I had a bit of a sleep in today as I am feeling very
fatigued. After breakfast, I headed off up the ravine in the dinghy around
09:30 on the rising tide.
I went up as far as I could where a rock bar has fresh water
flowing over it. I tied the dinghy to a tree high up on the canyon wall, so I
didn’t have to worry about the rising tide.
Rumor has it there is a large resident crock here, so I was
extra careful getting out of the dinghy and working my way up past the rock bar
to follow the water course.
The scenery in the ravine was really beautiful and the
further up I went, the more scenic it got with small flowing waterfalls, crystal
clear rock pools, ferns, shady trees, pandanus palms and lots of butterfly’s
flying everywhere.
Green ants are a hazard in the Kimberly. They bight like hell but their green bum tastes great, a very strong citrus flavor
Wild lavender
There was lots of wild lavender growing and the whole place
smelt nice with the sound of water flowing and birds singing.
The pandanus palm fronds were a hazard as they have a spiky
serrated edge that will spike or cut you (even the dead leaves on the ground)
and the other hazard were all the green ants in the trees as some of them had
nests and they can be very aggressive.
I walked up the ravine for over an hour, passing another
small stream entering from the left-hand side. I found a couple of large
tortoise eggs that had been washed out of the sand where they had been laid.
Eventually the canyon walls narrowed and there were some
nice crystal-clear pools and small waterfalls, so I got in and cooled off fo
After a nice swim, I headed back to the dinghy as fast as I
could go and luckily it was right where I had left it. The tide had come in
quite a bit and I kept a weary eye open for any pesky crocodiles.
I got into the dinghy safely and did a bit of trolling in
the upper reaches still hoping to catch a barra, but not a sniff again, so I
powered hard back to Sirocco as I wanted to get to Bigge Island today to look
at some aboriginal art, then hopefully make it to Prudhoe Island before night
fall for our anchorage.
On the way to Bigge Island we passed several turtles basking
in the sun and also saw a couple of whales breaching and splashing about in the
distance.
This whole area is not very well charted and every now and
then you come across a patch of muddy water and you think you are about to hit
an uncharted reef, but it turns out to be nothing. Just keeps you alert.
We dodged rocks and reef all afternoon and I played it safe
taking a wide berth around Bigge and it took much longer that I had
anticipated.
Tooth rocks
Eventually I gave up on making Prudhoe Island and started
the second engine and headed for Wary Bay on Bigge Island making the anchorage
just on dark.
The wind dropped off to five knots and we appeared to be
well sheltered from the ocean swell in eleven meters.
Tomorrow I will go ashore to take a look at the aboriginal
art.
Track Sirocco’s
progress
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