Portland Roads Anchorage.

Later that morning.......after a wonderfully restorative sleep , in a particularly pleasant and calm spot,  especially when compared to what we had encountered on the way to the anchorage,we saw, that we were in fact , the fifth boat in the anchorage.Shortly after we woke the GBRMPA vessel Reef Ranger arrived. Before they departed the anchorage again, I called them on  the VHF to ask for an updated weather report, which they obliged us with. Further deterioration for the next 24hrs ,then easing over the next 24hrs and eventually dying away to nothing.

It had escaped me last night, in the deteriorating weather, that in passing Piper Reef,(where it all started to go pearshaped) , K'Gari is now further south than she was ever has been north of the equator.

Looking at that forecast, we decided to do a load of washing before venturing ashore to see what, if anything, was to be seen.

The road to the old jetty ruins 

What a surprise it turned out to be. Several houses,

Yes ,its a real ,working, non vandalised phone. 

phoning home

a public phone- which still actually works,Peter rang home as we had no mobile signal still, and a cafe, with a menu which looked very much worth a try.
Unfortunately for us the cafe , Out of the Blue, had in fact closed for the day as it was after 1400, by the time we tootled ashore after  completing our domestic duties. However the prawn lunch on the menu was noted down for tomorrow, unless the weather had abated.

All I knew of Portland Roads was its use as an anchorage for the trawlers and mothership on its fortnightly/weekly run to TI, however historical story boards have now added to my knowledge.

WW2  Wharf at Portland Rds .Photo courtesy of Natural Heritage Trust

During WW2 a major jetty and wharf infrastructure existed for supplying the US airbases at Iron Range, which I have never heard of. The jetty was long enough, to extend out to a depth sufficient to allow the liberty boats to berth there. Remnants of cargo gear (cranes) can be seen still. The jetty had apparently started life as a means of exporting cattle from the Cape and the Americans upgraded and extended it and apparently sealed the road between it and Lockhardt River settlement  Apparently there was an operational RAAF radar station there as well. Along with the WW2 information, a monument to the ill fated explorer Edmund Kennedy can be found , and I guess a few gold diggers would have made their way through Portland Roads as well, during the Rush.

2107. The trucks in the photo above were probably parked about here.

As we  returned to K'Gari , we stopped astern of one  the other  yachts to ask if they had an up to date weather forecast, but no, they had overheard my conversation with Reef Ranger and said that was the latest they had as well. However it was revealed, that literally just around the corner , some 3.5 nm away, once we had cleared south of Restoration Rock , we would find internet coverage for a short period and then again a little further south of the Lockhardt River Community.

The road  out.

Savage River to Shelburne Bay- Hmmm ,to stop or not?

Savage River to Shelburne Bay( 62nm)

Underway by 0115 from Savage River, we had a good run to Shelburne Bay arriving at 1130, averging just over 6kts for the run.
The wind was good, holding a nice ESE at 10-15kts.
So what to do? The forecast as far as we could ascertain (which wasn't exactly up to date as we still have no  working HF or internet, so was reliant on best guesses) was the SE change was coming.
Close in at Shelburne Bay would give us protection from the SE, but we would be no better for weather updates, other than Mk1 eyeball.How many days would we be here for if we anchored now? If the wind swung any more to the East it was going to an uncomfortable anchorage.

So of course the answer was, onwards, onwards.

We tacked our way out of Shelburne Bay having decided not to anchor but to continue  on as far as we could before the SE'ly arrived.

We then sailed through Paluma Pass, the passage between Cape Grenville and the Home Islands group. I have never been through here before and was intrigued to see that there was a  house on the south western side. Talk about remote living! 3.5nm further south from this group is Haggerstone Island ,which has a resort on it, which gets rave reviews from fishers and is marketed as a luxury private island resort.Well it would certainly be private!

Flying at 8 kts
 shortly before it came to a grinding a halt in 25kts on the nose

Whizzing along in splendid fashion, of course once we had passed through Paluma Passage,leaving in our 8kt wake the final shelter spot of  Margaret Bay on the northern side of Cape Grenville, the wind began to build in strength from the East.
Half an hour after clearing Paluma Passage it was seriously time for a second reef in the mainsail   and then just before dark the third reef went in as the wind hit 25kts. Ah ha , here was the SE'ly.
For the next 9 hours we laboured on into the SE'ly.  We were now aiming for the shelter of Portland Roads Anchorage, a famous spot for trawlers to anchor at, when  waiting out the SE'ly blows .From Piper Reef to Portland Roads, a magnificent distance of 23nm, and it took 9 hours! Eventually about 2200hrs we just stowed the mainsail, furled the jib and pushed our way slowly into the weather, with the motor(s) alone.  The pretence of sailing long gone.

