Friday 7th June 2019 – Carnarvon to Coral Bay

The rain in the cold front hit at 02:00 and it pored and blew all night and I had to get up to close all the windows. By morning the wind had completely gone but it continued to drizzle.

In the morning we got all our washing done, I hung the tender on the davits and filled the water tanks and gave the boat a bit of a wash down while I could. We paid our pill at the yacht club and as the level of water in the Fascine looked to be very high, we departed about an hour before high tide.

Once again it was a tense nerve-wracking time slowly inching our way back out of the silted-up mouth of the Fascine. At lease I had four way points I had saved to guide me out, but it still shallowed to 1.2m and I didn’t dare breath for about ten minutes until we were safely back out in deep water.

Before heading off, we went back into the fisherman’s wharf to fuel up. We took on fifty-eight litres of what we had used from Denham, raised the main and headed out to sea around 13:00.

On the way out we cruised past the Lady Caroline and said good bye to the Duchies.

Once clear of the port, the sea was choppy and confused from last night’s blow and the wind was light and variable. The forecast hasn’t exactly matched reality for the past week or more as it was meant to be southerly around ten knots to push us along, so instead we had to motor sail once again.

As we passed the coast at Quobba station you could see the blow holes along the coast shooting up from the large swell rolling in. The sun went down around 18:00 and it turned jet black with a cloudy sky with no moon.

The Quobba light house was nice and bright and the salt works at Cape Cuvier were all lit up as we sailed past and it felt very cold although the water temperature was now 25.4c.

After dinner, I went outside around 19:00 to find the whole cockpit infested with flying ants and many had snuck into the saloon as well. I gave them all a good dose of fly spray but they seemed to just keep coming. God knows where they came from. I had both cockpit lights set to red which doesn’t usually attract bugs, so it’s got me buggered what’s going on.

I know from living in the Pilbara that after rain the termites usually take to the air to start a new colony, but these silly buggers are a long way off course.

As we passed Cape Cuvier there were two huge salt carriers on the moorings waiting to be loaded right near the Korean Star that is smashed in half up on the rocks. This place is notorious and creeps me out and I just want to get past as quick as I can.

It was a very dark lonely night, passing only one other vessel, a large ship over twenty miles away heading for Perth.

In the early hours of the morning I was completely trashed and asked Putu to take a watch so I could get an hour’s sleep. I find it hard to sleep anyway as I listen to all the sounds ensuring everything is okay.

I was in a deep sleep when suddenly I felt the boat swing around ninety degrees and my off-course alarm was blaring. I raced up on deck half dazed and grabbed the wheel and tried to access the situation. The boat was over powered and out of control and for some reason the auto-pilot had disengaged and the wind had blown us 180 degrees off course.

I wrestled with the wheel and tried to orientate myself with the chart plotter which was now displaying upside down.

Putu started panicking saying we are headed for the rocks. That was true, but they were over four miles away. I wrestled us back on course and engaged the auto-pilot and all was sweet. I’m still not sure what caused the pilot to disengage, it hasn’t happened before and it hasn’t happened since.

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Thursday 6th June 2019 – Carnarvon

Today Putu arrived back from Perth and I started to prepare Sirocco for our next passage to Coral Bay. I put the tender back on the davits and then investigated the leaking raw water pump on the port engine.

The bilge pump on the port engine has been coming on regularly since leaving Hillary’s and I wasn’t exactly sure if the bilge pump was faulty, but I knew the raw water pump was leaking.

I only had this raw water pump rebuilt about four months ago, and it’s such a difficult job removing and re-installing this pump I have been ignoring it hoping it will magically come good but knowing its critical to get it fixed while we are still close to civilization.

This pump lasted thirteen years before needing new bearings and seals, so I am not happy it only lasted four months. I hope the pump is okay and it was just a crappy repair job as they are worth about one thousand dollars to replace.

The raw water pump was constantly dripping even while at rest and the bilge pump was emptying the bilge as the water level rose high enough. As expected, it was a prick of a job to remove the raw water pump. You have to dangle upside down and work with the tips of your fingers while the edge of the engine bay is digging into your ribs. You always end up with skun knuckles and bruised ribs working on the raw water pumps.

Putu had been invited to a lady’s day on the catamaran near us (Kinetic Energy) for a chick flick.

