Message in a Bottle - Captains Log July 2004

Captains Log Dated 21st July 2004
Crew Members: Captain Ganghook, Buxom Wench CEO), Cheese (Resident Stuffed Rat), Lulu ( Long Time Support of Buxom Wench), Bernard (Auto Pilot), Mona (Wind Generator) Albert (Yowie Pink & Gray Gala - new crew member).
7th July 2004-07-22
Magic arrived in Dampier at 5.30am. The way was paved with the all so familiar red & green markers; the only difference to the homes we have known so far is converging Orange lights – large ships are plentiful in this busy port. A very weary crew set anchor in the bay once again under the cover of darkness, a few much needed hours of slumber are embarked upon. Refreshed and ready for action the crew discover they have made their presence known to this busy port, alas we have put down anchor in the middle of the main thoroughfare in Hamilton Harbour. But this does not phase Ganghook, up anchor and further into the port we go, a few familiar ships are sited, the catamaran Forte, Utopia, Sand Crabs Disco, and Scuttlebug. Let the rampaging begin.
The Captain and his Wench get busy making plans for a take over; firstly of the yacht club which looked easy pickings and then the town, Next they scouted around the Woodside site and evaluated the surrounding areas. Ganghook has heard of the rumour told by many a nasty Pirate there is a fair Mermaid at large in the Port of Dampier, so the darstardly crew set their sites on her.
After 2 days and 2 nights of scouring the district we find the Mermaid – Hotel that is, a hearty feast is enjoyed and many a tankard is consumed, Ah the Mermaid she is a fine lass.
The unexpected happens to the love boat “Magic”. During a round of regular maintenance it was discovered that someone in the recent past had tried to sabotage the Magic motor by installing the seal in the water pump back to front and as a result old salty was making his way into the bilges in generous quantities. The intrepid Ganghook took the local Volvo Penta dealer hostage (who said VP were robbers) and a new seal was installed in double quick time. As we had no engine for a couple of days to cool the beer and make the ice we were forced to hire a generator to power Magic. What was the buxom wench to do without hot water for those freshening showers? An imaginative move saw us taking over the airport showers as they were on the way too and fro from Karratha.
As our departure is delayed 6 days, with the crew in Dampier Port, a car is hijacked and the handsome Captain and his beautiful Wench visit the neighbouring towns, Roebourne, Cossack, Point Sampson and Karratha. Whilst in Karratha, we met up with Leslie and Bernard and enjoy a fine lunch in the local Chinese Garden Restaurant, for this special occasion the Wench has indulged in a shopping spree, a skirt, top and yes you guessed it new shoes, the poor Wenches feet are not use to all the land walking and new footwear is required.
The Dampier Yacht Club is a well loved site visited by all sea going sailers, we have come across and old acquaintance of the Buxom Wench, met many years ago on a Sailing Trek with Newman Senior High School, John Lally, and his lovely wife Lynn, who run the Sailing Club, they are most helpful, letting us use their office & laundry facilities as well as transporting us to the Airport to collect the hire vehicle.
17th July 2004: A new crew member joins the ship- Albert the Captains Parrot, now Ganghook can be seen walking the decks wearing is parrot upon us shoulder.
Magic pulls us anchor and set sail once again bound for Broome, a few stops along the way, the winds are not conducive to a pleasant day on the waters but the crew are anxious to go, a fast and furious sail to Flying Foam Passage 20 miles from Dampier, With the wench at the helm 7.5 knots and a beautiful heel is achieved. Flying foam is cascading off the deck as we work up the passage in 30 knot winds, the excitement is pumping as we are on the move yet again, An anchor is dropped and it is then that we discover Magic has taken on water. Gallons of the salty stuff, the forward cabin is a wash with sea water.
The afternoon is taken up with emptying the cabin, and airing our wears out on deck, the wind has subsided and the crew make rest on two wet bean bags on the forward deck enjoying copious amounts of wine and cheese (not our resident rat). What else is there to do, we need to dry out and stay happy.
Dawn rises and we make haste to Balla Balla, we enter in the pitch black with only our trusty GPS to guide us. The anchorage is first of all calm and then whammo, the tide changes and it becomes a rolly nightmare. With rising easterlies we turn back to West Morley Island – 10 mile behind us, beating into the wind to make shelter behind the huge ironstone Delpusch island to the north. Halfway into the supposed shelter we discover a small yellow triangle in the water with an A4 sized sign advising us we know not what, with some semi submerged greeny yellow bouys right in the way. We quickly decide that this anchorage is not for us. Choppy and wet, we turn once again and make for Cape Cossingy, it’s now 5pm we are very tired there is no protection there either with a 3 mile fetch for the wind waves to build. We then plan to take refuge behind Ronsard Island for a warm hearty meal and 3 hours of tossing and turning whilst resting.
