Monday, June 17, 2019

Tuesday 18th June 2019 – Dampier

We were rudely awoken around two in the morning when the wind picked up and the swell rolled in. By four it was blowing twenty knots and I got up to make sure everything was okay.

Putu and I got up at seven and had had enough and decided to move the boat to the other side of the Island so we could have breakfast in calm conditions.  We found another bay with a small beach and after breakfast we took the tender ashore to go beach walking.




It was a nice beach with lots of shells and interesting stuff. There were many turns nesting and we saw a nest with two eggs and others had large babies.


I threw some poppers and actually caught a fish, but the bloody thing got off. Later on, my reel tangled during a cast, the line snapped and my lure kept going over the horizon, so that was fishing done for now.


Sarah washing her shells

The newly down loaded weather forecast looked good so we headed over to Rosemary Island, one of my favourite Islands in the archipelago. We cruised into Norbill Bay very cautiously being unsurveyed, but it was no problem and we anchored in 2.5 meters of water.

The two girls were tired and fell asleep in the tranquil conditions and decided to use the time to measure the boats draft. Officially Fountain Pajot say it is 900mm, but I want to confirm it as well as confirming the offset on both depth sonars.

As measured our draft is actually 1.2 metres and my sonar offset was also reading 200mm conservative which I adjusted to now be spot on. It’s probably due to all the equipment, food, fuel and water we have aboard and the quoted draft is for a dry boat.

The tide went down to 1.1 metres leaving us with only 300 mm under the keels. While in the water I decided to careen the hulls. They were very clean as about 90% of the growth washed off during the sail up here and I just scrapped off the remainder and a few barnacles on the props. I’m glad I got it done now as I won’t be getting in the water once we are in the Kimberly.

The sun was setting as I got out of the water and it was too late to go ashore, so these beautiful beaches will have to wait until tomorrow.

It was a lovely rose full moon tonight that looked awesome through the binoculars.
I decided to make water tonight and during dinner I made another 350 litres topping off both tanks. That’s one thing less I have to worry about now while Sarah is here.

It was dead calm this evening as we chatted and finally retired for the night around 23:00 with the sound of water lapping up on the beach.


Track Sirocco’s progress

No comments:

Post a Comment