June 29, 2012 - Leaving Coral Bay to Popham Bay

As much as we hated to leave this lovely spot, and although sailing prospects are grim as there is no wind forecasted for the next several days we reluctantly decided to move on. We have pushed the envelope with our schedule and now it is crunch time. We still have three days of travel to get to Darwin by July 1. One short leg today and then a 60+ mile day and then a push through to Darwin on Sunday. Because today is a short ride we departed Coral Bay at 9:00 AM.

Water was flat calm. We motored at low RPM's and at around 9:30, tossed out the fishing line. Not 20 minutes later we had a beautiful Yellow Fin Tuna. We will be having sashimi for lunch - finally!

At around noon the sparkling blue water took on a strange yellowish hue. Still absolutely flat calm and yet it appeared as though some bizarre filmy substance was pervading the entire area around us. It felt like a Stephen King or Dean Koontz scene.

We couldn't tell what it was, and after about an hour we passed on through it. We arrived at the Cobourg Peninsula and dropped the hook at Popham Bay. I know this sounds like a broken record, but here again we found our surroundings to be eye-catchingly beautiful. This land we presume is also Aboriginal tribal land. The smoky haze is heavy here. We did find out last night from the resort's manager that the Aboriginals are burning land and this is the cause of the dense haze. It is quite irritating to our eyes and sinuses. If it is this bad out here we can't imagine what it must be like on the land. We sure hope Darwin isn't like this.

That's it for now. Tomorrow we have an early curtain call.

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June 28, 2012 - Onward to Coral Bay

Last night just before dinner we decided to enjoy sunset from the back deck, and while I was climbing out of the cockpit to join Frank he pointed at the water just beside the boat and whispered, "Look at that". I nearly missed it, but just caught a glimpse of something white slipping below the surface of the water. Frank said he thought it was a baby Great White. It was so silent and moved so quick we both got excited wondering what it was that we'd seen. We sat staring at the water for what seemed like a very long time but it did not reappear so we turned our attention to the horizon. It was a beautiful sunset with all the haze in the sky. Just about the time I went below to start cooking dinner, Frank called out to me that he saw it again, not a Great White but a Hammerhead and this time it had completely surfaced. I popped back up just to see the knife-like ripple it left behind as it submerged once again. Frank was thrilled and I was disappointed that I'd missed it twice. This is the first time in all of our travels on Destiny that we have seen a shark in the water from the boat, in an anchorage. It seemed to be hanging out underneath us. Creepy.

Today's trip was only 33 miles and yet it seemed to take forever to travel this short distance. Wind was nearly nonexistent and with a 2-knot current against us we seemed to be standing in place much of the time. The seas were so flat we could have water-skied. Abbot mid-way through the trip we saw a dorsal fin zigzagging frantically. Another shark, and this time it was either feeding or stalking a prey. A short time later we were joined again by a pod of dolphins. Wow - so much going on! It was a beautiful day.

We arrived at Coral Bay by around 2:15, and immediately decided to go to shore to check out the resort.

The restaurant deck and pool at Seven Spirit

 Fortunately there is a floating wharf where we tied the dinghy and then walked to the main lodge. The resort is called Seven Spirit Bay Eco Wilderness Resort, and is very lovely. The staff here is genuinely hospitable and friendly, and as they welcomed us they truly made us feel very much at home. We visited with the hostess, had a snack and some drinks and then we walked the beach. As we were going along the water's edge, Frank pointed to the shallows, saying, "Look! What is it?" Well I'll be darned; it was a shark feeding in the surf not 10 feet from us! What is with Frank and the sharks lately? I snapped a picture but it is really hard to see what it is.

We returned to the lodge where we met the chef who gave us a run down on tonight's menu. Fresh "mangrove jack" was being offered tonight. We made a reservation for dinner at 7:00. The resort has only 3 guests right now. A large party left today as we were arriving, and it turns out that the party was actor Ricky Schroder and his family.

There is only one other yacht here, Esperanza, owned by a lovely Dutch couple named Carla and Han. We practically have this place to ourselves. We enjoyed our wonderful dinner; the fish was served whole and was cooked to perfection. We browsed the gallery afterward and purchased a painting by an Aboriginal woman, whose sense of humor we found endearing.

