Captain’s Log: Horn Island

June 21-24

Hi All,

We arrived at Horn Island, Cape York area, yesterday around 8am. It was a decent 2 night passage although the weather was different. We had a good ride……winds were 15-25kts ESE-SSE, all behind us and seas in the 3-6′ range, again all behind us so it was a pretty smooth ride. What was weird were the clouds and humidity. It rained/misted the entire 44 hour passage…..we could barely see the coastline……maybe 2-4 mile visibility…..low hanging heavy clouds and oh the humidity…..it was thick, as in cut it with a knife thick….at one point it was raining inside Mystic…..whoa, that was a first……our gauge measured it from 85-95%…..oweeeee!!!

We saw about 15 cargo ships/fishing vessels…..the shipping channel at some spots was only 1 mile wide and of course, we passed many of these ships in the choke points…..but all were very friendly/professional calling us on the vhf to insure a safe passing!!!! But, most kept their deck lights on during the day…..at one point the Admiral suggested we turn on our fog horn…..weird weather!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon we saw our first crocodile (called salties) on the shoreline……OMG……15′ feet and fat…yikes…..we watched it for several hours and saw it hunting and catching many snacks!!

Today we went to the wharf to take on 175 gal of fuel. It is a wharf designed for cargo barges so very tall…..it was a challenge to get tied up but we did it eventually. We probably have enough fuel to make Darwin but we will go below our 20% safety stock so we topped it up to ensure we have plenty.

We will be leaving @ 2pm today (in 2 hours), Friday, June 24 for the 332nm passage (2 nighter, 42 hours) to the Wessel Islands…..probably anchor in Two Island Bay. The Weasels stick out about 40 miles from the mainland and are supposed to be quite beautiful and very remote. The crayfish hunting is supposed to be outstanding but not this boy…..it’s also full of salties…yikes!!! The fuel guy today, Duck, went crayfish hunting last week around Horn Island and caught 12……they get AUD52/kilo…..whoa……he said yes there are crocs but he has never heard of anyone getting attacked crayfish hunting…..there you go……we are heading to Darwin after all:)))))

The weather is ok…..15-20G25 ESE, we are heading a little south of west so it will be behind us. But, the Gulf of Carpentaria is quite shallow and is famous for very steep wind waves…..we will have 3-6′ chop off the aft port quarter and we will probably get some roll from it….we shall seejoy….NOT!!!!!

We now have come 1975nm since Sydney and have 750nm to go to Darwin……GO MYSTIC GO!!!

Boat Stuff:
Yamaha outboard: just as we were leaving Lizard Island I went over to Bella Vita to pick up a usb drive and the fuel throttle cable on our tiller arm broke…..WTH……I tired to paddle over but the wind/current was too strong. So, I took the cover off and manually used the throttle lever to get some fuel to run the motor……ugh!!!! No such luck finding a cable here @ Horn Island but I found a service tech in Darwin that can get me the cable……so we will just need to manually use the throttle lever over the next week or so….ugh, ugh!!!!

Watermaker: During the passage it went out on HI Pressure about 5 times, but eventually ran for about 4 hours at 230 psi…..yikes. Spectra sent us a series of tests which we did yesterday when we arrived. The tests point to a Clark pump problem but not exactly conclusive. They gave me a few more things to try and I’ll try those before we leave!!

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon
Horn Island and leaving for Wessel Islands