Cape Grenville to the  sanctuary of  Portland  Roads

At 0315 we let go the anchor in the wonderfully protected bay at Portland Roads. There were no trawlers in the bay, not surprisingly I guess, as there are so few licensed trawlers left these days, compared to the hey day of Portland Roads as an anchorage in the 70's and 80's. There were 3 yachts we could identify and a fourth unlit vessel.
We anchored conservatively, a good distance away from the anchored yachts who were tucked up right under the shoreline and turned in, after what had in the end been a 26 hour day. We would reassess things after a sleep and in daylight.

Seisia to Savage River

Seisia to Escape River via Albany Passage.

We departed at 0815. It was windless and humid, as we weighed anchor and motored out of Seisia.

K'Gari motored towards the top of the country, to round Cape York and start heading south through the Reef. A chance to do some washing in what must be close to 98% humidity- sure, it will dry, as long as it doesn't make 100% humidity

https://youtu.be/aqdSROhG7As

 

https://youtu.be/Nad_6jNOASo

And as we rounded the "tip" at 1200, the breeze started to come away.

 We were trying to beat the forecast SE'ly change and simultaneously time our passing through strategic passages to be with the tide

Sailing through the Albany Passage 

I've been around the top a few times, but only once before, in '79 when on the light house tender MV Cape Moreton , had I been through the Albany Passage.

Albany Passage lies between Albany Island and the mainland.

This area is most famous these days I think,  for  being the resting place of Frank Jardine,  a somewhat controversial early settler in the area , who is allegedly buried standing up.The graves of both Frank and his Samoan Princess wife are still clearly visible on the mainland, from the passage , above the HW mark on the beach.The Jardine family ran cattle on their Cape property, Somerset, and were also involved in the pearling industry.Frank was at one time the magistrate, and  reports vary as to why he stood down- conflict of interest, perhaps being the most touted version. It's remote here now in 2018, let alone in  the late 1800's !

We anchored for the night, further south, just inside the entrance to the Escape River.

The local pearl farmers, a couple who have lived on Turtle Island, in this remote region for some time,  came past just before sunset, and we had a  chat . They pointed out there were better anchorages further in, from our position, but as we were only stopping for a snooze before continuing on our way, we stayed where we were. 

Sure enough about midnight we started to rock n roll as the tide and wind changed, so we heaved up and continued on our way- destination Shelburne  Bay . We were still trying to beat the SE'ly which had been forecast.

Sunday in Seisia, Far North Queensland

Before shifting across to Seisia, we topped up the fuel tanks with  the remaining fuel in the  gerry cans.
We had chewed through an incredible amount of fuel- the most of any leg so far. When we anchored last night, we had precisely 42 litres in the port tank and 45 litres in the starboard, so had consumed 370lts of fuel getting across 740nm, against the damn  current. That is easily the worst consumption figures so far.
Now with all the gerry cans emptied into the tanks we would hopefully be able to firstly  top up K'Gari and finally  refill all the gerries at Seisia. Shouldn't take too many runs to do that !

Seisia located on the western side of the tip of Cape York.

We anchored off Seisia about lunch time after the last few miles across from our overnight anchorage.
There weren't many boats anchored, and the resupply barge arrived after us, mooring alongside the jetty.

Although I have spent time at both Thursday Island and Weipa, in my working life ,I had never been to Seisia (also known to seafarers as Red Island). It is the supply port for the residents on the mainland of the very far north of the continent. Most of the goods are shipped to Thursday Island from Cairns and then fed across in smaller barges, although I believe the small ships that service Thursday Island may also still berth in Seisia.

Most importantly form our point of view, is they would have diesel at the service station, which is the most northerly located servo on the continent. I wasn't sure if we would be able to access  diesel on a Sunday at TI (Thursday Island ). A couple of other reasons we opted not to actually visit TI, a past stamping ground for both of us, were the ferocious currents which are present and the new (since my last foray to these parts) Quarantine rules, which have been introduced I guess to try to slow down the arrival of more pests.Japanese encephalitis has already made its way from PNG, which is only a stones throw, or fast boat ride, away.

