Monday 1st July 2019 – Port Headland

I was awake around 06:30 waiting for a call from the Landside Operation Coordinator. Our 07:00 refueling time slot got changed once again to 14:00, so I got on with updating my blog and several other things.

At around 11:30 I receive a message saying a new time slot has opened up for 12:30 and all of a sudden, we had to snap into action and follow in behind the huge tanker we could now see coming down the channel.

I got permission from VTS to enter the harbour and organised for the Recharge Petroleum person to be ready onsite, put out some fenders and quickly pulled the anchor.

Right on que, the massive super tanker sails past us and then we motored out in behind him. I had a fair idea where to go, but had Google Earth open to assist finding the fuel jetty.

We entered the tug pens and found the correct jetty to tie up against and then I sent a message to both the Landside Operation Coordinator and the Recharge Petroleum person to let them know we were here and waiting.

Both guys arrived promptly and within twenty minutes we had completed our refueling and we were ready to depart the port. I got permission to leave from VTS and fifteen minutes later we were anchored back where we were previously.

It was such an anticlimax, but at least we got to see firsthand the workings of one of Australia’s busiest shipping ports.

It was now back to hurry up and wait. The plan is to head off tomorrow morning, destination Broome.

Track Sirocco’s progress

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Sirocco

Sunday 30th June 2019 – Port Headland

After a nice sleep in, we woke late in the morning only a hundred meters from the shipping channel with one-thousand-foot-long super tankers being escorted in and out of the port at regular intervals. It was a truly impressive sight.

The anchorage was calm, but every time the tug boats sped past their wake would roll us violently.

I spent the day cleaning up the boat, mopping water from the bilges, drying cockpit cushions and generally cleaning up.

I reconnected the boom main sheet pulley to another fixing point and between tug boats, I climbed the mast to untangle the main sail sheet from the radar reflector.

The broken attachment looked like it had an existing fracture half way through already and was a ticking time bomb waiting to happen.

During our fast departure from the Montebello Islands, we had neglected to lock a hatch and a port hole in the spare room containing our food store and a lot of water had come in, so I had to clean up and try to dry things as best as I could.

The guys on Playground dropped in for a chat and told us they were departing for Broome tomorrow and after they left I down loaded the latest weather and looked into the possibility of getting fuel this afternoon with the thought of heading off with Playground tomorrow.

The cruising guide said fuel and water was available at the commercial jetty and so I called up the harbour master as a courtesy call to announce our intentions and all hell broke loose.

Port Headland (like Dampier) is a closed private port and do not want to deal with the general public and there are no public or commercial facilities available within the port. As well the port is a restricted zone and off limits to the general public.

After several phone calls to the Vessel Traffic Services, we were put in contact with the Landside Operation Coordinator who first asked if I had a MSIC card and if I had a current Port Headland port induction.

Luckily working in the oil & gas industry I actually do have a MSIC card which probably took him by surprise and he mellowed out a bit after that and started to help us as apparently we were the first private yacht to request fuel in the past eight years.

I was emailed the current shipping movements several times and a window of opportunity was granted for 10:00, so we got prepared.  

I then had to touch base with the local person in charge at Recharge Petroleum who had the fuel contract for the harbour and organise for him to come down and operate the refuelling bowser.

Then I got a message to say our window of opportunity has been changed to 14:00.

Closer to this new time we were told our window of opportunity was now changed to 07:00 tomorrow, so that was it for today. 

Emails and messages kept coming through until around 17:30 when I could finally relax and do something of my own.

As we watched each massive iron ore tanker come in and out being assisted by four tug boats, we watched the movements on the chart plotter tracking their AIS targets while we listened to the commands from the pilot over the marine radio.

It was an amazing choreography of skill and professionalism. Each ship was around 984 feet long, 164 feet wide and with a draft of 28 feet deep traveling at 8 knots down a channel only 740-foot-wide and 50 feet deep, and all this happening only 100 meters from where we are anchored.

Track Sirocco’s progress

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Sirocco

Saturday 29th June 2019 – Montibello Islands to Broome – Diverted to Port Headland

This turned out to be one of the worst nights of my life.

The wind increased to around forty knots, but the sea increased to well over five meters and every second wave was breaking.

Even though I reefed the night before it wasn’t enough and we were way over powered and it was too dangerous to go onto deck to reduce sail, so all I could do was to almost stall the sails to reduce speed to around two to four knots and because of this I could only steer into the wind.

At one point in the night we had a thousand-foot iron ore tanker heading right for us and there was no way I could alter course. It passed in front of us doing ten knots only about two hundred meters away and I didn’t breathe for over an hour and had white knuckles on the wheel.

