3rd June
Denham to Cape Inscription.
Spent a bit longer at Denham due to waiting for parts to arrive. Here they are!
I've even splashed out and bought a new sponge...
A Scotch and Coke. No ice. In a middy glass.
One for The Mustang. On her favourite people watching spot at The Oldie.
We left at 6am. Found the Autopilot wasn't working so turned around and went back to the mooring.
Stripped the cabin and pulled out the drive unit. Cleaned and refit it and made the connection to the processor more solid..
Left again at 10am. No wind so put on both motors and put the petal to the metal.
Until one of the motors threw a fan belt. Changed that then finally got underway.
Then disaster struck. The lure that we have caught everything so far on was lost. Taken by a small Mackerel and a worn through leader. I hate to think how many miles I've dragged that lure as I bought in Queensland 12 years ago.
Anyway some pictures to prove we got there in the end...
4th of June
Cape inscription to Cape Cuvia
Forecast was definitely wrong in the morning. Winds twice as high and the wrong direction. We had to smash our way back into Shark Bay before we could head North. We wasted most of the morning.
The strong Easterlies meant couldn't anchor we had planned on Dorrie Island. So we'd continue on to Cape Cuvia. We wouldn't arrive until midnight but it is a well lit port for salt export. Coming in and parking next to the cliffs was very interesting at midnight last night.
5th June 2024
Cape Cuvia to Coral Bay.
Started early and the weather was great so went past out intended stop at Gnarraloo Bay.
As usual once we were past the weather turned on the nose at 20knots. Back to slamming into sharp short chop and the speed down to 4 knots. A grind.
V-Man takes it all in his stride.
Finally got through Yalobia Passage after dark. A few too many drinks were consumed celebrating finally getting into Yalobia Passage. Some of you might be thinking that we would be making juvenile comments about the passage called Yalobia but we are above that!
6th June 2024
Yalobia Passage to just a bit North of Yalobia Passage.
Moved out of the swell. Squid session to make us lunch. Dolphins, Dugong and turtles spotted.
Just outside the Maritime park so that we can restock the freezer.
Bit of a messy job.
The new lures aren't producing anything like "The Lure".
Did I mention that we lost it?
The important Coral Bay Photos...
10th June 2024
Coral Bay to Point Coates.
How did we end up here?
After sitting out a day of winds we just left. The plan wast to stay behind the Ningaloo reef and stop at some dive spots each day. The swell put an end to plan A at the Chaimberlan bomies.
So we headed over to the reef to stop there. Plan B.
Still no good so let's go somewhere that we know will be a good anchorage.
Was a bit of a glass out after we made that decision.
So here we are at Plan C. Just in time for a quick dive. The current was so strong by the time I swam up to check the anchor I'd had enough so took Merve over to the beach to see if V-Man needed a lift back. Caught a small spangled emperor just in time for dinner.
Explored the uncharted passage to Norwegian Bay the next day in Merv.
Followed by a squid extravaganza as the sun started to set.
12th June
Point Cloates to Norwegian Bay
Stopped off at some Bomies we had noted in Merv explore the previous day.
V-Man was on Bombie spotting duties at the bow in uncharted waters.
The trolling lures have been quiet since Shark Bay where we lost "The Lure". Have I mentioned that we lost "The Lure"? Line stated peeling off the reel as we were coming into the surveyed part of the chart. Just about spooled the big Penn reel by the time I'd slowed the boat and got enough drag on. A four foot Cobia.
A new species for me. Courtesy of Big John's Jigs! Not enough room in the freezer so we released it. As we wanted to not gaff it we had a bit of trouble getting him on board. I grabbed the fish by the tail, V-Man grabbed me and all three of us fell backwards onto the deck.
Who's that Bald Old Fart? Need a number one cut.
The fish gods appreciated our actions and smiled on us. We caught a small Mackerel within two minutes of dropping the lure back in.
Keeping in with the Ningaloo gods the resident dolphins welcomed us to Norwegian bay.
This is the site of an early 1900 Whaling station. A photo or two is required to prove we were here.
After a near perfect day the wind gods reminded us that not everything is perfect. It blew up to 20knots and the anchorage got really choppy. Plus a bit more excitement when Merv came off one of his winches.
