RJP BOF: Weeks 30 to 32

2^nd July 2014 – Wyndham to Nicholls Point (Adolphus Island) 15° 3.618’ S 128° 7.674’ E

Good holding over mud

3rd July 2014 – Nicholls Point (Adolphus Island) to Lacrosse Island 14° 45.088’ S 128° 17.967’ E

Boring day even though we had a current that pushed us out of the sphincter at nine and a half knots…

nine and a half knots

.. read a book,,,caught some sharks… did a bit of Master chef practice…

Vegimite and cheese pancakes… yum yum…

It’s a disappointing anchorage here. We were expecting something a bit like nearby Cape Dommett. The bays are not really deep enough to anchor in so we are just outside in the tidal stream and the current is causing rips the other way. At least it’s not windy so we’ll put up with it for the night.

4^th July 2014 – Lacrosse Island to Eric Island 14° 15’ .648” S 127° 43’ .237” E

Left Lacrosse Island intending to head for the Berkley River and to stop outside the river mouth while we waited for the tide tomorrow morning to go in on. Turns out it was so windy and the sea was so rough that we didn’t feel safe stopping where the book says you can, so we continued on to Eric Island. Anchored here between the island and the mainland just to get out of the current and wind. Hoping to go back to the Berkley tomorrow morning. Here’s some Buff’n’Fish photos to satisfy a request…

Buff’n’Shark

Buff’n’Mac

Who put that in my food bowl? Actually any live bait that escapes the bucket gets devoured. She calls them all Wanda

5^th July 2014 – Eric Island to Elsie Island 14° 14’ .307”S 127° 42’ .254”E

Well today is the first time in a couple of years of this that I’ve had to admit defeat and have ended up back where we started. We left Eric Island at 6:30 in order to get to the Berkley two hours before high tide and go in on that. Winds were over 25 knots and waves were so rough that we were burying the bow on every wave motion. Gave up after an hour – it just wasn’t safe to go through the entrance in these conditions. We came back to Eric Island and anchored around the west side of his neighbour, Elsie Island. There’s a nice anchorage here surrounded by reef and sand bar that protects you pretty well. We’ll see what conditions are like tomorrow before we have another go at getting into the Berkley. It has become a mission now…

Beach at Elsie island…

Exploring the tidal creek near Elsie island…

Someone has become a bit compulsive about keeping watch for those elusive fish...

While we were waiting out the weather here I saw what looked like a baby shark or dolphin struggling just forward of the boat.

Baby dolphin?

A closer look showed it to be our anchor marker float.

Dufus of the day award here. Seriously getting delusional cabin fever. The Berkeley is one of those places I’ve never been able to get to for some reason or other when I lived here so it has become a bit of a compulsion…

6th July 2014 – Elsie Island to Berkeley River – 14° 21’ .026” S 127° 46’ .285”E

Conditions this morning were the same as the past few days so we sat around and read a book this morning and went ashore for a walk after lunchtime. Seems the wind and waves are bad in the daytime but it calms down at night. If we wait any longer we won’t get into the Berkley because the tides are too low, so we decided to take a punt at getting in at night. The Fremantle Sailing Club Guide says you go in on a heading of 225°, so we should be able to line up at night and get in. The moon is about half full, so the light helps.

Turned out all went to plan. The wind died down, the waves behaved themselves and we had a relatively easy motor up to the river mouth. Then turned in on the correct heading and crossed our fingers. Tide at the time was 3.3m, and we ended up with just 2m of clearance, so we only just made it, but we did make it! Then as we stopped and set anchor there was the greatest shooting star across the horizon – huge and sparkling – as if to say “Welcome to the Berkley”. Cheers.

7^th July 2014 – Berkley River mouth to section outside Casuarina Creek 14° 23’ .471” S 127° 43’ .787”E

Found ourselves surrounded by boats this morning. A bit like Hay Street here its so busy with activity. There are two boats at the river entrance that obviously belong to the resort here, and a large catamaran parked here as well.

The remote Berkely river…

We took Buffy the Barra Slayer ashore at the river mouth for a run, and went to talk to some folks who looked like they were waiting for a fishing charter to get under way. Turns out they were from the resort, but were heading home and waiting for their seaplane to come in. Seems they fly people in here rather than bring them by boat. Then another yacht turned up from upriver, and a fishing boat full of youngsters who had obviously been having a great adventure.

Incoming seaplane

After a walk and a thermos of coffee we headed upriver to Casuarina Creek. The river is relatively easy to navigate, but obviously wider than Navionics thinks, because some of our track is on land.

Casuarina Ckeek entrance.

The creek has shallow sections, but these are well marked on the charts shown in the Fremantle Sailing Club Guide, and, in calm conditions at least, they’re pretty easy to see. The wind is a bit of a factor in the river here as it howls up the creek. We had no end of trouble setting our anchor. We have an archived webpage with a good map of the river that says you can anchor in the creek, but our anchor just wouldn’t hold for long. We did get it to set long enough for us to do the climb up the rock scree to get the money shot of the boat. The rock scree isn’t the easiest to climb as some of the rock is loose, but taking your time people of all ages can get up there. One of the resort boats was there obviously waiting for people that were doing the walk to the Bradshaws above the waterfall end of the creek. This walk is also mentioned in the FSC guide. The path to follow (once you get to the top) is marked by several cairns.

