Kimberley Stories

Hidden Island

I’m sitting in the air conditioned comfort of The Doc’s saloon and outside the air is soup thick with grey black clouds stretched tight overhead. Now and then you hear the odd rumble of thunder but it seems a fair way off. Well, here we are then, “safely” tied up in Tipperary Waters Marina enjoying the delights of civilisation (take away, Laundromats, coffee shops, internet, wireless access for my new Kindle and 240 volt power on tap........ahhhhhhh. “This is living!” as the camping store ad tries to suggest. I know we said not to expect any blogs for 3 months as we hardy adventurers battled tides and crocs in the constant search for interesting experiences but............hang on while I just turn this air con down, enough is enough dear reader. Seriously, it was getting time to head for shelter and while there are hidey holes a plenty in the Kimberley, we both felt it was time to put the Doc into her pre-booked pen and avoid a direct lightening strike while still 250 miles from the nearest port. We are a little way into “the build up”, the months of November and December up here in Darwin when clouds start building in the sky by 9 o’clock and by 1 they are black and bruised and groaning with angry bursts of thunder. And that’s all. It builds up to what should be a total piss down but nothing comes, just a thick and heavy humidity and air that crackles. Any job you do outside immediately coats you in sweat so profuse you need to wring out shirts. So, what better time to sit down below and muse back over the last 6 weeks and try and share with you our sail through the Kimberley.

We left Broome on the tail end of some strong winds and I have got to say, it was a pretty tidy departure. We motored our way through a half dozen cruising yachts who were anchored towards the Cable Beach end of Gantheume Point and brought The Doc into the wind to hoist our brand new main sail for the first time. We put in a first reef as the wind was still up and with the reef in, Diana eased her bow around to head north while I gently unfurled the jib. The wind was on the beam and The Doc caught it in both hands and she was off. We looked back as the anchorage quickly disappeared and imagined the yachties all oohing and aahhing saying, wow, those guys know what they are doing or wasn’t that nicely done, Truth  is nobody notices when you get it right, its only when the main halyard snaps or you accidently jibe that people are usually watching. It was pretty uneventful up to Cape Leveque apart from our 6 hour motor sail from Beagle Bay to the Cape and it was eventful for the sole reason that we made 300 litres of fresh water and filled our tanks. The water-maker has been a work in progress since we left Fremantle and we could never seem to get the air out of the system for it to work as it should. Well, it seems we must have finally done something right and it purred away for six hours turning salt water in fresh and has since been filling our tanks regularly.  At last!

Hidden Island

Big tides!

Tides, tides and tides

We’d been working with tides from Carnarvon onwards but in the Kimberley they become even more critical. Leaving Leveque to sail to the Buccaneer Archipelago was a matter of catching the ebb first and then at the right moment picking up the flood into Silica Bay, our first anchorage. We managed to get it right apart from an hour or so and were feeling pretty chuffed as we dropped anchor in this tiny bay along with the beautiful charter yacht Starsand. We dinghied ashore and decided a beach barby was on so back we raced to get sorted before we ran out of light. Frank and Karen from Kokomo joined us and we enjoyed the first of many beach barbies. There we were, sitting back with a glass of red in hand admiring the softly fading sunset and glow of the whiter than white sand completely oblivious to what was happening out in the bay. It was drying out big time. As the fire crackled and the joy of finally reaching the Kimberley took over, we seemed to forget about tides for the moment.

Silica Beach High Tide

Silica Beach Low Tide

Frank took a stroll down to the dinghies with torch in hand and he seemed to be gone a while. He came back an announced that no one was going anywhere for at least 2 hours, or until the tide had returned to cover what looked like a moonscape that stretched from the dinghies to the yachts. This was one shallow bay and that smug complacency we had earlier was short lived. The only solution was to get more wood and fill our glasses. What a shame we forgot to bring the aeroguard!!!!

Nothing to do but wait for the tide.

The Doc sitting very close to the bank.

Rob

Broome.....the pearl of the north, a holiday mecca........oh yeah???

Sun sets over Pearler Intombi at Gantheaume Point

Broome is the last town we visit before our 3 month sojourn into the Kimberley so, like all towns we visit it means shopping, refuelling and repairs. Busy, busy, busy. Repairs were mainly focussed on yours truly as I have had this niggling tooth infection for some weeks and it needed to be sorted in Broome before we ventured into the wilderness. We arrived Sunday afternoon from Gourdon Bay and anchored at Town Beach. By mid morning Monday, I had booked a dental appointment and a cat scan for the following day. There seems no problem getting medical services in the country. Cutting a long story short, the grey shadow in my left sinus was not your least favourite worst case scenario and another course of antibiotics should finally snuff out this persistent infection......I hope!!! With bodily repairs in hand we turn to provisioning and Broome poses some interesting challenges on that front. Tidal ranges can be up to 10 m and so you need to anchor a mile at least off shore.

Dinghy wheels are a must have. Gantheaume Point.

