Sunday 4th August 2019 – Bigge Island (Wary Bay) to Palm Island

I woke up around 06:00 when the sun came up as I wanted to go ashore and take a look at the aboriginal art. Last night there was a passenger ship anchored about six miles away and I was half expecting them to come here this morning, so I wanted to explore the area while we had it to ourselves.

The tide was way out and had only just started to come in and there was a large fringing coral reef I had to get over before I could get to the beach. The tide was racing in faster than a man can walk and as the dinghy was being swept in with the tide, I had to quickly negotiate a passage through the jiggered coral and try not to puncture the boat.

While crossing the reef, I saw possibly the largest queen fish I have ever seen (well over 1.5m) and this was probably the only time I didn’t take my fishing rod………Doh !!

Using an oar, I managed to make passage over the deeper part of the reef and into the sandy beach where I ran out a very long anchor rope to some large boulders some distance up the beach to try to avoid having to swim out to retrieve the dinghy later on.

Finding the artwork was a simple matter of following the footprints in the sand. They were all in sandstone caves in a large rocky wall along the right-hand side of the beach.

What was different with this art is it is almost all contact art, that is drawings of contact with what are probably Dutch, French or Portuguese as they are all wearing large hats and smoking pipes.

I was a bit disappointed in how faded they were, but they were good to see just the same. There was a burial cave there also containing a lot of bones and two child size sculls.

Way up the back was an ancient aboriginal sacred site with rocks laid out in patterns on the ground.

Bigge Island is a long way from the mainland and maybe the people used to walk out here during the last ice age? The Island is not what I’d call a nice-looking Island either, but rather a very large jaggered pile of rocks.

By the time I had finished exploring and returned to the dinghy, it was floating in waste deep water, but as I had placed the anchor on the rock boulders, I only had to wade out up to my knees, climb the rock boulders and pull the dinghy in and step in. No dinner for Mr Crocodile today.

Immediately I raised the anchor and we headed off towards Prudhoe Island. A ten-knot breeze was right on the nose so I didn’t even bother raising the sails for this short passage.

Along the way we passed two trailer sailors and we chatted on the radio for a while until they reached Wary Bay. They had put in at Wyndham and were sailing the Kimberly coast before pulling out at Derby, a great way to go if you are on a tight budget and don’t mind a small boat.

We reached Prudhoe Island only six miles away and there was a fishing boat anchored there, the same one we saw down at the Hunter River. They waved to us, but we didn’t talk on the radio. I wish we did as I would have liked to know what they were fishing for and where they were from. Probably fishing for barramundi or mud crabs, I guess?

Prudhoe Island would have to be one of the best anchorages I have ever seen, with a huge protected area surrounded by three Islands. We didn’t stop, but I took the opportunity to raise the main in the sheltered waters before departing.

As we left Prudhoe Island the wind direction shifted and was right on the bloody noise again, so I pointed as high up as I could, motor sailing and trying to avoid several rocks and reefs until I had enough angle to switch off the motor and sail for the last couple of hours.

As we approached Winyalkan Island, the Coral Princes was tucked up in its lee and their tender was out showing all the punters some of the aboriginal art in the area. We sailed past the Coral Princes and went another few miles into South Montague Sound past, a really beautiful little Island with two amazingly beautiful beaches and I rounded the corner and dropped the pick in its lee.

Right away I sped off in the tender to check it out and I came straight back to Sirocco, loaded my deck chair, and grabbed a heap of beers and went back and lit a lovely camp fire high up on the beach where I pondered the meaning of life while I watched the sun go down. It really was one of the highlights of this Kimberly trip so far.

I headed back to Sirocco just on dark and there was a massive tawny shark cruising around the back of the boat when I arrived. These sharks are fantastic and so good to watch and pat.

Fonster missed both radio skeds today and it was a fairly early night to bed after a bit of late-night star gazing and quite a few falling stars.

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Saturday 3rd August 2019 – Rainforest Ravine to Bigge Island (Wary Bay)

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 for a while, before making the long trek back to the dinghy.

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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Friday 2nd August 2019 – Hunter River to Rainforest Ravine

This morning we had to play the waiting game. We couldn’t go anywhere until Lenny returned our (hopefully full) jerry cans. I also wanted to go and have a chat with the skipper of Sapphire about Raja Ampat, and also hit him up for some fuel as well.

Eventually around 09:00, Lenny and his engineer (from Indonesia) came over with our full jerry cans. (100 liters of diesel) What a nice guy for doing that for us, we were so lucky to meet him. We chatted for quite a bit and eventually they had to race off as they were moving to Naturalist Island this morning to do a passenger change out via helicopter to the Mitchel Falls.

Another very large passenger ship was also doing a passenger change out and there was a constant stream of helicopters going back and forth all morning.

I quickly filled my main fuel tank with the fuel from Lenny and pored the remaining petrol from two other jerry cans into the dinghy fuel tank, so I had another five empty jerry cans to hopefully get filled from Sapphire latter on.

The skipper from Sapphire went crabbing this morning, so I had to wait for him to return a couple of hours later before going over to see him. In the meantime, I went for a troll in the dinghy, but as it was high tide, nothing was interested in my lure.

I went up a side creek and a large crocodile followed me in, as I was coming back out it was sitting in the middle of the narrow creek waiting for me and as I approached, it did the usual slowly sinking thing, so I sped past and left him in my wake.

Eventually the skipper of Sapphire came back with a few mud crabs. I went over to have a chat with him and asked if we could take up his offer for 100 liters of diesel and he said “sure, no problem”.

He got his crew to pump the diesel directly into my dinghy, so I didn’t have to carry the fuel cans, or more to the point, so we didn’t spill a drop of diesel onto the beautiful teak decking.