At 8 pm with a gale warning on the radio we again raised our anchor and moved on, deciding to alter our course to Port Hedland. After a 12 hour passage with contrary winds to 35 knots and short slamming seas, we sailed down the Port Hedland ships passage on a tight reach in 22 metres of water offering all on land a glorious sight to come to anchor at 9am 19th July. During the night we have had two mutiny’s onboard. Bernard gave in at 1am and hand steering was the order of the night. Our much loved Magic was slamming and taking on water once more. Amidst these challenges Mona has to be tired up; she was begging for it; she had taken to screeching as the winds got stronger, a added distraction we did not need.
Finally at Port Hedland we are greeted by friendly familiar faces and waves of welcome as we bed down a poor and tired Magic, Scuttlebug and Utopia are already harboured in Hedland and hear us over the radio, the Manager of the Hedland Yacht Club – Peter is amazed as he watches us from the club house racing across the channel tacking from side to side, picking up speed as we go he is green we envy.
9.30am a couple of warming rum’s and a feed of cheese a call home to our loved ones and we are in bed for a couple of hours. This anchorage is by far the worst we have ever experienced, the wench was taken ashore with 10 loads of washing and the Captain had a stern talk with Mona and Bernard, some disciple had to be administered and Bernard now is home to a new belt and a re-jigged drive pully. Mona however is busy doing her own thing, whirling and whizzing at her leisure, as only a woman can do. A full day’s washing was had, along with the company of Peter and in the Bar (how convenient the washing machine was outside the club bar) Captain joined his Buxom Wench and they walked the sites of Spinifex Hill by night.
Whilst in Hedland we hijacked another vehicle and did the site seeing tour, another trip down memory lane for the Wench, who had spend many of her childhood years here, an interesting old town, full of character and red dirt, Port Hedland is the busiest port in Australia we were amazed to wake and see huge Ore Carriers being towed towards us then turning at the last moment into the loading docks. An awesome site not to be missed.
The Magical Crew held of leaving until the gale warning was downgraded. After 4 days of extremely uncomfortable conditions we headed late in the afternoon of 23 July for Broome in a convoy with Scuttlebug, Utopia and another yacht – Yampie.
In keeping with our desire to sail we headed for North Turtle Island in light easterly winds while the other yachts in our little convoy decided to put “pedal to the metal” and motor-sailed. By midnight the wind had dropped to 5 knots and we started the “iron main”. The tides in the area of the Amphinome shoals run at 3 to 4 knots and our track is marked by varying colours depending on our speed as we dodge around the shoals. Some red (8+k) and some blue (3-k) identify the high and low COG during the night. The calm extends to the second day and finally a light sea breeze stirs the sea dust as we approach Cape Keraudren looking for a respite anchorage for the night. The chart shows a reef in the middle of the entrance to a beautiful bay and the cruising guide indicates that the bay is a “suitable anchorage”. So on a rising tide we enter Blaze Bay to discover that 3metres is all that this delightful bay offers. We make a hasty dignified retreat watched by a dozen campers who had scattered themselves around the perimeter of the bay.
Sailoring on we entered the area known as 80 mile beach where the water becomes azure blue and the sand is a beautiful white in the distance. The water is shallow for some distance from the shore so we elect to sail 6 to 10 miles off shore where the depth is a whopping 12 metres. By now the Magic crew have settled into a regular watch regime where Ganghook sleeps for a few hours during the day so the CEO can maintain her beauty sleep during the hours of darkness. (Except when there is a moon) Again a light sea breeze rises in the afternoon and we have beautiful sailing conditions to our next anchorage at Desault Bay on the northern end of 80 mile beach in the early hours of the next morning.
We awake to sunshine piercing the comfort of the aft cabin and Buxom Wench announces to all and sundry (Cheese et al) that she is “going fishing”. These words, normally associated with a pleasurable activity strike fear into the very heart of ganghook who knows that every scale of every fish will need to be removed, together with all traces of internal organs, and the heads of the little creatures before his day is finished. By 11 am the BW has satiated her pleasure and caught a bucketful of pan sized fish. Fortunately Ganghook was saved from further hard labour by the sea breeze which came in early in response to a call to Hewy. We hauled anchor and sailed off the mooring in a 15 knot sou’wester to our next anchorage Gourdon Bay.
Again we were aided by the tidal current along the way as we poled out the heady and relaxed in the sunshine. The breeze eventually died and we motored the last few miles to Gourdon Bay. We woke early to a 15 knot south easterly and a thick sea fog. We weighed anchor and sailed off the anchorage and out of the fog. The fog continued to sweep back over us from time to time. Alas, our position was noted in the early afternoon by a Coast Watch aircraft which flew close to the water in an attempt to identify the good ship Magic. Fortunately, we were just able to erase our name by flinging a spare sail over the side. Coast watch gave up and flew away.
Dear reader, at this stage I have discovered that we managed to duplicate some of our message so for the feminine side of the story continue on.