The information I could glean is, that the servo is about 400m up the road from the jetty , and the lovely folk there, being used to yachties ,will happily  run you back to your dinghy with your full gerry cans. Simple all we needed was 360lts, so that was three trips ashore as I only have 120lts of gerry capacity.

Did I mention it was Sunday and about 35 degrees? Possibly not.

So having arrived at Seisia with empty gerries, we lowered the dinghy, loaded up the empties and tootled ashore.  We have 4 x 25lt and 1x  20lt gerry cans, and between us only 4 hands! Empty, that arrangement was manageable.

Did I mention it was quite warm, and Sunday? Oh yes I did, but it's worth mentioning again , as, as luck would have it on Sundays at Australia's most northerly service station, there is only one staff member in attendance and so there was going to be no opportunity to scrounge that lift back to the beach , as he was unable to close up the servo and drive us the 400m down the road.

No matter, how heavy could two full 25lts gerries be?
 Extremely after 400m!!

We left the 20 lt one at the servo and returned to the beach. I stayed at the beach and Peter doubled back for the last one.

Out to K'Gari, decant into fuel tanks, between downing substantial quantities of water. Call it quits, thinks me, we can wait until the morning to do the rest, as at 0700 there will be two people in attendance at servo, as well as their trusty ute. Alas no, quick calculations mean  another trip is required today, for  if we did two loads in the morning, the tide would be against us for the transit  through Albany Passage.

Back we go, this time with my trusty tiny set of trolley wheels, which Peter debates wont be of any use at all when the tiny wheels hit the first lump of bauxite, which is everywhere.

Rather beautiful and not exactly crowded.

Being now older, hotter and with slightly longer arms than a few hours before, we ask the attendant if he happens to have a trolley (furniture moving style) that we could borrow for a few minutes. Brilliant idea! This trip back to the boat is far quicker and my arms don't stretch any further. The trolley is returned to the servo. Decanted into the fuel tanks, that is definitely it for the day.

Up betimes the next morning and at the service station for the 0700  opening , having as a precaution taken my baby wheels along for another outing, we refill for the last time  120lts . Borrow the trolley from the attendant, as number two hasn't shown up yet, we trundled the load back to the beach. I load them into the dinghy whilst Peter returns the trolley. Back on board, the fuel is stowed in the locker and with absolutely no sign of any wind ,and in stifling humidity we weigh anchor and set off for our passage around the "tip" and through the Reef.

0715hrs  and on the way back to the dinghy with the final load.
6km to Bamaga-the 'regional centre '. I don't care 400m, was far enough with this load!

A week through the Arafura Sea and crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria.

You guessed it , we are undertaking the next phase of the adventure in adverse conditions- well, who would have thought it?

Darwin to Seisia- note the course alteration in the Gulf- that was the Easterly we didn't want!

We departed at 0840, locking out as easily as we locked in.
A beautiful morning,but alas no wind. The forecast for the week was light with northerlies in the afternoon.The bonus being, it wasn't forecast to be on the nose.Only time would tell.

Having motored all the first day at our usual 2200 revs on one engine at a time, we managed 125nm. Then we managed to actually get that beautiful MPS up and setting  for five hours and ended up covering 134nm in the day.
The third day we experienced the wind backing 270degrees from the SW to the NW- extraordinary, and making the MPS useless as it backed around- more motoring. 121nm covered

Passing Cape Wessel, was a long drawn out affair as we were at times managing only 1.8kts, whilst motoring, against the current that was running westwards. On the positive side it wasn't at all lumpy, the sea being as flat as could be. Only 108 nm covered and definitely chewing through the diesel.

We also had some  free loaders hitching a ride. Three terns on the solar panels. That should actually read, three terns with diarrhoea!

The fifth day found us still motoring east .

O goody- on the nose and about to get wet.

The sixth morning found us at 0600 with three reefs in the mainsail heading into an Easterly- exactly not what we wanted, both in strength and direction.

https://youtu.be/uJr4zBDtFKo

It too passed and that afternoon just before sunset we were able to witness the most stunning display by a pod of dolphins so far. Approximately 20 dolphins, a couple of which had obviously had access to the red cordial, played around the bows for about 15 minutes. The youngsters on the red cordial were zigzagging in, under and  over the rest of the pod who were just playing around either bow. It's hard to describe and the video doesn't do it justice as its span of coverage doesn't effectively take in both bows due to the decreasing light as the evening drew in.