Finally, I got the pump out, and then I had to sponge out all the water and clean up all the mess in the bilge. I had called around and found an engineering place willing to do the job and around 11:30 we took a taxi to the engineering business and dropped off the pump, then went to the supermarket to stock up and then took another taxi back to Sirocco.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning out the port engine compartment and then around four o’clock I got the call that the pump was ready, so once again I took a taxi to pick it up and return me back to Sirocco. All the taxi fares cost more than the pump repair.

Next was the shit job to re-install the pump. Finally, just before dusk it was ready to test. Thankfully it was working okay and not leaking, then I spent the next hour cleaning up and putting everything back as it was.

I just hope this pump lasts until we get to Darwin, or even better I hope it last for the next ten years or longer.

Just after I finished installing the raw water pump, our friend Ted dropped in for a beer and to give me some information he has on the Kimberly. It was a lovely diversion after a day of pain.

After five windless days in Carnarvon, the low we have been waiting for to pass finally arrived. It blew all day and there is now red dust over everything, but the flies are still here in the millions.

The plan is to get back out of the Fascine at high tide tomorrow and if conditions permit, head off for an overnight passage to Coral Bay.

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Wednesday 5th June 2019 – Carnarvon

Today was a really lazy day. I slept in and after breakfast and a shower, I did a few boat jobs, had lunch, dropped off our rubbish and in the afternoon went for a long walk into town and then back again.

I was thinking about repairing my raw water pump but couldn’t bear to look at it and didn’t know where I could get it fixed in Carnarvon. So, I spent the rest of the day looking into upgrading my Navionics charts and ordering a new lid for my water maker raw water strainer that had cracked for some reason.

Another broken dream

At one point I turned around and there was a cat in the boat!!

Every time I went near it the bloody thing snarled at me. Eventually it wandered off never to be seen again. Turns out it belongs on the boat next to us. I was not feeling too well as I think I’m coming down with a cold. There was a magnificent sunset tonight, so I think we are in for a good blow tomorrow.

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Tuesday 4th June 2019 – Carnarvon

After a nice sleep in I had to walk all the way back to the front of the yacht club to retrieve the car and I had a relaxing morning where I did a factory reset on my chart plotter that has been playing up the past couple of days which appears to have fixed the problem and I worked all morning to get my blog up to date.

Sirocco in the Carnarvon Yacht Club Marina

I also spent a couple of hours analysing the weather models to try and decide on a weather window to make passage to our next destination Coral Bay.

Carnarvon Yacht Club

In the late afternoon I went for a run in the tender to check out the Fascine and then I dragged a popper all the way up and down the Fascine and never got a touch.

Boardwalk

Boardwalk

The Fascine is a beautiful water way with cannel water front homes on the eastern end, a beautiful boardwalk close to the town centre on the southern side and a modern yacht club.

Water front home on the Fascine

The government should be ashamed of them selves to let this magnificent waterway fall into disrepair and I wish the locals all the best in their private endeavor to dredge and reopen the Fascine once again.

Carnarvon Hotel

Yachts on swing moorings in the Fascine

Dredging at the mouth of the Carnarvon Fascine

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Monday 3rd June 2019 – Carnarvon

Our Dutch friends we met in Monkey Mia on Lady Caroline arrived in Carnarvon last night and they wanted to catch up for a coffee this morning, so I drove around to the commercial jetty and picked them up at 10am

.

After coffee, we drove out of town buying some fresh fruit and vegetables from the plantations along the Gascoyne River, then we went to see the old Carnarvon one mile jetty where we had lunch.

The old Carnarvon one mile jetty

The fly’s were horrific once again and we went to the supermarket and a quick look at the old OTC satellite station (museum) but we didn’t go in. I dropped the Duchies off at their boat and as it was Janneke’s birthday, she invited me back to their boat latter on for dinner.

The old OTC satellite antenna 

We had a nice night where they showed me photos of the trip all around the world and I showed them some photos and time laps movies of my time in Antarctica. It was a late night and a good time was had by all.

Dredging at the mouth of the Fascine

When I drove back to the yacht club, the gate was locked and like a naughty drunk teenager I had to climb over the high fence all the time expecting to get caught by the cops or security. Nobody saw my stealthy moves as I flopped to the ground below in a commando roll, then I had a long cold dark walk back to the boat. Thank god I didn’t leave the boat keys in the car.