The rest of the title reads..."Witchetty Grubs while the men sit in the camp"

We are trying to decide whether we stick around here another day or leave tomorrow. We really are cutting it close with our time now. We'll sleep on it and decide over coffee in the morning.

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June 27, 2012 - Guruliya Bay to Croker Island, NT, Australia

Day 2
I laid down for my rest after posting yesterday's journal last night. When Frank awakened me at 12:30 AM for my watch the winds had picked up and we were sailing along at a comfortable 7 - 8 knots. The sky was clear and the stars were out in their splendor. I spent the better part of my watch just looking at the stars, catching glimpses of a few shooters zipping across there wondering how many billions of years ago they had actually burned out. The big dipper is massive and very low in the sky here. It is fascinating to look at so many constellations that are not visible to us in the northern hemisphere. So I spent a good bit of time contemplating these things. The moon although only just bigger than a smile was shining brightly across the water. The sea was competing for attention as well and as we surfed the large waves they collided with our bow wake creating a blast of sparkly phosphorescence. God is indeed showing off tonight.

Unfortunately the bliss didn't last, for during Frank's watch the wind died and the skies clouded over completely blanketing the stars and moon. When he roused me at 6:30 AM we were motoring. The day was an unusual one alternating between flat seas and no wind to lots of wind, cloudy skies and choppy seas. Then the sky would clear, waves would calm down and we would once again move along at a brisk pace. There is a nasty red haze in the air that has our throats getting scratchy, my eyes burning and getting puffy and causing us to sneeze a lot. We don't know if it has to do with bush fires or red dust being kicked up from the desert winds of the vast Northern Territory, nevertheless, it is mildly irritating.

We spotted several sea turtles drifting by, which is more than we've seen on any given day of sailing. They are so cool to watch. We think they are as curious about us as we are them, and nearly each one of them would bob along, taking a good look at us and then either dive or bob away before we could get a picture. Obviously they are not bothered by Salties.

We arrived at Croker Island, Somerville Bay at 4:30. It is desolate here, and if we didn't know where we actually are we might think we are in Baja California. Sure looks a lot like it. We have the entire bay to ourselves. Since leaving Guruliya Bay yesterday morning, we've come 231 miles, 34 hours, and of that trip we ran the engine 15.4 hours. I say this because we left Gove alone because all of the other cruisers were waiting until Thursday to leave when the winds calm down because they thought the winds were too high to get out in "it". Those poor guys are all going to have a lot of motoring ahead of them. We'll spend the night here and then head to Coral Bay where Rick and Robin from the catamaran Endangered Species said they had enjoyed a great meal at the resort there last year (hope it is still there). From here it looks like a short 5 ½ hour trip.

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June 26, 2012 Departing Guruliya Bay, Heading for Croker Island (2 day trip)

Day 1
It is said the darkest hour comes just before dawn. In a remote area such as this, the darkest hour is also the most spectacular time to view the heavens. With absolutely no ambient light from anywhere but the stars we took a few minutes to just gaze up and to enjoy this magical moment. Directly to the east Frank pointed out what appeared to be three planets perfectly aligned and so big and bright they seemed to dominate the sky. Were they Mars, Venus and Jupiter? During times like this we wish we'd paid more attention to astrology. We just sat in silence, sipping our coffee and let the stillness wash over us before we started our long day.

We crept out of Guruliya Bay and set a westerly course for Croker Island. For the better part of the day we enjoyed some fantastic sailing and had another visit from a family of dolphins. Four of them zipped in from out of nowhere and enjoyed diving and jumping our bow wake for over an hour. Frank managed to get some good photos this time, using his new iPad. That thing takes the best pictures. We both stood out there for a while enjoying the show, until the wave action sent us scurrying back to the cockpit. Not long afterward I was preparing lunch when Frank shouted, "Barb, turtle!" I grabbed the iPad and popped up the companionway just as the turtle dove under the water. Frank said this one was huge, and although we waited patiently for his return he was probably already miles away. So, other than the wind dying late this afternoon and the seas laying down for us to enjoy cooking and reading that was the big excitement for today.