About lunch time on the seventh day the wind finally decided to play ball and came away beautifully from the south and then veered to the southwest. Decided not to worry about the MPS and trundled on under the full main and jib. This was great being able to sail at last , albeit only the last few hours. We decided to wait until the daylight the following morning to arrive at Seisia, as neither of  us have ever been there and it would not be until after dark that we would arrive. We anchored instead in 7.5m at 1750 west of Prince of Wales Island.

same photo with 24 hr progress denoted byflag

Darwin

The next morning we fueled up with 207lts of diesel, before we entered Cullen Bay Marina as the fuel pumps were astern of us, on the same pontoon ,we had spent the night.

There is a one off cost for the lock, after which you may come and go as often as you wish. With the huge tide range in Darwin , the lock makes sense as some of the other options for berths in Darwin, can only be worked on the tides.

this photo taken from the Cullen Bay Marina website shows the approach at a zero tide
Definitely pays to follow the leads!

We locked in, effortlessly, for those who have been on the canals in the UK with me, there is not a paddle to be wound, its all done by the friendly lockkeeper. As it was the top of the tide, it was only a small rise in any case, not the massive 7m rise encountered on a zero tide.


Once through the lock we made our way to our berth. This would be home until I had either been granted permission by Border Force to continue to the East Coast and there complete my importation , or not.
It is not usual to be granted this request , however all I could do was explain my circumstances and see if my request would be granted.

Meanwhile, mundane stuff like washing down the boat , refilling the gas bottles, trying to find someone capable of fixing the now totally defunct HF radio, occupied our time.
Peter went exploring Darwin by bus to try to find some vital bits and pieces , and was partially successful.
The repair to the HF radio, not quite so.The fault appears not to be the regular one with the capacitor, which apparently this particular model has suffered from. Having replaced the capacitor , when the radio came back, it still didn't work. There has been an issue with this HF since we picked up K'Gari in  Vietnam, but I wasn't prepared to part company with it, in that part of the world.

Friday:Border Force  granted  permission to continue to the east coast, so we made preparations to sail. Re stocking the fridges, after the AQIS clean out, was required. I also needed to sign appropriate paperwork with Border Force,( Port to Port clearance) stating that I understood I was being granted permission to sail directly, ( no touring/cruising) to the east coast and there would complete the requirements of  importation.

Next ,morning we headed by bus into Darwin, its only six minutes, had a wander around, went to the library as I needed some internet coverage to try to figure out, via good old Youtube, how to change the fine fuel filters on the engines. I was stuck, as usual, pretty much at the first hurdle- the how to undo it without busting/mutilating/or generally destroying the filter bowls, in which  the  cartridges sit. It all looks so bloody simple. Watched a few videos from different sources and decided that it would be far easier to do upon arrival in Cairns- it wasn't desperate, and we were leaving Darwin  the following morning in any case, with many things yet to do.

Before leaving the library, I downloaded the first few of the fishing zone maps for the Great Barrier Reef. With our abysmal fishing record, it would add insult upon insult to be nabbed  for  trolling- for nothing- in a forbidden zone!

On the way to the supermarket , we passed National Flags, a  shop selling , yes correct guess, National Flags. Many , many different nations flags were on display. I needed an Australian flag in slightly better condition than the small one which has chugged many miles around the English canal system.
The very affable proprietor Ron, said he would search out the size  that I indicated I was looking for , and as we were on our way to reprovision  K'Gari, he would deliver us down to the marina when we had completed our shopping expedition, thus negating the problem of waiting for a taxi , with frozen goods starting to thaw. A much appreciated offer which we took up. So shopping and flag acquired, it was back to the marina

Meanwhile back in HF radio world- the solution to the non working HF, seems  to be to leave it in Darwin with Bob from  Navcom who will work on it and if he can't fix it, he will send it to ICOM in Melbourne.

Our last evening in Darwin we did what all good boaties would do, went for a 3 hour sunset cruise, onboard  Kuru , a Seawind, owned by Ecosailing Experiences , but designed purely for in harbour cruising. I was interested to see how it had been done, and I knew the delivery skipper who had brought her down  from Vietnam to Darwin. As it has no cabins and has been designed purely for maximum people on  the deck area to enjoy the cruise , it would have been an "interesting" delivery voyage through the equatorial downpours.

So that folks sums up the brief but busy visit to Darwin- time to move on and get to Cairns at least, so that Peter can go home.