23rd July 2004
The mighty ship sailed for 2 long days and 2 even longer dark nights slamming and banging as the wind whirled around us, all was well no water has been taken, also no fish had been taken the sea is barren of hungry fish or so it seems, the Whales are in abundance in this part of the world, and the waters are alive with Dolphins. On the 3rd day there was a break in the weather, the waters turned a aqua marine the white beaches of 80 mile beach looked so inviting the crew decided to stop for the night in a little bay called Desault Bay absolutely fantastic, the morning light brought out the crew and the sea life, the sun was shining perfect. The fishing lines where over the side fish were jumping on the decks the wench was catching Trevally and Thumb Print Emperor Ganghook was in great demand with his trusty scaler at the ready, t’was a fish hungry crew onboard that day for not a single fish finger had been caught or eaten in the past two weeks.
With the decks scrubbed and shipshape she was ready to make passage once again. A day sail to Gourdon Bay 30 miles south of Broome, the music was pumping the lure was out and the action was on, Whales, Turtles, Dolphins, Jellyfish and best of all Mackerel was on the menu for dinner, a 3kg beauty was landed by the Captain another was lost along with the lure today was just another day in Paradise.

July 25th 2004
As the fog lifted Magic glided away from the sandy shores of Gourdon Bay bound for her exotic destination of Margaritas and Camel rides at sunset, on Cable Beach. What a beautiful day, the Leeuwin was out patrolling the waters the turtles cruised the bay and expectations were high. Safe anchorage was made and cocktails were served as the sun set over the tropical waters of Gantheum Point Broome.
A good night’s sleep and the plans were made, a day tour to Tunnel Creek & Windjanna Gorge via Derby was in the pipe line shopping was planned to supply outfits for the Broome Race Day the pearls were viewed all was done in Broome Time.
Following the usual boat-keeping activities for a couple of days we headed for Windjanna Gorge and Tunnel Creek. A long drive with Annie our tour guide but a very worthwhile days outing. This area of the Kimberly is dominated by the Boab tree and the first stop was at the prison Boab where natives blackbirded as divers for the pearl industry were locked away for the night. The tree itself is huge and we have included a pic for those of you not on a hotmail address. A quick tour of Derby (pop 7,000) revealed a quiet port town which while it is the regional centre for the area has been left behind by the growth of Broome over the past 10 years.
Onto the Windjana Gorge for a salad lunch and then to Tunnel Creek. What a fluvial geomorphologists dream. Boulders, gravel and course reveal the flow regimes of the creek during the wet. The metormophosis of the limestone with quartz veins running through the water worn rock. The undermining and eventual collapse of the exit boulder has changed the flow regime and may lead to a catastrophic event by the blockage of the tunnel in the next 1000 years. All good geomorphological material.
But on with the tour. Bats, moths Aboriginal and Bradley paintings adourn the cave roofs. The sound of children’s laughter in the galleries and tunnels has faded as the original inhabitants have moved on. Tree roots and scree penetrate the tunnel halfway through where one of the original inhabitants made his last stand. Ambushed by his own elders.
Back along the track to Windjana Gorge we find lots of “friendly freshies”, keen to have their photos take. Typical of other reptiles the only discerning movement we see is the blinking of one eye like a knowing wink. Know what I mean ?
Back to civilisation we hijacked another clunker and did more nautical business. The computer (which has yet to be named; your suggestions welcome) was taken for a ride to the techs for treatment. A BBQ on the beach with other yauchties revealed just how much fish others had caught in their rush to Broome. We sat on Hilly and Steve, our favourite camping stools and enjoyed the evening breeze on the smooth fine sandy beach with a glass of red or two.
A big night out on Friday saw us at the hottest restaurant in town “The Zoo” a great meal of assorted Kimberly tucker followed by a few drinks at the “Divers Tavern” where we had the pleasure of witnessing the mating game by watching the “Mr. Cable Beach” comp, well what can we say- Miss World has nothing on the delectable boys of Broome.
Saturday was Kimberley Cup day and Magic was well represented by the buxom wench in a fetching strapless ensemble with white linen pants completed with a lovely pink hat and plastic handbag and thongs. Pity we missed the fashion parade. Mmmmm. The Day was a huge financial success with us taking all our winnings “gross” $3.00 in pocket after costs.
The weekend was not complete without a trip to the Crocodile Park and front row seating for the most amazing site Broome has to offer The Staircase to the Moon, what a awesome vision, Thousands of people lined the town beach waiting, we felt like we were waiting for a miracle, it happened the moon’s reflection on the mudflats was a sight to treasure so golden and burnt orange a sight I have never seen before.
With the weekend of fun behind us the work continued for preparation of our next long passage to Darwin, a 6 week trip is planned day sailing where possible. The Kimberley’s the 8th wonder of the world watch out cause here comes Magic