It was really quite uncomfortable for a couple of hours.
More squid while V-Man got the bbq out and cooked the Mackerel as well as himself. I couldn't join him due to the unknown anchor holding after the afternoon winds .
14th June 2024
Still Norwegian Bay but the southern side out near the reef.
We came out here this morning for a dive on a wreck that is just inside the reef. Here I go trying to use the underwater camera again...
The wreck was on Fraser island. Not the big one in Queensland. This one is now under water. This is all that is left. But at least we could do a "Where the bloody hell are you moment".
Overcast with London drizzle day. How we keep ourselves amused...
cooking comfort food...
Cleaning...
Taking possession of an island.
...our version of GKI.
Terra Nullus right?
When the weather doesn't let us travel we resort to baking. Overcast and good winds not due until Monday 17th. The Cinnamon scrolls trial...
We may have discovered V-Man's superpower...
Diving over the side and finding the things we haven't had tied on. From buckets to pliers.
Norwegian Bay to Norwegian Bay.
Well. The forecast was for light Easterly winds turning to the south in the early morning. Perfect.
We got out of the bay and turned into Northern winds at about 10 Knotts on the nose. The forecast couldn't be that wrong? Could it?
We persisted for an hour hoping that they would turn as forecast.
In the mean time we had a solitary Sperm whale pay us a visit and put on show. Lots of breaches but as usual my video skills weren't up to the task. This all you get...
A very young solitary whale. Most likely a male so we named him "Spermy".
As he disappeared the wind started to blow even harder. Gusts of 30 knots on the nose. Rubbish conditions. While we considering whether to turn around or not the anchor came off the pin and dropped into 70 meters of water.
12 ft waves and 65m of anchor and chain weighing about 300kg hanging off the front of the boat. Hmm...
Unfortunately the end of the chain is spliced onto a rope so we couldn't wind it up using the winch as it needs the chain to grab on the spindle(called a Gypsy but it doesn't tell fortunes)...
V-Man grabbed my ankles as I went over the front to attach a shackle to where the chain started down near the water line. Sometimes under the water actually.
Managed to attach a spare line to the shackle then using the mast winch, slowly pulled the first meter of chain out of the water. About this time I asked V-Man if he was having fun today?
We were then able to get a second shackle and line onto the chain. With this we were able to get the chain eventually onto the Gypsy.
Anchor winches are not made to lift 300kg. They complain and shut down to stop you pulling them out of the front of the boat.
With V-Man resetting the trip switch we managed to gain some chain each time we dropped to the bottom of a wave. A bit like gaining line on a big fish.
Half an hour later we turned around and came back here. The weather forecast hasn't changed. The BOM never admits a mistake.
Well no-one died so a good day... even though I have some bruised ribs that are not fun.
18th June 2024
Norwegian Bay to Yardi Creek.
A tentative sail after the carnage of yesterday. The V-Man is doing all the manual stuff while I have bruised ribs.
Comfort food. Hot Cross buns without the religious significance.
19th June 2024
Yardi Creek to Tantabiddi.
Great sail today with 25 to 30 knotts of wind.
Up over 8 knots coming down the swells.
And a pack of juvenile dolphins came and mobbed us for a while.
Tantabiddi is most likely our last stop before Exmouth. We are a bit ahead of schedule so will do a dive or two in the sanctuary just behind us. Unfortunately I've also pulled a back muscle as well as the bruised rib. V-Man has been swimming over and "joining" in with other snorkeling groups while I'm in recovery. He has worried them once when their head counts don't match.
Actually managed to get a picture of a turtle. They are pretty chilled around here. Only a big Lemon shark spotted when V-Man was in the water. He can swim fast.
Solstice moon rise. Like daylight.
Looking to the west...
Sunset solstice.
23rd July 2024.
Tantabiddy to Exmouth
The mackerels V-Man catches come without heads or tails so that they fit in the freezer.
The loaded fries were a change from the hard tack "Anzac" biscuits.
Obviously due for a bit of a resupply here in Exmouth while I change crews.
No sunset picture to end this post. Have a marbled Solstice moon sky instead.
One of those clouds has the same shape as "The Lost Lure"