Fuel done; I was escorted to the bridge to see the captain. WOW, this mega yacht was out of this world, the bridge was huge and so high tech and opulent. I was invited into the captain’s quarters and we chatted for quite some time. He even phoned a friend of his for some advice for me and sent me all the information I was after in an email.

The thick pile carpet felt so funny under my grubby feet after months without shoes on in the boat. He asked if I wanted to check my emails while I was here, he was so kind and generous to me, but I knew that he was very busy and about to move the boat to Naturalist Island this morning also, as “THE BOSS” was flying in from Bangkok for his wild Kimberly trip.

So, I thanked him profusely and we shook hands and said goodbye. He came and let my tender rope go for me and I waved him goodbye. There was a very large tawny shark hanging around the back of the boat that I patted several times before departing.

The generosity of these two guys in the middle of nowhere was outstanding. What goes around comes around they both said, so maybe one day we can help them out too.

A pair of mud skippers that have been traveling with us for the past few days

When we headed off, we dropped in quickly so see Lenny again, as Putu had made up some chili paste, and a bag of noodles for the Indonesian guy, and I threw in a bottle of red wine to say thanks for looking after us. They were really moved by our token jester.

It was a late departure for Rainforest Ravine, and along the way I wanted to check out some sea caves I had heard about.

I put the sails up as there was a nice breeze for a while, but it didn’t last. After about twenty miles, we dropped anchor in this small bay where I heard there were these cool sea caves, and we headed ashore in the dinghy to try and find them.

It didn’t take long to find them, the entrance (s) was small, but inside they were huge and went back into the cliff a very long way in several different directions. They were really cool, but not so cool if there was a crocodile up the back sitting in the dark waiting for lunch.

After exploring the caves for a while, we headed back to the dinghy before the tide went out too far and we headed off to Rainforest Ravine, only three miles away before it got dark.

We dropped the pick in four meters just as the sun was setting, and we prepared dinner and had an early evening as both of us were very tired tonight.

The wind came up tonight and it blew about fifteen knots all night long, but the anchorage was very secure and quite protected.

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Thursday 1st August 2019 – Hunter River

I was very tired and slept in this morning. It was a hot night with lots of bugs. I had decided to ask Lenny from Discovery One for some diesel as he did offer us some several days ago, and I wanted to catch him now while he was anchored very close to us.

I called Lenny on the radio and he said no problem and to catch up with him later on today, which was a real relief, as our dwindling fuel supply has been playing on my mind for some time now.

During breakfast we watched two Paspaley Pearl sea planes land nearby to do a crew change with the Paspaley Pearl mother ship anchored close by.

At the top of the tide we ventured up the Hunter river several miles and anchored Sirocco while I went exploring in the tender. I saw many large crocodiles including one sunning itself, three meters high up on a rock platform. If startled, it could have landed on top of me in the dinghy.

There were high waterfalls at the head of the three separate creeks and to reach them required walking across muddy rock bars and up through rugged gorges, I decided not to risk it on my own and headed back to Sirocco.

I tried a bit of fishing on the way back and never got a sniff.

I moved Sirocco several miles around to the spectacular Porosus Creek and anchored several miles upstream and immediately went for a run in the dinghy to check out the upper reaches before the tide went out too far.

Along the way I saw several crocodiles and the whole place, although beautiful, was creeping me out and I was worried about getting stranded at low tide in a blow-up dinghy surrounded by hungry fat crocodiles, so got the hell out of there and sped back to Sirocco. (doing a spot of fishing along the way 😊)

While I was away, a massive mega yacht had pulled up right behind us and three of the crew dropped by on their way fishing to say g’day. Ironically, they offered us food and fuel and I might go and see them tomorrow for a little bit of extra fuel.

The whole time we had been anchored here, a two-meter crocodile has been sitting just behind the boat. At four o’clock I spoke to Dave from Fonster on the radio. They were at the Horizontal Falls and it was good to catch up with them and to hear how they were going.

In the late afternoon I went across to Discovery One with my jerry cans to get fuel and had a good long chat to Lenny. He said he will drop them off tomorrow. What a nice bloke.

On the way back to Sirocco, I nearly ran over a very large shark. I decided to go for a quick fish upstream just before dark and sped off up the creek.

Several miles upstream I was going full throttle when suddenly I hit a sand bar and, in an instant, I was thrown overboard into the water. It all happened so fast. I recall being underwater, having sand all over me, but I never let go of the dinghy hand hold.

I stood up, terrified of being left behind in the creek just on dark as the dinghy sped off without me. I must have twisted the throttle off when I got flung out and I was able to pull myself back into the dinghy and regain control, then I noticed my bucket containing my radio and other bits floating away, so I reached out to grab that back.

The tide was rapidly going out and we were grounded, so I had to act fast and get the boat free and floating again and get back out into deeper water. I was relieved to be moving again, I was soaking wet, sand in my hair and down my pants and a very sore shoulder.

I still don’t know what happened, but it scared the shit out of me and I’m so glad I didn’t end up as croc tucker. I waited till I dried off a bit before heading back to Sirocco (more fishing), then jumped straight into the shower without telling Putu as she would freak out if she knew. Lesson learnt, go up stream fast at high tide and slowly at low tide.

For dinner we had lovely mangrove jack fillets out in the cockpit with a nice breeze blowing and every now and then we would check around us with the spotlight and the most croc's counted at one time was eight. (I just can’t imagine spending the night up a mangrove tree in a crocodile infested creek)

At one point in the night I yelled, saying to Putu “quick come and have a look at this, there is a croc on the back step of the boat”, she came running to see her Croc shoe on the back step. Sucked in big time.

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