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
I thought you must have made a run for cover Craig. I looked at the progress track for Sirocco the other day and saw you made a sharp turn for Hedland. Those easterlies can be savage over there. How's the thumb?
ReplyDeleteIt was a hell of a way to spend your 55th birthday !!
ReplyDeleteDampier to Broome is usually fine as long as there are no highs in the bight, so I guess we were just unlucky. We are going to hug the coast from Port Headland as its not much further and gives more protection. The cut thumb is only superficial but now infected, so I need to get some antibiotics once in Broome. Having a very fast run up the coast right now, so lets hope these conditions prevail all the way to Broome.
Hi Craig, Happy birthday for the other day. I look forward to your blog and it is like an adventure novel. Just loving it, dont understand the sailing stuff but you give a great description. Enjoy and stay safe
ReplyDeleteThank you. I don't understand the sailing stuff too :))
DeleteWho is this? You have to include your name as it says "Unknown".
Craig, I checked you're current position on the map and I was quite shocked to see a dot appearing at the West coast of Africa smack bang on the equator.
ReplyDeleteYou must have experienced some strong currents over the last couple of days!
Haha, got you all fooled, and you thought I was in Broome !!
DeleteI think you had better check again Luc.