The waves were so big several times white water broke over the hard top on Sirocco and showered down all around us. We had waves constantly crashing over the bow washing over the cabin and we were getting thrown about and the noise was deafening.

It was a relief when the sun came up but even more scary when you could see the size of the breaking waves coming at us. I down loaded a weather report and the current conditions were predicted to last until 7 PM, so it was going to be a very long day.

At some stage there was a loud bang and the boom went out of control. I now had no choice and had to go on deck to sort out the issue.  With life jacket on, I attached my harness to the mast and attempted to lower the main sail.

At one point a large breaking wave was heading directly for me and I hugged the mast with all my might and hung on as the wave crashed over me and I cut my thumb badly on one of the mast fittings.

I managed to get the main sail down and secured and roll up the genoa. The mounting hardware on the boom holding the main sheet pulleys had broken, so I secured the boom the best I could and started both engines and set a course for land to try to get to calmer water as soon as possible.

We were still sixty miles offshore and I could only steer south east to make any progress through the large breaking waves. Over the hours the wind and sea gradually moderated and slowly I could gradually change course to head for Port Headland for shelter.

In the previous twenty-four-hour period, we had covered over 150 nautical miles, and for about twelve hours during the gale we covered only about 30 nautical miles and it took us all day to travel the 60 odd nautical miles back to Port Headland.

The last thing I wanted to do was enter one of Australia’s busiest shipping ports at night, but once again we had no choice and we just wanted to get out of these rough conditions and recuperate in sheltered waters.

As super tankers were being moved in and out of the channel, we snuck in between two tankers and at 19:30 somehow found the tiny anchorage in the dark and dropped anchor next to another catamaran (Playground) who was also heading towards the Kimberly.

Track Sirocco’s progress

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Sirocco

Friday 28th June 2019 – Montibello Islands to Broome

We prepared Sirocco for departure before retiring for the night. Purnama departed around 3AM and I had a rather sleepless night as the wind strength increased. Around 6AM our anchor started dragging and so we quickly got up and raised the anchor in quite nasty conditions and made our way out through the reef on a four-hundred-mile course to Broome.

Once we got the sails up and trimmed the ride improved but it was still quite rough although we were making very fast progress.

There was a lot of marine traffic in the area with lots of iron ore tankers coming and going and lots of oil & gas infrastructure. One very large iron ore tanker was intimidating as it came bearing down on us and passed very close by.

It was tempting to sail by North Ranking Alpha & Bravo and the Goodwin platforms where I spent so much time, but they were just too far off course to justify the deviation, but our path did take us directly past the Wandoo platform for a closeup look.

In the late afternoon the wind started to increase and on sunset several large birds rousted for the night on our safety lines and hard top.

Before dark I put a second reef in the main and reduced the genoa just to be cautious and so I dint have to go on deck in the dark later on to reef if the wind increased and we settled in for a long night.

Track Sirocco’s progress

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Sirocco

Thursday 27th June 2019 – Montebello Islands

Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t as good as it was yesterday and I wasn’t feeling too well, so we had a relaxing lazy morning. After lunch I took the dingy for a look around as I noticed some objects in the water not far away from the boat.

It turns out these were the power cables used to power the atomic bomb blast on-board the HMAS Plym. I followed them both into shore and up over the sand dunes and came across the mangled generator right where it was left running prior to the blast.

Nearby the generator I came across this big old dead turtle that has laid undisturbed for a very long time, remarkably with every small bone still exactly in place.

From here I decided to go for a run down to the far eastern end of Trimouille Island to where a large reinforced concrete bunker is a stark feature, silhouetted high up on the highest point.

On the walk up the hill I scared a few rat kangaroos and came across several discarded fuel cans.

The building was fully in tact with only the door missing and all the internal equipment cabinets still remained although the equipment had long been removed.  Judging by the layout and many coaxial cables, my guess is that this was a telemetry radio transmitter used to transmit all the measured parameters from the bomb blast back to a central location.

It was interesting to note the rubber shock mounts on all the cabinets

There were unused rolls of cable left laying around the sand dunes and the remains of a radio mast.

It was a beautiful view from high up on the Island and I noted how sheltered and calm it was on the northern side of the Island. I slowly made my way back down to the beach and took the dingy back to Sirocco.

Back at Sirocco I down loaded the latest weather forecast and unfortunately it was going to blow hard for the next few days. Even though I would like to spend a couple of weeks here at the Monties, there is not much you can do if it’s blowing a gale.

Analysing the wind strength and direction for the next few days it would be advantageous to use these winds to blow us quickly up to Broome and closer to the Kimberly rather than waste time sitting it out here.

There would be periods of twenty knot easterlies followed by lulls occurring over the next three days until the wind drops off completely.

