Friday, February 3, 2023
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Wednesday 18th May 2022 - Darwin - Bay View Marina
At 08:00 Wayne took me to the boat where Luke was waiting. Shortly after we motored around to Bay View Marina with a strong head current all the way taking in all the sights to see around Darwin harbour along the way.
When we entered the estuary, I took it nice and slow and checked out all the boats and broken dreams anchored or abandoned along the channel and among them was a nice old wooden sailing boat owned by Denice, the old man we met in the restaurant at Nemberela and a Wharram catamaran that I had sailed with in the Kimberly over two years ago.
We waited outside the lock for a short time arriving a little before at 10:00, the time I had booked the lock for yesterday and after a boat came out, I slowly maneuvered Sirocco into the close confine while the large gate closed behind us.
After a few minutes, the water raised high enough to enter the marina. The inner lock gate opened and I was able to carefully motor through the narrow gate and maneuver around to my new pen that I had arranged a couple of months ago.
Initially, I tried bow first into the pen but I wasn’t really happy with this arrangement, so I reversed in stern first and we messed around with the mooring lines for an hour or so until I got them how I wanted, then Wayne & Luke went home and I started the mammoth job of cleaning the boat on my own.
All the beds had to be stripped and dirty cloths taken off to be washed. All perishable food had to go and both fridges and freezers switched off and cleaned.
Basically, I started at one end of each hull, first vacuuming then wiping down all surfaces from one end to the other and sorting every thing out and placing everything into its permanent position. While cleaning, I also removed all items that I didn’t want on the boat any more or that hadn’t been used or wasn’t required. I also removed all Putu’s clothing and personal possessions to be brought back to Perth.
My whole day was pretty much spent cleaning the inside of Sirocco and around 17:00 Luke showed up to take me to the Dinah Beach Yacht Club for a few beers and a feed. I slept very well that night.
The next two days were spent cleaning the outside of the boat, cleaning all the Kimberly mud out of the anchor locker and making repairs. I removed the genoa and tied up the main sail in the sail bag very tightly to making the boat safe for the cyclone season. I cleaned the dinghy as best I could and flushed the outboard with fresh water. Luke took a heap of jerry cans to the service station to get diesel for me and I topped up the main tank till it was full.
On Friday 21st May, after staying at Wayne’s place, I went to the boat around 10:00 bringing back all the washing and I made up all the beds, then I cleaned the cockpit and saloon until Sirocco was spotless and looking as beautiful as ever.
Wharram catamaran that I had sailed with in the Kimberly two years ago
Denise's boat
Basically, I started at one end of each hull, first vacuuming then wiping down all surfaces from one end to the other and sorting every thing out and placing everything into its permanent position. While cleaning, I also removed all items that I didn’t want on the boat any more or that hadn’t been used or wasn’t required. I also removed all Putu’s clothing and personal possessions to be brought back to Perth.
My whole day was pretty much spent cleaning the inside of Sirocco and around 17:00 Luke showed up to take me to the Dinah Beach Yacht Club for a few beers and a feed. I slept very well that night.
The next two days were spent cleaning the outside of the boat, cleaning all the Kimberly mud out of the anchor locker and making repairs. I removed the genoa and tied up the main sail in the sail bag very tightly to making the boat safe for the cyclone season. I cleaned the dinghy as best I could and flushed the outboard with fresh water. Luke took a heap of jerry cans to the service station to get diesel for me and I topped up the main tank till it was full.
On Friday 21st May, after staying at Wayne’s place, I went to the boat around 10:00 bringing back all the washing and I made up all the beds, then I cleaned the cockpit and saloon until Sirocco was spotless and looking as beautiful as ever.
I brought all the clothing and other unwanted items back to Wayne's apartment and boxed it all up ready to take back home to Perth. My flight left Darwin at 17:30 and I couldn’t wait to get back home for a hard earnt rest.
Track Sirocco's progress
Monday, May 16, 2022
Tuesday 17th May 2022 - Arrive in Darwin
Luke woke me around 06:00 for my watch and there were several large ships and rain squalls around us. We were speeding along nicely with a two-knot tail current that gradually turned into a two-knot current against us the closer to Darwin we got, slowing us down.
Suddenly out of nowhere a very large Border Force plane flew very low overhead calling me on the radio with the call sign BF-33. They asked me a lot of questions cross checking the information I had already sent them.
When they asked if I had any plant material onboard, I looked down at the box containing the last couple of coconuts and assuming they had already seen them with their long range cameras, I declared them and said I will throw the remaining coconuts overboard after having my breakfast. They were happy with this.
As we got withing radio range of Darwin harbor, I called Darwin harbour control on channel 10 to inform them of our imminent arrival and I raised the quarantine flag requesting pratique. Suddenly after days of solitude, there was so much happening all at once. There were so many things to do, so many people to notify, it was all happening.