The Mustang takes up climbing. Actually this is how she has to get down the scree fall. The scree is actually and old sea bed…

The Money Shot...

This late in the season there’s not much water in the falls, but its still running enough to get some fresh water. The resort guy was using it to clean his boat while he waited for his guests. He also did some fishing for bait left of the falls against the wall. There’s an obvious hole there, and rocks as well, so there may be some fishing here, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Enough water for a wash…

A bit further back up the creek we found this great sound stage area…

… or bbq spot.

After we finished our walk we decided not to stay the night here as we weren’t confident of the anchor setting, so we left the creek and anchored outside the creek just south of the creek entrance. Went out and set some crab pots this afternoon and got one disappointing crab – he’s only got very small claws –

– but we might try out our new crab cake recipe…

and a small bream

(useful for bait). Left some other pots overnight – maybe we’ll get lucky.

8^th July 2014 – Outside Casuarina Creek to Berkley Gorge

Went out to check the crab pots first thing this morning only to discover that we’ve lost another one – crocodiles I guess. No more crabs either – just the one from last night. Had a visit from a couple of dolphins too this morning, and they stuck around just long enough to pose for a photo.

Dolphins in the Berkley River This is a real dolphin this time and not a piece of foam.

We spent the day working our way up stream. Stopped the boat and went for a look in Merv if we saw anything that looked interesting…

This is Python Creek where we had a chat to the local croc and you can’t see it very well in the photos but, the mangrove trees here have literally thousands of bats in them...

Phython creek or as I called it ‘Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na BAT CREEK’

Here’s a cliché shot of the Mustang as we head into the gorge area…

…Probably the quintessential Kimberly scenery here… This gives you some better perspective…

With all our exploring we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get the end of the navigable section. Not a bad anchorage for tonight though…

9^th to 13^th July 2014 –Berkley Gorge to Red Fall Amphitheatre.

We are in no rush to go anywhere. It’s taken me twenty years to get here so I might kick back and enjoy it…

Red Falls amphitheater anchorage… A good spot to have a fire and BBQ….

…And chuck in a line

... Maybe a drink or three

Might do some fishing…

The Queenies are a good size. I’ve taken them on lures and live baits. Here Fishy Fishy…

…There have been a few fingerling in the throw net so they must breed in the river but not as prolific as the Mackerel….

… This poor Mac died while I was bringing him in. They are pretty tasteless and will probably end up in the crab nets. There are a swarm if mackerel fingerlings around Charisma and I’ve watched the adults spawning as they circle in the pools at the rock bar. They will take a trolled lure but like this one have been wearing themselves out in other ways…

Apart from that the live baits we’ve had out have only attracted the grey suits. The Mustang has been getting some muscle definition in her arms with hey daily wrestle.

. This one was a bit bigger

… Even though we’ve had some fun with the sharks including one that was travelling so fast he ran straight into Charisma. He was knocked unconscious after the head butt attempt and we still smile when someone mentions it…. We’ve tried everything to try and discourage them that we are now trying humiliation….

Video Body slam.

Go for a walk above the rock bar…

… small barra here is this hole

would have a go at my mini 2deadly …

Watch the moon rise at sun set…

…or the sun rise

Not a bad spot to hunt bait at low tide

We have access to a good spot to collect fresh water

Above the water supply

As you can gather we are not In a hurry to leave so I’ve started doing small jobs on the boat. Buy a boat… go to nice places… work on boat.

Actually we have been very impressed with the Berkley. The resort is probably a good option to those who are time poor. Most of the groups we have seen have been family groups so it can’t be that expensive. We will check it out for a lunch before we leave.

Well it’s now the 25^th July and we are still here…

broken exhaust

We had moved to the front of the mouth to arrange to go up to the resort when I heard a strange noise coming from the motor. Now it only an exhaust pipe but it is prior to the wet exhaust intake so without a good seal water can flow back into the motor. Not a very good thing to happen… The cooling water also cools the ceramic seal for the prop shaft so it’s not just a matter of rerouting everything outside. The resort can do most things except weld stainless steel so the choices are

1. Use a bearing case and clamp to bodge up a repair and go back to Wyndham and find someone there to repair it. Now this would take at least four days to sail and we would still have to run the motor and risk the build up of co or,

2. Hand the part to the float plane and have it repaired in Kununurra and flown back within a week.

What do you think we did…

Float plane

spoilt the buff with lots of walks on the beach. We’ve both been hammered by sand fly bites though.

caught a crab or two more. Crabs have been very hit and miss. The best place was down at the mouth of the first creek until a croc turned up and started helping himself to the baits. I chased him away after the first time he had a go at a pot but he waited until I had gone and then came and cleaned out all four of them...

… went up to resort for lunch but forgot the camera…

Much better than spending the time backtracking to Wyndham

The part arrived and I put on mechanics garb…