mackerel on the way among some smaller throw back tunas. The Aussies patrol the Gulf heavily and we heard radio traffic on a warship checking yachts, and we had not one, but two, flybys by Australian Coast Watch planes asking our destination, and other info.
So we hit Gove, a major bauxite exporting port with a small town, at 8:30 Friday morning. Over the next couple of days, the remaining Seisia fleet arrived as well as a bunch of boats that had gone a bit south from Seisia to supposedly get a better angle on the wind--probably 25 boats in all. There's a nice yacht club in Gove Harbor that welcomes yachties, has free BBQs and cheap drinks, so happy hour was reconstituted with the big subject of discussion, once again, when everyone was leaving to go through the dreaded Hole In The Wall(HW). HW is a 45 meter wide pass between the Wessel Islands on the way to Darwin. It cuts about 100 miles off the trip, but had a tidal flow of 10 knots so you have to hit it just right to avoid getting killed by the current. Many boats have left today and will anchor close to HW and go through tomorrow. The tides are only right at late afternoon. We had planned on staying here for a few more days as there is a big party at the yacht club Monday--which is also Joey's birthday, and Tuesday is Territory day and you can buy and set of fireworks. Unfortunately, the tides are not going to cooperate, so we'll leave Tuesday AM for the 45 mile run north to the pass. We will go through about 5PM and there is a nice anchorage just the other side. We think we can squeak by on the fuel we have until Darwin, so they'll be no motoring, After that, it's an overnight sail to get closer to Darwin and then a few day hops.
The little town of Nunguuliguy, or something like that, is very small and about a 20 minute cab ride away, but we are glad to have a modicum of civilization with a strong cell and wifi signal and a Woolworth's grocery store, one of the big chains here. I wanted to get some beer here for what seems to be becoming a regular happy hour event on the beach, but you actually need to get a permit to buy takeaway alcohol. We're in indigenous people (the politically correct expression for aborigines) country, and I guess they're like American Indians and have a tendency to abuse booze. Of course, however, to be politically correct, they can't just discriminate against the Abos with this permit nonsense so everyone has to do it. It is a big deal with your picture taken and an official document which can be revoked for any number of reasons like buying booze for someone without a permit. It's free, just took a while as we had to tack someone down on a Saturday and go to the courthouse to get it
Most everyone left by the 30th, Joey's, and, by coincidence, one of the big chiefs, birthdays. There was supposed to be a huge party at the yacht club with free food and booze so off we went about 4. No free drinks but, about 7, we finally got some food. We got firsthand experience as to why they limit abo alcohol. Many drunks--they actually had a paddy wagon and cops on hand, and one drooled all over my leg. We're not talking just a little--reminded me of that early Saturday Night Live routine with drool cups. Eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww.
We decide to leave the next day and also to get some fuel "just in case" as we found out it really wasn't too expensive. However, it turned out that way as we had a hell of a time geting off the dock and managed to destroy a running light and wreck one of the life rings and holders. The freighter behind us even tried to help by taking a line and trying to pull us off (that's when we broke stuff), but finally, we had to take down the dinghy and drag the anchor out at a 45 degree angle and then use the windlass to pull out the bow. That being done we had a nice sail up to the pass where, if you don't time it right, the current can run 8-10 knots against you. Conventional wisdom (I won't bore you with the details) said to go through about 5:30 pm that day and, at the beginning, while a bit rough, the current was modest. Remember, this pass saves about 100 miles, but has the crrent problem because it's really narrow!!! But it's only about 1/2 mile long. So anyway, we got into the middle, and the calculations were off or something, because our speed kept dropping and dropping and dropping. Pretty soon, we're making about 2 knots with both engines full on, and I'm thinking we'll be going backward soon, which is not a good thing!! Okay, well that was the worst of it, and we survived, but it was a bit nervewracking.
We had the anchorage just beyond the pass to ourselves, and the plan was to get an early start, sail about 150 miles overnight, and end up at a place called Malay Bay which the guide said was a good spot. Following that, we had another "strait" to go through before hitting Cape Don, the embarkation point for Darwin. We had a great sail, but Malay Bay was very windy and we could see we'd be bucking around all night. Okay, go to plan B. On the morning radio net (everyone involved gets on the radio to share information at a fixed time each day) a couple of people had mentioned the SW corner of the island forming the strait (Point David) had a decent anchorage just past the pearl farms on that end. We confirmed that with some other boats headed that way, and, since it was only 2 pm and only 15 miles, we decided to go for it. Now, pretend you're hearing the sound of the wrong answer buzzer on a game show. We cruised up and down, in and out, etc. for about an hour and couldn't find the place. We ended up going through the straight to a really nice anchorage at the north end. On the way, we managed to spy a sea gull standing on a turtle out in the middle of the water which was cool. Finally got the hook down about 7.
The next leg to Cape Don--the anchorage is Alcara Bay was a short one, and we were a bit worried about space as there were boats coming from everywhere to wait for the right conditions to head the 85 miles to Darwin. Fortunately, the bay is large as there were ultimately 20 boats in there. The deal is, because there are huge 20+ foot tides in Darwin, you want to have favorable flow. Remember the old movies about sailing "on the tide" Well that's not BS when they are that large, and the current can be a big help or a big hindrance. Once again, one relies on conventional wisdom for the departure. In our case, it was to leave about 5 hours before high tide in Darwin. Too bad for us this meant leaving a 3AM!!! This allegedly gives you good current leaving Alcara and good current arriving Darwin. Well, for once they were right!!! It's about 1/2 hour to get out of the anchorage and make a left to Darwin. We were motoring along with the main up doing about 7.5 knots when we hit the tidal flow and went up to about 14 knots for quite a while until the tide turned. We ended up in Darwin by 2 inspite of slowing down to about 6 knots when the tide went against us. We were happy to have that extra fuel as we, along with everyone else (15 boats left that night) all wanted to get there while it was still light and really were ready for some civilization.
I'll tell the tale of our very pleasant--so far--3 week stay in Darwin in my next letter.
In the meantime, I'm happy to report that miracles do happen. Rose is cured!!!! Many of the docs had told us it might just be something that the body will take care of on it's own and so, it seems, it was. I keep getting emails about drinking, long walks, and knot tying classes that were all out of the question 3 months ago. So the logistics are a bit difficult, and she can't return quite yet, but Rose is booked on a flight to Bali (how romantic!!!) coinciding her arrival with me having to be there to drop the crew off for a side trip to Singapore for a wedding. That's in about 6 weeks at the end of August. Yahoo!!!
Cheers 'til next time.
Tim, Joe & Olivia
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