26th
August 2013
North Goulburn Island to Malay Bay 11o 24.050S 132o 53.985E
Left North Goulburn Island at 5:30 and motor-sailed for 8½
hours to Malay Bay. We started off with
about 20kn winds, but they were behind us all the way and didn’t help us
much. So we averaged only about 4.5kn
all the way. The Mustang is feeling a
lot better …
and is starting
to do the ‘boat babe’ thing on watch.
Still, we got here and found the perfect spot to
anchor. Fortunately we arrived about an
hour before low tide so we could ensure we had a good depth below us to
anchor. The tide is really low today
(0.29m) and the beach is a long way out at low tide.
Low tide at
Malay Bay
We dropped Merv in the water as soon as we were sure we
anchored securely and went for a walk along the top of the bay. The first thing we came across on the beach
were some tracks from someone’s 4-wheeler, so obviously someone either lives
near here or is camped nearby.
Four wheeler
tracks
The Mustang really came prepared with suitable bush walking
attire. I'm not allowed to take a photo of her sandshoes with the toes cut out...
There’s a very small creek with some small ponds, but the
bait fish there are too small to be any good.
The area is also popular with crocs – we saw two sets of tracks in our
short half-hour trek. They’re only small
crocs though – the largest only about 4 feet.
Croc resting
place
When we got back to our landing spot we found Merv was still
out of water, so we parked under a couple of trees and had a kip for an hour
while we waited for the tide to come in a bit more. Early night tonight after our long day, but
we plan to explore the area a bit more tomorrow. And hopefully catch a fish for
dinner.
The locals who
shared our shade trees
Feeding them
spare bait
Walk along the
high tide wall.
The Mustang picked up the odd shell. She’ll have a full
suitcase.
We are out of meat now and there’s no ice left in the
fridge, so I needed to catch a fish for dinner.
last night at
Malay bay
28th
August 2013
Malay Bay to Raffles Bay
11o 14.969S 132o 25.150E
Started out about 7AM hoping to time our arrival at Bowen
Strait to coincide with the ebbing tide.
We actually managed to time it really well, arriving about an hour after
the tide turned. This gave us about one
extra nm in speed of travel, which we desperately needed as the wind speed all
morning never got over 3 knots. So we
motored the whole way but managed to average about six knots overall.
The Gove-
Darwin barge overtakes us again in the straight
Multitasking Sailing and songwriting... The Mustang has added her verse to the 'Mermaid song' so it will be ready for recording when I get back.
The Mustang crashed for the day with what she claimed was a
headache, so I went out in Merv and scouted the islands for signs of life. I even found a good sized starfish for the
Mustang’s shell collection – should I be encouraging her?
Entrance Island at the southern entrance
to Raffles Bay
Headed for the mainland to check out the area for bait fish
and found that the area is pretty well surrounded with some seriously heavy
duty and deep mud. If you’re going to
anchor here (and don’t worry that Navionics says it’s all rocks because we
didn’t see anything but sand and mud covered with sand), do be careful to watch
the tide times. Go ashore as the tide is
going out and just keep moving your tender a bit further out as it moves
further out. You will get stuck in the
mud when you go to fetch it back to shore, usually up to your knees.
29th August 2013 – Raffles Bay
We took our time this morning, having a relaxing read on
board before we went to explore the mainland a bit. This needed caution, and some snowshoes would
have helped too – your feet sink into the sand almost a foot deep as you walk
along the shore, no matter where you are in relation to the waterline. We went in about four hours before low tide
and found a nice shady tree to sit under.
Beach walking
is hard work here. Even if you aren’t carrying the shell collection…
Just about here we found four fresh boot tracks. No more, just 4. Less than 2 hours old. Never saw or heard a boat land. The Phantom wears bloodstones?
There are lots of trees here and it looks quite green from
the boat, but once here you can see that all the undergrowth has been eaten by
cattle (plenty of footprints everywhere), and it looks a bit sad and
barren. Still, we managed a bit of a
walk to the point and back, and then just relaxed and watched the baitfish
jumping out of the way of the baby sharks.
I actually caught a baby shark using the bait fish night before last but
it was only about 7 inches long. How it
managed to get its mouth around the baitfish I couldn’t work out.
When we returned to the boat we had a visit from a local false
killer whale. Wasted a bit of time trying to catch it on
film, but we did manage to catch a glimpse of it for you.