Based on this analysis, I decided to move Sirocco around to the ocean side (north) of Trimouille Island overnight to the sheltered waters I saw from the high point of the Island previously, and get an early start to Broome tomorrow morning.

As I was pulling the anchor up, I noticed a catamaran sailing towards us. It was Purnama who we had first met at the Abrolhos Islands and latter seen at Exmouth. They were going to anchor with us and after I discussed my plan to them, they decided to follow us to the ocean side of Trimouille Island and anchor with us, then depart for Dampier around 3AM.

Purnama

Laia and Ricard (and kids) from Purnama invited us onto their beautiful cat for dinner and their two lovely boys cooked us up some crayfish they had caught themselves that morning.

Putu quickly whipped up some Crème Bruley and I supplied the red wine. We had a great evening and we said our farewells around 11PM before taking a wet rough dingy ride back to Sirocco in the dark.

Track Sirocco’s progress

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Sirocco

Wednesday 26th June 2019 – Dampier to Montebello Islands

We departed Enderby Island around 01:30 with zero wind and glassed out sea state for the fifty-five-mile passage to the Montebello Islands. Along the way we passed only one ship and also passed close by to the Campbell mono-pod gas well head catching a mackerel tuna that I let go.

As we approached Pansy Island where the reef rose up sharply, I caught a large shark mackerel that I let go. Moments later I caught a large Spanish mackerel that got off, then I hooked up again just behind the boat and this time it bit through the line and I lost my nice shiny thirty-dollar lurer that I just bought I Karratha.

I quickly re-rigged with a wire leader this time but didn’t get a touch.

We entered the north channel around 09:30 and anchored at Main beach down the Bunsen Channel on the south west side of Trimouille Island probably only two hundred metres from the site of the British atomic bomb blast on-board the HMS Plym.

HMS Plym

Operation Hurricane

This first test of the British test series took place on 3rd October 1952. Its purpose was to test the effects of exploding a ship-smuggled nuclear bomb on a harbour and surrounding areas. The bomb was exploded inside the hull of the British naval frigate HMS Plym that was anchored in 12 metres of water. The subsequent blast left a saucer shaped seabed crater 6 metres deep and 305 metres in diameter, where the explosive power of this implosion device was estimated at 25 Kilo Tons.

Right away I lowered the tender and setup the outboard and fuel and then we had breakfast. I was so tired but just wanted to get going as the weather was so good.

We headed up to Gladstone Point where the fourth British atomic bomb was detonated and we walked into ground zero for a photo and a look around. 

Same photo taken in the early 90's

Operation Mosaic

The primary purpose of the series was to conduct research in support of thermonuclear weapon development.The G2 test was to produce the largest yield of any atomic device conducted in Australia and exceeded an assurance of yield limit given by the British Government to Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies, by an excess of 30 Kt.

G1: Trimouille Is. Detonated 16th May 1956. Yield: 15 Kt. Method of Delivery: 31m high tower

G2: Alpha Is. Detonated 19th June 1956. Yield: 98 Kt. Method of Delivery: 31m high tower

From here we went into Louis Lagoon to photograph some old generators that probably powered the test instruments and what I believe are mechanical blast wave test instruments, relics from the G1 atomic bomb testing in 1956.

Please let me know if you know what these are?

I believe they were used to measure the blast force.

We worked our way back to the boat inspecting all the old test instruments left rusting in the sand dunes and occasionally scaring quite a few small rat kangaroos that would hop away so fast I didn't have time to take a photo.

Above and below is the remains of a gamma flux meter

A clockwork mechanism rusting away in the sand dunes

This twisted wreckage is definitely pieces of  HMS Plym by the way it has been riveted together.

This looked to be pieces of an aluminium amphibious craft or air frame flung high up in the centre of the Island

The closer we got to Sirocco we started to see great lumps of HMS Plym thrown up onto the Island and one large room was resting just above the high tide mark with lots of dead baby turtles inside it.

The room had a water tight door and a ladder, but why was it not twisted and mangled?

It was hot and without any breeze it was stifling, so we took a rest from all the walking and decided to have a look down the southern end of Trimouille Island.

There were several fishing charter boats running around and even a jet ski. We dragged a popper for a while and caught a small trevally and a very large trevally and then we caught a large shark mackerel, but no coral trout.

The water was crystal clear and we found some really good bottom for cray fishing if the weather is good tomorrow.

We headed back to Sirocco where I took the fillets off the small trevally for tonight’s dinner and I relaxed with a couple of beers while the sun went down.

Two fishing charter boats anchored close by us and the weather conditions are still dead calm.

Track Sirocco’s progress

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Sirocco