June 30-July 3
Hi All,
We arrived at Black Point in Port Essington around 3:00pm on Thursday, June 30. We left Malay Bay around 7am and it was 59nm and took around 8 hours. It was actually a delightful trip as it seemed a treat to do a day run instead of all these overnighters!! The winds/seas were all behind us…..12-16 kts with some 20’s in there to remind us!! We went through Bowen Strait which gets skinny at parts. This is the Strait between Croker Island and the Coburg Peninsula. The least we saw was 8′ under the keel or 14′ total….we probably got too close to shore so it doesn’t have to be that skinny. Most of the time is was 15-25′ deep!!
Port Essington is a 17nm long Bay and we are up near the mouth….just about 3 miles in at Black Point. It’s pretty protected but still blowing 10-20 kts but we know there are even bigger winds outside as we can see some huge waves via the binoculars.
When we lifted the dinghy at Malay Bay we had all sorts of noise/racket and the boom winch line was jumping horribly. We looked up and could see the top block on the mast for the boom was not turning……ugh!!!! These blocks have SS bearings that must have locked up somehow. We do have a spare block but this means I have to climb the mast. Hmmmm……it seems over the years I have developed somewhat of a fear of climbing this mast…..it’s only 14′ and I know our sailboat buddies are getting a good chortle over my anxiety. But, my buddies have climbed the mast for me in the past so I’ve escaped the dirty deed. Well, there is no one in the anchorage so if we want to lower the dinghy and do some exploring it’s up to me. Well……I did it……yeah…..in fact climbed it twice….I did panic once but somehow got myself together and completed the job.. Indeed the block was frozen and the new one works perfectly and the boom is goes up/down very smoothly!!!
However, I discovered the 2nd shackle did not have any seizing wire…..you use seizing wire to lock the shackle pin and prevent it from unscrewing itself. So, when we get to the marina in Darwin I’ll climbed it one more time….joy….NOT!!!
We did some exploring……took the dinghy ashore……still working the throttle manually……a real pita……some pretty good shelling on the beach. We met the same Aussie couple we met yesterday fishing and they proceeded to show us about 5 crocodile tracks in the sand…..some were very big!!!! Evidently they go back and forth to a fresh water lagoon (billibong)…..yikes. We immediately went on saltie alert but alas we did not see any the entire time we were on shore or watching from Mystic:((( There is an excellent cultural center by the ranger station……some excellent artifacts and a good deal of history. There is a camp nearby so we met several families and others talking about staying on the Peninsula. These Aussie’s are crazy…..they talked about diving for crayfish and going mudcrab hunting……huh, what about the salties…..oh, yes, they are there but we let the dog tell us if they get close…….okie dokey……we are close to Darwin:))))
We realized that apart from a few dives and the walk on Lizard Island, we have not been off the boat for 16 days…..since Cairns….yikes!!! And, it was a bit hard, especially for me, walking on land….I was pretty wobbly…..by the end of our 3 hours on shore I was worn out and had somehow sprained my left ankle…..which is just fine today……arghhhhhh!!!!
We are leaving in a few hours to head for Darwin…..140nm to go and our last overnighter on this leg……yippee!!!! It’s an ok forecast….15-20 kts SE-NE. We hope the NE winds are when we heading south through the Dundas Strait!! We have to time several tides/currents and if we did it perfectly we would arrive at 3am……don’t really want to arrive in the dark so at some point once we are past the worst one…..around Cape Don and Dundas Strait….. we will slow down to arrive after sunrise!! Then we will get fuel and get our “pipes” cleaned for the pest clearance and overnight on the pontoon (dock). If all goes to plan we will enter the locks and get to our berth Tuesday am. And then the fun begins……..go get our Indonesia Visa, go to Customs for all the check out and duty free forms, get Indo money (rupiah), get the Yamaha fixed, work on the watermaker, go provision……you get the idea……ugh!!!! But, we have also booked a 5 day tour around Darwin ……going to Litchfield, Katherine, Kakadu and Arnhem Land on a Private Charter……we are both very excited as one of the reasons to do this Rally was to have some time to play around Darwin!!!!
We are both anxious to get to Darwin and get all the chores done but also just rest up. And to have some internet…..we have now been unplugged for 9+ days….. we left Horn Island just as the Brexit vote was final….it will be curious how all that turned out and how bad the markets reacted!!
Hope all is well!!!
John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO!!!!