False killer
whale at Raffles Bay. Obviously not a True killer whale.(That's a Maffs joke...)
Overall today has just been an R&R day, although the
Mustang showed me how to make her famous beer bread at last. Unfortunately some moron had purchased
wholemeal flour instead of white flour, so I think the end result might have
been a bit short of my expectations. It
looked like bread, if you like that flat Lebanese stuff they sell you in
bakeries these days, but it definitely smelled like bread and the taste was
like a cross between bread and the scones I make. It didn’t rise as much as it should have, but
that was because the oven wasn’t hot enough (apparently). She promises to do better once we’re on land,
at home, with a proper oven, and with all the correct ingredients instead of
just half of them. So, without any meat
we’re having pumpkin soup and flat beer bread for dinner, and more bread – this
time with jam – for dessert.
Tomorrow we’re
heading for Port Essington, where we’ll top up with water, maybe have a shower
at the campsites, and hopefully even get some more ice.
30th
August 2013
Raffles Bay to Port Essington (bay north off Reef Point) 11o 12.445S 132o 11.339E
We left Raffles Bay about 7AM and motor-sailed with the tide
to Port Essington. The wind was
non-existent at that hour of the day (1 to3kn), but picked up about 10:30 to
8kn so we put the Genoa out. It didn’t help
much, but we did average 5kn and arrived here at out anchor point at 1:00PM, so
we made good time. We saw a few boats on
the way including a fishing boat that overtook us at a great rate of knots, but
no wildlife at all – no dolphins, turtles or even fish.
Fishing boat
overtakes us... why is everyone in a rush?
On arrival I went to the Ranger Station to see whether the
shop sold ice here and – guess what – they’ve closed the shop and turned it
into a Visitor’s Centre!
Business opportunity??
31 August 2013
Port Essington (bay north off Reef Point) to Coral Bay 11o 11.4704S 132o
3.311E
Rather than spend the day walking in the heat through the
ruins of the Victoria settlement we finished off the water runs. The lack of
refrigeration is finally getting to us. We’ve started planning to make the run
to Darwin and a cold drink. We went back up to the ranger station and looked at
the photos of the ruins instead. Finally saw a couple of cane toads…
The Mustang spent the trip across the bay on watch at the
bow talking to the dolphins that led us into this very nice anchorage.
(They don't talk back)
The seven spirit resort looks really well kept. We went for
a walk through to let them know to expect two more for dinner in the restaurant
but couldn’t find anyone. The bay we are anchored in is one of the most scenic
we’ve been in so far.
Well, we went back into the resort before sunset and the
only staff we could find were these guys cutting the lawn.
We waited for an hour on the front deck overlooking the bay.
It began to dawn on the Mustang that she wasn’t going to get her ice cream fix.
So it was back to the boat for pizza. Pizza is our standby
meal. Salami doesn’t need refrigeration although the cheese is becoming
dubious.
1st September 2013
The staff for the resort came back late last night. As they
had no visitors they had taken the newer staff to the ruins for a bit of a
familiarization. If we had got in earlier we could have gone with them. Anyway
we’ve moved around and anchored in front of the resort and have ordered lunch
over the radio. Steak and salad for me (red meat, drool, drool…) and of course
ice cream for the Mustang. She’s had a special BM this morning to make room. Don’t ask her what the stick is for – she
won’t tell you.
Had lunch with a great view at the resort. The steak was seriously thick and excellently
cooked. The salad was coleslaw, but it
satisfied our need for vegetables, in company with the French fried chips.
The price is right – only $30 per person. But you have to add $10 per person for the
ice cream sundaes. They were worth it
though. I had two spoonsful and the
Mustang cleaned up the rest.
Though shalt covert thy neighbour's parfait glass
The staff have invited us back for dinner tonight, and even
though it’s just a barbecue, we accepted anyway. A really great resort. It's been going for over twenty years but the new owners have really bought it up too scratch in the last three years. Yachties are welcolme and they even have a pontoon with water that we could have tied up to if I hadn't of lugged it from the beach the day before.
Enjoyed our little luxury stop here that I am going to include the resorts on the Kimberley coast in the planning for next year. The Mustang reckons the title for the book will be "The cashed up bogun's tour of the Kimberley."
Enjoyed our little luxury stop here that I am going to include the resorts on the Kimberley coast in the planning for next year. The Mustang reckons the title for the book will be "The cashed up bogun's tour of the Kimberley."
