Message in a Bottle - The Magic Continues

Where were we ? Oh yes Denham the foundation of the pearling industry in Oz before Broome really took off early in the 1900’s. When the colony of WA was still but a pup and Shark Bay had its own rules and the visiting magistrate from Carnarvon took 3 to 5 days to get there in the government cutter. The original surveys of Shark Bay were undertaken because the Brits thought that SB could be another place for convicts to receive rehab as the eastern states no longer wanted the cheap labour.
Did you know that Dirk Hartog Island was leased by the former owner of "Tom the Cheap" a chap by the name of Wardle in the 80’s. Enough of my historic rambling. We have been reading about SB in a volume written by Edwards dealing with the history of the place since the Batavia crashed into Morning Reef near Wallaby Island on the Houtman Abrolohus Group. A great read.
As an aside, we met a bloke from Melbourne who had travelled with his family all the way to WA to continue his Nationwide survey of "good coffee houses". You won’t be surprised to hear that there are none in Denham or Carnarvon but there was one in Geraldton and even one in Dongara. Funny what drives some people.
The trip to Monkey Mia was wonderful and full of surprises. As we wanted to avoid sailing around to MM we decided to catch a free bus from one of the "resorts" on Knight Street at the ridiculously early time of 8am. This was a bit of an early start as we had visitors from the TC Club for dinner the previous night. Anyhow, our driver Graham drove us to MM in his daughters 4 WD and regaled us (as well as his grand daughter) with "true stories" about Denham. The annual cat kill on the Peron peninsular (the home of Project Eden) often shot more than 600 feral cats. The annual rainfall was less than 17mm year. Etc. You no doubt get the gist.
Monkey Mia was a gem. The Calm personnel on the beach went to great lengths to explain the protocol for viewing these large brained mammals and as Daun bent down to feed the mother she unconsciously stroked the dolphin’s side and was severely admonished as a result. There was a lot of tutt tutting and people on the beach were suitably impressed. Brooksy was pleased as punch. She had achieved her goal.
We departed Denham early on Wednesday for Point Peron before heading to Carnarvon. The weather was glorious with 10 – 15 knots of breeze from the west and clear skies. The next morning we had an easterly and skimmed across the shallows of northern Shark Bay to Carnarvon. On the way we were shadowed by a couple of breaching Humpbacks which were on a converging track. As they got closer we became more nervous and started the engine to let them know that we didn’t want to be breached on. It worked and they went behind us and out to sea.
As we entered Carnarvon we were overhauled by another yacht coming form the south named Lizard – aptly named as is was long skinny and ugly. The entrance was interesting. As it was low tide we gently nudged Magic into the channel. The first port marker was high and dry with at least 15 metres of sand on the "safe" side. The channel actually got better. As the yacht club "basin" was full we opted to moor in the basin leading to the town. We were welcomed into the basin by a single dolphin with a newborn calf only 5 days old. This dolphin swam into the basin several times each day and we observed her feeding he baby a couple of times.
The anchorage in the basin was constrained by a dredged channel with well defined banks. On the third afternoon Magic had a "lie down" when the outgoing tide left her high and dry for a few hours. We passed the time on the shore watching the sunset with a cask of red. Then took up an invitation to dine on "Lizard" along with another guest Captain Esky from the much feared ship "Mean Feat" on a feast of crabs and tankards or fine wine many tales of conquests and pillaging were passed around the cockpit. By 10 pm Magic was afloat again and we were ready to move back aboard.
The next day we walked to the one mile jetty across a couple of delta islands formed over the past millennium during floods of the Gascoyne river.
Thursday 17 June saw us depart to Coral Bay, an overnight passage of 120 miles. The weather was kind but blowing the wrong way and we were forced to tack to windward all the way. Again we were exposed to natures wonderland of whales, dolphins, large pelagic fish and turtles. We passed 30 metres from a stationary mother whale with her calf. No one moved. At the same moment, whamo, the rubber shock cord on the trailing lure with the beer-can-alarm sang out and Captain Ganghook went into action landing another lunch.
We worked into Maud’s landing and found the anchorage rolly and uncomfortable. We were encouraged to venture around the corner into Coral Bay proper to find a better anchorage. After and hour of heart-in-mouth motoring through coral, rocks and sand we found our magic patch in about 5 metres of crystal clear water. The Buxom Wench let the anchor go and after a brief inspection of the anchorage we enjoyed our first sun-downer at Coral Bay.
We were anchored in the fishing sanctuary so we were forced to supplement our diet with chips and beer from the local pub.
