We got up at 05:30 to cruise the last of the flood tide into
the Prince Regent River. We waited for the cruise ship Discovery One (anchored
near to us) to head off, but it didn’t, so we decided to wait for the bottom of
the tide as that is what they were doing.
So, we had a busy morning while waiting for the tide. I
re-fueled and started the generator and made water while charging the
batteries. I re-fueled the dinghy and re-filled my two-stroke oil container, and I tightened all the bolts and screws in the anchor locker.
We cleaned out the port forward storeroom to gain access to
all our spare diesel and filled our fuel tank. While I had accesses, I
installed the paddle wheel sensor, then we put all the stuff back into this
room.
While I was making water, Putu did all the washing and also
did some cooking. As it will take several hours to fill both water tanks, I
decided to go fishing and also to have a look around the inlet.
I caught a large trevally and several cod, then went for a
run to the head of the inlet a mile or two upstream, did a circuit around one
tree Island, then headed back to Sirocco.
When I got back to Sirocco, the generator had run out of
fuel, so I re-fueled it and as I always do, I tossed the siphon onto the
trampoline and in slow motion, the bloody thing slid through the holes and
before I could grab it, into the water.
It floated for a few seconds and then slowly started to sink
and there was nothing I could do about it. I was so pissed off, but it’s gone
now.
With the water tanks full and the water maker pickled, we
had some lunch and waited for Discovery One to pull anchor and at 12:00, we
were under way, following them
We headed for Munster Water around Uwins Island and into St
George Basin. The route is through all un-surveyed waters and very treacherous
and many vessels have come to grief in this area.
We passed Treachery Head where Phillip Parker Kings surgeon
(Andrew Montgomery) was speared in the back by aborigines in 1821.
We winded our way through the Islands past whirlpool point
and strong tide point traveling fast with the strong current through whirlpools
and strong tidal streams.
Discovery One was much faster than us and they powered on
ahead several miles away, but I noted his course the whole time.
The passage was very stressful as I monitored the sounder
the whole time, consulting the cruising guide and other information I had downloaded
off the Internet.
There were large un-charted rocks, shallow reef and sand
bars to negotiate the whole way as we sped along with the strong in going
current doing seven to eight knots.
Once we entered St George Basin, the scenery became more
spectacular with grand views of Mt Trafalgar and Mt Waterloo until we
eventually reached the mouth of the Prince Regent river which flows perfectly straight
for fifty-two miles.
The Prince Regent river is mostly very shallow with drying
sand bars in the upper regions and we saw a few small dolphins along the way.
We negotiated lots of rocks and reefs as I watched the sonar
going up and down as we passed over sand bars and reefs. I was pretty much a
nervous wreck by the time we reached our anchorage for the night not far from Discovery
One, just as the sun was going down.
We pulled into a small nook to the side of the river out of
the main tidal stream where the current was only about three knots, where I
dropped the pick on a rocky scoured bottom.
I looked for crocodile red eyes several times during the
night, but didn’t see any.
I celebrated having made it safely into the Prince Regent
River with a nice bottle of red wine on a hot windless night with lots of bugs
and very bright stars overhead.
Track Sirocco’s
progress
Great read yet again Craig.
ReplyDeleteThanks John
ReplyDelete