While coming into Darwin harbour, I got a call from a huge LNG tanker approaching from behind us telling me politely to move out of his way. So much for sailing vessels having the right away. I wasn’t about to test the collision regulations today, so I moved out of the shipping channel and he sped past us doing around 15 knots.
We arrived in Darwin at 10:00 (11:30 Darwin time) and I headed straight to the Cullen Bay pontoon where we tied up and got organised for checking back into Australia. It wasn’t long before two nice Quarantine officers turned up to inspect the boat looking for contraban and termites. All they could find was my half empty cracked pepper which they confiscated. I guess they couldn’t leave without taking something. They also took away my bag of rubbish and this all cost me $750 and I could now take down the Q-flag.
A short time later two Border Force officers turned up and we filled out a few documents and talked about the journey. I passed on the information I had about people smuggling boat building at Wera and the caption from Ba’a and they were very appreciative. We were now officially cleared back into Australia.
My brother Wayne (who lives in Darwin) came down to greet us and we chatted for quite a while, then at 15:00 three people from the Aquatic Bio-security Unit of Northern Territory and Fisheries Department arrived on site and began setting up all their diving equipment on the pontoon.
I had a brief discussion with them about the location of my water makers water inlet as I didn’t want them injecting poison into that through hole and they agreed to stay clear of that one. Shortly after, the diver went in and injected insecticide into all the hull through holes and I had to run both the engines until the coloured insecticide had been sucked through and pumped out the exhaust.
After this had been completed, we were instructed not to move the boat and Sirocco had to stay here for the next 10 hours, so I went back to Wayne's place for the night sleeping in a luxury bed with air conditioning.
The ocean crossing of the Timor Sea from Do'o Island to Darwin was 494 nautical miles in distance and we used 260 litres of diesel and had 85 litres remaining in reserve from a total of 345 litres carried for the passage.
As we got withing radio range of Darwin harbor, I called Darwin harbour control on channel 10 to inform them of our imminent arrival and I raised the quarantine flag requesting pratique. Suddenly after days of solitude, there was so much happening all at once. There were so many things to do, so many people to notify, it was all happening.
My brother Wayne (who lives in Darwin) came down to greet us and we chatted for quite a while, then at 15:00 three people from the Aquatic Bio-security Unit of Northern Territory and Fisheries Department arrived on site and began setting up all their diving equipment on the pontoon.
I had a brief discussion with them about the location of my water makers water inlet as I didn’t want them injecting poison into that through hole and they agreed to stay clear of that one. Shortly after, the diver went in and injected insecticide into all the hull through holes and I had to run both the engines until the coloured insecticide had been sucked through and pumped out the exhaust.
After this had been completed, we were instructed not to move the boat and Sirocco had to stay here for the next 10 hours, so I went back to Wayne's place for the night sleeping in a luxury bed with air conditioning.
The ocean crossing of the Timor Sea from Do'o Island to Darwin was 494 nautical miles in distance and we used 260 litres of diesel and had 85 litres remaining in reserve from a total of 345 litres carried for the passage.
Sunday, May 15, 2022
Monday 16th May 2022 – En-route to Darwin
I was woken by Luke at 02:00 for my second watch. I laid on one of the cockpit cushions on the trampoline for almost the entire four hours of my watch, listening to an audio book and I saw many meteorites burning up as they streaked across the sky including one huge white ball of fire falling very slowly which lasted for about five seconds.
I also saw many satellites and enjoyed looking at the moon, Venus, Mars and Jupiter through the binoculars. There were no other vessels all night and the featureless sea bed was flat and around 100 metres deep all the way. Sun rise was beautiful and for a while there were many dolphins riding the bow wave keeping me company.
Luke woke around 07:00 and took over watch keeping and I was asleep in two minutes and didn’t wake until around 10:00. I pored the remaining 100 litres of diesel (stored in jerry cans) into the main fuel tank and Darwin was still 126nm (19 hours) away.
The water got even more calmer and was now like an oil slick and it was hard to tell where the water ended and the sky started. Occasionally, some very tired birds would land on the boat for a rest and every now and then we passed large schools of small fish leaping out of the water as we glided past.
We both listened to audio books and music to pass the time. The day was rather uneventful with no other boats being sighted; we were totally alone on this vast ocean crossing. At around 23:00 I was feeling very sleepy and was about to wake Luke for his watch when suddenly the STBD engine over temperature alarm went off.
The raw water pump belt was totally worn out and was slipping. I had to straddle the red-hot engine to disassemble the V-belt cover so I could first remove the alternator belt to then be able to remove the raw water pump belt, burning my arms and hands in the process.
It probably took about 1 ½ hours to complete the task and then I cleaned up some remaining oil around the engine. By now I was extremely tired and covered in oil & grease. I had a shower out on the back deck and tried to cool down and relax with a cold beer. It was around 01:30 before I finally went to bed totally knackered.
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