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Sunday 2nd June 2019 – Carnarvon

At seven o’clock we woke to see the DOT lady writing down our registration number and she issued us some forms to fill out and I think it cost us fifty dollars for the night.

The channel into the Fascine where the yacht club pens is located had silted over and has been closed for several years now, although we had been told it was now open.

I would love to have a drive of this bad boy 

Legally, DOT has closed the channel, but they are still charging yachts for mooring to the swing mooring inside the Fascine even though they are trapped within and can’t go anywhere.

According to our local friends, vessels with a shallow draft can get in and out of the Fascine and as we only draw around 900 mm we should be fine to get through on the high tide.

Every one of these towns has many broken dreams 

At 09:00 we motored around to the channel entry and while waiting for our friends to arrive, I cautiously approached the channel between the cardinal markers and immediately touched the bottom, so I backed out and waited for our friends to arrive.

Our friends came around in their catamaran and lowered their tender to lead the way through the deeper part of the now new channel that weaves around nowhere near the gazetted cardinal markers.

Our nice sheltered place on the end of the jetty

It was very nerve wracking as the depth reduced to around 1.4 – 1.2 meters, and at one point we had to cross the sand bar with half meter waves rolling in. It wasn’t long and we reached the deeper water inside the Fascine and motored up to the marina and into a berth.

The Fascine is very beautiful and it is such a shame the channel is blocked. The government has refused to dredge the channel due to lack of funds. The local people have been raising funds and have bought their own dredge and started dredging a channel, but I think the whole process has now become political and dredging has ceased maybe due to environmental issues or some other bureaucracy reasons.

The marina is modern and new and it is such a waste with the access restricted. Some of the boats trapped inside the Fascine have not been able to get out for several years now.

Our friends were so generous, they lent us their car and we went and did all our washing at the laundry matt, went to the supermarket and bottle shop and also filled up a Gerry can for the tender making the process so much easier.

As the wind was going to be blowing hard all week, Putu decided to fly back to Perth for a few days to sort out a few issues at home and I dropped her off at the airport around four thirty then went back to the boat.

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Saturday 1st June 2019 – Monkey Mia to Carnarvon

We really wanted to go to Turtle Bay on the north end of Dirk Hartog Island and climb up Cape Inscription to see where Dirk Hartog left the pewter plate, but as there is no protection there from easterly winds we were not prepared to wait all week to seek an opportunity as we really want to get further north ASAP.

So, at first light we sailed out of Monkey Mia and headed for Carnarvon in a stiff twenty-four knot beam reach. I was a bit lazy when I raised the main while on anchor and didn’t bother to reef as I didn’t expect the strong wind to last too long, but I didn’t account for the increased apparent wind as our velocity made good increased.

I also argued with Putu about putting the tender on the davits before we left which is a no brainer. So, half an hour out of Monkey Mia in twenty-four knots of wind and very rough and sloppy conditions I had to round up, and put a second reef in both the main and the genoa and then struggle to get the tender up on the davits. Luckily no injuries were sustained.

Lesson learned, always stick by the golden rules, reef early where convenient and only ever tow the tender in sheltered waters.

Once under way we were flying along at nine knots at a reasonably comfortable ride and we covered a lot of ground early. There was a lot of scallop boats working to the north of the Peron Peninsular where I would have liked to have had a dive.

View from the toilet

This is how fast seven knots is

As predicted the wind strength gradually reduced and in the last hour of the eight-hour passage to Carnarvon I had to roll up the genoa and motor sail. We saw another three dugong and several turtles and by the time we reached Carnarvon the sea had glassed out and the fly’s were back in force.

We called our friends in Carnarvon and they were nice enough to come down to the commercial jetty and help us tie up for the night as we were expecting a blow during the night.

The Carnar-Fin fishing competition was on this weekend and the yacht club was very busy with the weigh-in, and we joined the festivities with a few beers before dinner.

A nice size Carnarvon Mulloway

 It was a lovely sheltered spot where we were tied up and I took the opportunity to wash the boat down, fill the water tanks and charge the batteries before dinner and a well-deserved rest.

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