It was a late start departing Samson Inlet as I decided to
go fishing on the low tide. I lost a couple of lures getting cut off on the
sharp rocks and oysters, but I also caught a couple of trevally, a queen fish
and a couple of cod, keeping a cod, the queen fish and a trevally for dinner
tonight.
Sampson Inlet is very beautiful but also full of crocodiles.
In the upper reaches there is a small canyon that ends in a rock bar that is
very creepy but good fishing. The inlet is a natural cyclone shelter and is
used by some of the pearl farmers.
We got underway around 10:30 heading for Hanover Bay. We had
to make passage through Brecknock Harbour and up trough Rogers Strait which is
all un-surveyed and quire a hazardous area with a strong tidal flow.
We passed Kuri Bay pearl farm and I called them many times
on the radio and telephone as I wanted to see if I could buy some diesel from
them, but I got no answer. It’s a very large setup they have, but they could
possibly be working at one of their other sites and nobody was there.
As we headed for Rogers Strait I was concerned about the
strong tidal flow as we were going against it. As we approached the narrowest
section the tide was three to four knots and I started the second engine and
powered through.
When I bought Sirocco, I upgraded the engines from nineteen horsepower
to thirty horsepower as I intended cruising in the Kimberly and I’m glad I did.
Sirocco is not fast using engines, but she is powerful.
Once through the narrow pass I switched off one engine and
as we rounded Augustus Island and headed through Port George IV, a fourteen
knot breeze sprang up, at first right on the nose, but as we headed for High
Bluff we started to motor sail and not long afterwards I was able to switch the
motor off and sail for a couple of hours.
Along this passage there was some nice scenery, but for the
Kimberly, I thought it was very average and there are few anchorages and many pearl
farms.
I managed to avoid any uncharted rocks and reefs and by five
o’clock we were sailing into Hanover Bay Inlet.
At five, I decided to call Fonster on the HF radio and told
Putu to take the helm. As soon as I started transmitting Putu let out a scream
saying rocks ahead. I nearly had a heart attack and dropped the microphone and
ran to helm, disengaged the autopilot and did a crash turn to port, but the
rocks ahead were just interference from the HF radio signal.
A few swear words echoed through the canyon and it took a
while for the adrenaline rush to wear off for both of us. (Fonster never answered
by the way)
We dropped the pick not far from Discovery two who was
anchored near us the past two nights at Sampson Inlet and Raft Point.
Hanover Bay Inlet is quite spectacular with high canyon
walls and was very sheltered, and we had a nice four knot breeze to keep us
cool and hopefully keep the bugs away.
We BBQ’ed the fish I caught this morning for dinner, and it
was delicious. The cod was the best, followed by the trevally and then the
queen fish. The remaining trevally will go into soup for tomorrow night’s
dinner.
We listened to the bloops and splashes from fish feeding
around the boat and I had a quick check with the torch to look for red croc
eyes but didn’t see anything, only long toms and mullet.
Track Sirocco’s
progress
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