6th June 2013
Penefather River 12o 13.852S 141o
44.233E
Seisia is not a one horse town.
I’ve seen both of
them.
The navigator arrived on the second and seeing as I had seen
all that Seisia had to offer we set off the next morning.
First we went and filled the water tanks at the wharf which
was interesting.
If the camera angle
looks a bit high in the previous photo, this is why…
It was a bit of a
climb up to turn on the tap.
Within the first hour I had lost the Navigators favourite
lure when something big broke it off. It
could have been one of these. I let him hold it up for me while I took the
photograph.
Barracuda. Love the
shorts …
We had a great sail out past the shoals but were going to be
against wind and current to get back to the coast for the night. In the end we gave in and set up a rhumb line
for the Penefather River and decided to motor sail overnight.
We arrived just after dawn on the 6th and tried
to enter the river. The channel has
changed since The Navigator was last here so after touching the bottom a few
times we anchored out. It has only bee
20 years since he was last here.
We took Merv in and sounded out the new channel with some
cord and a lead weight. Finally getting
in and anchored by ten.
Merv, Charisma and
The Navigator all in the Penefather River.
We do have a bit of wind versus tide but the location is
well worth it. There are a few campers
up near the mouth and lagoon but we have the place to ourselves. As promised it is a really great bit of the
cape and the fishing has been pretty amazing at times. We haven’t landed anything really worthwhile
but we have had some amazing hookups.
Probably the largest barramundi
I’ve had on the end of a line. It was about the size of a 120 litre drum
when it was lauching itself. Just the
fun of it and knowing there are still places like this around is worth it.
Eventually it worked through the 120lb leader with its’ gill
rakers so no photo. It doesn’t matter. When a Barra gets that big the the
chance of landing them on light gear get smaller.
A day off on Friday with even a walk up the beach
scavenging.
The Navigator likes a
wander
The lagoon
Murder at the Penefather river:
This night will be talked about in hushed tones and murmured
whispers for times to come. After having spent the first couple of days having
huge fish hooked and close to the boat one poor specimen finally capitulated to
the old gut hook and died. Well we
thought it was dead until the navigator, aka the butcher put the gaff in it. It took the gaff and later a knife and an axe
before finally being winched about the duckboard to be dressed. Actually dressed is not the appropriate word.
Butchered would be much more suitable.
The following photo is one of the more suitable for
publication.
The Butcher. Yes.
That is a panel saw…
And for those of you who crave something a bit more
gruesome…
We wont need to keep
another fish for a while.
To bring the tone back up this was our view out of the
entrance the following morning.
Penefather entrance
Later that afternoon the breeze came up the river and was
giving an uncomfortable tide over wind condition so we left and anchored just
off shore where it was much quieter. We went on the beach and the pyromaniac
went to work.
Bobby Darren just
waiting for Annette Funicello to turn up.
The Navigator
enjoying a red wine at sunset. Beach etiquette says that glasses are optional.
As you can see it was quite a crisp clear night. There was no moon and the highlight would
have been the phosphorescent dolphin chasing bait fish around the back of the
boat.
Final night at the
Penefather River.
By the way, the Penefather river was the first recorded
landing in Australia by Europeans. Wiiliam Janze in the Dufken, a dutch ship,
recorded landing in 1606 which was 160 odd years before Captain Chef. We had Gouda and Edam cheese in the salad
mark the occasion.
As a final foot note from the Penefather we had a late night
visitor. A bird turned up attracted to the lights and the party atmosphere and
couldn’t find its’ way out of the cockpit.
The Navigator gave her a helping hand. That’s what he told he was doing…
Booby Bird
We forgot to give it some of our bait fish but, it happily left into the night. Unlike the previous nights catch, it got a kiss goodbye. It was a happy booby...
We forgot to give it some of our bait fish but, it happily left into the night. Unlike the previous nights catch, it got a kiss goodbye. It was a happy booby...
7th June 2013
Weipa 12o 40.523S 141o 51.572E
Well we had a really frustrating day getting into here. The wind was right where we wanted to go and
every time Charisma buried into a set of waves we would just about stop. We had to tack with the jib and the motor
running just to get even some headway.
The waves weren’t big but the wind was the problem. I’ve probably used more diesel today than I
did all of week 15.
We found somewhere to anchor just on sunset. We will have to move before 7 tomorrow or there
won’t be enough water.
Congratulations to Scott and The Jordie!!