Brooksy buys new shoes. Yes under the instruction of Captain Ganghook, appropriate reef walkers were in order. Very dashing still that makes 15 pairs onboard now. While at Coral Bay we took "Al" our trusty dingy to the outer reef to sample the snorkelling delights the bay had to offer, the huge variety of fish were spectacular, we shared our scotch finger biscuits with them and we were caught up in a feeding frenzy. All look but no touch. So we went home and had steak for dinner. During our daily ritual of rum and Nibbles we were blessed with the sight of whales breeching in the sunset what a sight naturally the whales got bigger with the more rum consumed.
After a 4 day stay we decided to move on if we were ever going to make our goal of covering 500 miles per month. So of to Point Cloates we set, only a 3 hour sail, well as the day and night rolled on and Point Cloates light house came and went along with undesirable reefs we progressed to Yardie Creek, that too we saw in the far distance, not comfortable conditions for anchoring so we moved on once again to Tantabiddi finally arriving at 4.30pm the next day a 28hour sail, and two very tired pirates our pillaging of the land would have to wait till the morning. Although a perfect time for Happy Hour. Really, this sailing lark is like one big pub crawl.
Just a short overnight stay and a swim in the morning in beautiful 25 degree water sees us make ready for the next stage of our voyage to Exmouth. A beautiful day in paradise our tans are coming along a treat which is good as now we can say our tummy rolls are fallen sun wrinkles.
As the waves rolled by and the sun sank into the west we found anchorage in Bundegi Reef, what a place, dark as dark could be but alas we had stumbled into a squid sexual playground the squid were very taken with Magic’s hull and let the love flow freely.
After a night of rampant sex (not inside Magic although this is our honeymoon), we made our way to Exmouth a very pleasant 2 hour sail. This was a very special visit as it was the place to celebrate the Buxom Wenches birthday. The excitement was high the crew was buzzing with anticipation for what lay ahead.
We secured a pen in the Marina and did an inspection of Magic’s hull, what a sight Squid stuff every where, boy those squid know how to have a good time. A well deserved bath in freshwater for Magic and Al who was also subject to some messy leftovers. Then we were on our way to take over the town.
1st stop the post office, the staff at the post office were waiting in terror as they had received a parcel addressed to the "Buxom Wench" just which tyrant of the seas would she be sailing with? they may well ask. Thank you all for your cards and gifts. Then a visit to the local yacht club where we enjoyed a very hospitable BBQ and a few drinks with the locals. Saturday we had booked a unit with a spa as a special treat in the local "Resort" with the pool sampled, the laundry done, the spa and bubbly drank, a car hired we headed out to the open air cinema to enjoy a feast of local prawns and fresh produce and watch "50 first dates" what a great night. To make the night complete we hired a couple of bean bags for added comfort.
Back in our unit all full of food and bad manners we took to the luxury of a queen size bed, only to lay awake for hours missing our beloved Magic. So up we get at 2am and drive out to the marina to check on Magic’s ropes. All safe and sound, then back of to the unit to sleep peacefully. Sunday was a very quiet day for us, shopping perusing the local markets and planning our next couple of days, which took us to Turquoise Bay on Monday. What a wonderful spot, we went on the tourist bus service this took us through Cape Range National Park a wonderful part of the world. The beaches at Turquoise Bay were far superior to Coral Bay and the snorkelling was very special, the current in the bay swept us along and we felt like we were viewing on a conveyer belt in the underwater world amazing. We saw reef sharks, a sea snake, loads and loads of reef fish all different colours and shapes – breathtaking.
Tuesday Morning saw us make ready to set sail once more bound for the Montebello’s via Serrurier Island for an overnight stopover. The beaches were long white warm beaches littered with Painted Cray shells, we were also fortunate enough to come across a turtle track and nest. The beach was lovely however the anchorage only suitable for a day anchorage, we rocked and rolled all night not a lot of sleep was had. We then moved onto Thevenard Island, trawled all day but the fish had gone away, Thevenard Island is part of a group known as the Mackerel Islands, which the Buxom Wench had visited many years before and wanted to do a trip down memory lane. Progress is the name of the game there, it is part of a gas and oil field, the Island is dominated by 3 very large gas tanks and is surrounded by wells, something’s just never stay the same.
Now here we are the Captain and his Wench are on the move once again planning a midnight take over of the Island Varanus, (Major Gas & Oil Island) we secure the aid of a terrified hostage and take out the Communications, Health Safety and Ship Entry Infrastructure before raiding the larder, where the fresh produce is plentiful, good enough for a Kings Ransom. A feast all round, then once more Magic slips of into the night to rendezvous at a secret location in the Monty’s to share the loot with the bandits of "Lizard" and "Mean Feet" 3 days of feasting and many more tales are told, mixed in with squiding, fishing and oystering, a fantastic time had by all.
Christo and Brooksy are now sailing to the Shores of Karratha for a couple of days, then making their way to Balla Balla, hopefully to meet up with Leslie and Bernard.for a night or two before the long trek up to Broome, where we would like to be by the middle of this month..