It is now 10 PM, and because we lost our wind for several hours today we are pretty far behind schedule. That's all right we have great weather, pretty skies, nautical friends stopping by to visit and plenty of books to read. We are trying to get settled into night watch shifts. More tomorrow…

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June 25, 2012 - Anchored at Guruliya Bay, Raragala Island (NT, Australia)

We awoke at 5:00 AM this morning and were weighing anchor at around 5:30, however, there was so much heavy, thick gray/black clay and shell stuck to the rode and to the anchor that it took us until 6:00 to actually get it washed and the anchor secured. It was absolutely as black as midnight outside, so as we moved out of Irverell Bay (Gove Harbour), I stood on the bow with a big spotlight calling out obstacles, such as mooring balls and other yachts to Frank. Lord, as my beam danced about I hope I didn't accidentally shine that bad boy into someone's chamber of dreams. As we approached the bauxite-loading wharf we picked up the early traces of sunrise. It was a lovely morning for a sail.

Immediately we harnessed 20 knots astern, but also got the choppy wave action that jerked us side to side for about the first hour. Eventually we settled into a very comfortable downwind sail picking up the escort of some friendly dolphins who torpedoed through our bow wake for a number of miles. The waves had turned into big breakers and thank goodness we were surfing them along with our friends who now and then would shoot into the air giving us a little sideshow. We enjoyed a beautiful sail through the first pass of the English Company Islands (details on our "Where Are We" button of the website). It was a cakewalk through that pass as we caught the flooding tide that helped us through. This area is very pretty, dotted with lots of small islands, pretty sand beaches and apparently pearl farms. We then negotiated the second pass just as easily. Our pleasant day continued.

Eventually we approached The Wessell Islands where we would thread the needle through The Hole in The Wall, a narrow pass between Raragala Island and Guluwuru Island that is only about a mile long but is very unusual. On approach we couldn't even see the pass. In fact we were nearly upon it before the break in the islands was apparent. We were awed by the rock structures that comprise these islands. They actually resembled giant flat slabs heaped upon one another. We were completely overcome by their beauty. Going through the pass was a spectacular experience, and one that we feel blessed to have been able to undertake. This is another rare treat that few will ever encounter.

Just as we were emerging from the pass I sat down at the Nav desk, about to send in our position report when Peter from Renegade hailed us on the radio. He was stopping at the English Company Islands but wanted to recommend an anchorage to us on the other side of The Hole in The Wall. We were originally just going to come through and then drop the hook at a beach on the lee shore to the left of the pass. This other anchorage, however, was   about 5 miles further down the coast. We took his advice, and arriving at 1:00 PM, we anchored in this amazing remote and unusual Guruliya Bay. We are now in sacred Aboriginal lands and are not permitted to go ashore, but that's quite alright because it is blowing like Colorado out there and we are happy just to sit, read a book and enjoy the scenery. We traveled some 53 miles today and truly enjoyed ourselves.

Tomorrow we have another overnighter to look forward to and have many miles to cover to the next stop, so a 5:00 AM departure is required. The Captain has advised me that this one will be only 34 hours. No worries, Mate!

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June 23 & 24, 2012 – Gove, Northern Territory, Australia & Destiny Nearly in Peril!

Who would have ever planned a trip to Gove, Australia? It is not on the regular itinerary of most travelers and yet we are very happy it was on ours. The locals are among the friendliest and most hospitable folks in all of Oz.

Last night we did go into the Gove Boat Club, a large and very friendly gathering place – in fact it is all there really is in the anchorage here. They have it all – a games area, book swap, huge bar and restaurant, great big outdoor area, complete with a large playground for the kids. It is all fenced in and quite safe. Although there are croc warning signs about and notices to be careful getting in the water when fishing from shore, launching or disembarking your dinghy, we saw none. Frank is beginning to feel quite sad about not seeing any Salties. I'm very OK with it.  We started with Happy Hour at 5 PM, soon joined by Paul and Glor, Keith and Christine off Scallywag and also Peter and Evelyn from Renegade. Not long afterward we met Ann, Mike and their crew from Callisto. We enjoyed a wonderful evening in spite of the fact that the All Blacks match was not being televised here. Big time Bummer for our Kiwi friends, and for us as well.  We got the low-down on getting into town for groceries, etc., and decided to make that our focus on Sunday.

Today, Sunday, we caught up on emails and I got to Skype "chat" with my good friend Jeri Lyn, then phoned my folks and my daughter. It was great catching up with them all. Our 8-year old grandson, Trace told us today was the best day of his entire life (his words). He has been saving his reward tokens forever (my daughter rewards good behavior with little tokens that add up to real dollars after a while), and he finally committed enough good deeds to purchase an iPod touch with his own money. He was so precious! OK, that has nothing to do with our adventures but I'm so proud of both my daughter and of Trace for their positive attitudes I had to brag here a bit.