Shore break on a good day. Cable Beach Gantheaume Point

We moved to Gantheaume Point Wednesday afternoon so we could arrange for our new Main sail to be fitted and very happy to report it is on and fitted and ready to speed us off to our next anchorage. Repair number two ticked off. While we were there, we hired an old station wagon for 50 bucks a day and loaded her up with our jerry cans for the first part of refuelling. Getting them ashore was no problem, getting them filled even less, getting them back, now there’s a story. We drove the car onto the beach right up to the dinghy, loaded the full jerries ( 4 x 20 lit plus 1 x10 lit petrol plus 1 x 5 lit petrol emergency) into the dinghy and waited for the tide to come in and float our little fuel barge. Meanwhile Diana drove the car back to the parking lot and I waded out into the now breaking shore break to hold the boat ready for a quick getaway. Diana was back quickly and she got in. I pushed the dinghy over the first few waves taking a couple over the bow but we were still floating. I jumped in and pulled the cord thinking we were good to go; she starts first go every time. Only if you have the red key in the stop button. We have recently taken to removing said key when we go ashore to stop inquisitive souls taking the dinghy for an unauthorised spin. I looked and alas, no red key. It was, in fact,  in the pocket of my back pack which I could have reached if I was not frantically trying to bail out a sinking dinghy as wave after wave swept over the bow. The jerries were now floating in a pool of salt water and it was time to abandon any hope of getting past the shore break. We turned around and surfed back to the shore unloaded the sodden mess and started bailing for a second attempt. To add salt to the wound (pun seriously intended) the tide was coming in so fast we had to keep moving all jerries back every 30 seconds and with the dinghy still full of water we were getting nowhere fast. Enter the HERO OF CABLE BEACH. Suddenly there appeared a tall, dark stranger and according to Diana, gorgeous, who calmly said, “You guys want some help? Looks like you’re fighting a losing battle” We bailed the dinghy and got it beyond the breakers while he lugged the jerries out through the wild surf ( OK maybe not that wild) and eventually they were all safely on board. The water was up to his waist in no time and on his last trip he had to throw off his shirt and stride out semi naked ( OK down to his boardies). Diana can confirm he was seriously gorgeous. (he actually works on Kimberley Quest, a charter boat that takes people up through the Kimberley.....if the rest of the crew are as kind as this bloke, I could highly recommend the company)

So with the drama sorted we pushed out to the Doc and finally got the jerries on board. Even that has its little challenges. The swim platform that extends beyond the transom is one of the best ideas on this boat and it’s great for off loading shopping, fuel, beer cartons etc... We have taken to showering off here at night as we have a hot and cold deck- shower set up. Showering away under a warm starry night with the sea a step away and the moon casting a muted glow across the bay is one of those rare and exquisite joys of this cruising life. However, loading provisions can be a tad less romantic. With a big swell running you have to grip the hand rail and heave the items up to a willing hand and hope it all arrives safely. Once, after ferrying out our modest supply of booze (10 cartons of beer, 1 doz red and 1 doz white, 3 months don’t forget) the cardboard had turned into mush from the constant spray over the dinghy’s bow. As Diana handed me her half dozen whites the bottom of the box suddenly gave way. I desperately threw my hand underneath to save them but at the same time a wave hit the stern and I had to grab on to save myself going in. 6 bottles of white fell to the swim platform and I managed to scoop in 4. 2 fell to their death. I took a mental note of the position and decided to dive and salvage said items at low tide. It was the next day and while on shore two things happened. First, Frank, our cruising mate commented that he had seen a 6 foot long hammer head chasing dinner near our boats and second I read again the warning that a croc had been sighted in the area on the 27^th of August. Diana wisely suggested we offer the two bottles of SSB, reduced from 19.95, to his holiness King Neptune in the hope he did indeed drink white and that he might see to it we had some favourable conditions on route to the Kimberley. The fact that we are now sitting at Gantheaume Point waiting out 5 straight days of wind warnings suggests he prefers red. Damn!

We had another interesting provisioning experience that very afternoon. Once back on board we quickly weighed anchor and motored back to Town Beach, mainly to escape the horrific roll that sweeps through this anchorage that makes sleeping impossible and using the loo akin to an ascent of Mt Everest. We drove back in some friends’ car to retrieve out station wagon and then set off to Woolies to do our twin trolley 700 dollar shop that would last 3 months. With that loaded into the back of the station wagon it was time to think of dinner. There could only be one option.....Chicken Treat and OMG, take away never tasted so good! With tummies full, we drove down town and parked near the Sun outdoor cinema hoping to catch Red Dog. We didn’t manage Red Dog but we did pick up a film festival screening of Oranges and Sunshine, a film about the Australian and British policy of child migration in the early 40s. David Wenham stars in the film and lo and behold who do think was there in person to introduce the film......well done, the man himself. It was a great film and a stunning setting with the warm Broome evening wrapping itself around you. The only concerns were the planes coming in to land as the cinema is right in the flight path. They get so close you see the pilots trying to catch a few scenes of the film as they pass over head.

The film finished and no, your intrepid adventurers did not motor home for coffee and sleep. We drove back to Town Beach and decided to get the 30 bags of shopping back out to the boat. We walked out over the mud flats (crocodile sighting 3 days previously) to see how far out the tide was and it was far. We had to wait. It was 9.30 pm and it should be in by 10.30. I checked a few minutes later and I could hear this rushing sound like waves on a beach. I shone the torch and could just make out a line of white water coming in fast. I got back to the car and said to Diana, start loading...........quickly. Within 10 minutes we had all the shopping in the dinghy and were feeling the cooling waters of a flooding tide licking our toes. The tide came in, we floated the boat and motored out to the Doc, very slowly. Shopping finally off loaded and safely stowed down below we could, at last, STOP. It had been a big day, it’s been a big week here in Broome but we are now anchored back at Gantheaume Point, with mail finally in hand and ready, very ready for our 3 month odyssey into the wonders of the Kimberley...

Cable Beach

,......there is only one minor hitch.......we’ve just got  a weather report and it’s strong wind warnings for the next 5 days.....somebody even used the “gale” word.......Ahhhhhhhhh, this cruising life. See you in Darwin sometime in December. Rob

Ps. This will be the last blog entry till we get to Darwin, no internet access in the Kimberley but we should have some interesting tales to tell then. Stay tuned.

Cable Beach