At mid-day we went to shore, walked out to the roadway in front of the Boat Club and hitched a ride to town. A very nice lady picked us up returning from the airport with friends who are visiting from Darwin. We had a very nice conversation on the way in. It turns out that at least one of them is going to Austin, TX at the end of the year. We told them we have good friends there and family all over Texas so we promised to get in touch in Darwin and gave them our email addresses. We do hope they will email us. You never know.

We got our grocery shopping done and then walked back out to the road to hitchhike back. A nice guy who had emigrated here from Chile picked us up. He is a driller for the mines and on the way back, drove us past the longest conveyor belt in Australia and quite possibly in the world. It carries the bauxite from the mines to the refinery, some 19 kilometers away. Amazing!

On the way back to Destiny, Scallywag flagged us down to stop by for tea. We got onboard and Christine picked up her camera saying, "We want to show you some pictures".  I didn't have my glasses on but it looked like they had taken photos of us bringing up the anchor in some place that had a LOT of mud, but then the pictures were not ringing any bells and it looked like two men, not Frank and I. We couldn't figure out what they were about. When I picked up a pair of reading glasses from their table, I saw that was two men on the bow of Destiny, but we still couldn't figure out where this had taken place and when, and furthermore what they were doing with our anchor. So we asked. They all calmly replied, "About an hour after you left the boat today". Oh my God! Then reality hit – this was Keith and Paul in the photos. They said the wind had picked up considerably and at the tide change, Destiny began to drag. Marion aboard Avant Garde happened to look out her window and remarked to Colin that Destiny was in trouble. He hailed Scallywag, and then jumped into his dinghy. The men all converged on our boat and by then Destiny was quickly and literally rushing backward on a collision course with another yacht. They managed to get our anchor up to find that a mooring line was wrapped all around it, and this is what had caused it not to be able to re-set. It was literally covered in mud and mooring line. They managed to get the line unwrapped, knocked the chunks off and re-anchored our beloved Destiny before she hit any other boats. After hearing the story, tears erupted from my eyes, my lip quivered and my stomach became a hard knot. Frank was speechless. These guys were our Angels today.

Tonight over twenty of us met at the Boat Club for drinks and dinner. Frank told the club manager to put all of Avant Garde and Scallywag's (and crew) drinks on our tab. It was a very small thing we could do to offer our thanks and gratitude to these wonderful friends. We really enjoyed a lovely evening with everyone. Most of them are sticking around until Wednesday or Thursday to depart, but we are leaving in the morning, very early. So going home tonight was a little sad. Keith and Christine are flying home to NZ from here. We sure hope to see them again. Frank wants to be "anchor's aweigh" at 5:00 AM tomorrow. Oy! Yoi! Yoi!

Next stop: The Hole in The Wall

June 22 & 23, 2012 Crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria, Arriving at Gove, NT

We are in Gove, NT (Northern Territory), Australia. We set the anchor at noon. What a ride.  Of the 53 hours it took to sail here, 24 were dreadful, about 18 were miserable and the other 11 were uncomfortable but tolerable.

Yesterday was not as bad as the night before. Winds were up and down, however, by nightfall we had found a certain rhythm that at least allowed us to sleep a little better. We saw 35 knots of wind and, had the seas been more kind we might have shortened the trip just a bit.

We are safe and Destiny is intact except that our fairly new UV strip on the Staysail is coming unstitched and started flapping as we rounded the mining wharf coming into Gove. Also just coming in I noted to Frank that our top lifeline on the starboard side looked droopy, and that we should tighten it up when we get in. Well, just as we were taking in the sails it sprang free and seriously drooped. Thankfully the hardware is intact and Frank only needed to replace a screw to get that back up. Poor Destiny – we sure do put her through the rigors. But she is built for this kind of beating and she proves herself time and again.

So now we rest. I have a splitting headache that no amount of Aleve or Advil has been able to conquer, so I'm going down for a nap after a long shower and we get the boat put back together. It is a big mess from the thrashing.

Tonight the All Blacks are playing so we all plan to go into the yacht club in hopes that it is televised here.