So, leaving
Cape York and heading across the Gulf of Carpentaria was done with a bit of
trepidation. We heard many stories about how rough it can be, so we closely
watched the weather, talked to locals, state of the tide (springs and neaps), etc. Boats queued up waiting for the right "weather
window", which came on the 26th of June with a mass exodus from Seisia of
about a dozen boats for the big dash across "the Gulf". It turned out
to be a great trip... no worries mate, not sure what all the fuss was about. J We also knew that a
new high pressure system was moving in down south and it would get windy again
in a couple of days up here, so were thinking about continuing on to Cape Don, another
2 days. But since it was Sherry's birthday the next day and a rest sounded good
after 345 miles, 3 days and 2 nights at sea, we put into a small bay. Two Island Bay is
located just under Cape Wessel, which is at the top of a long line of thin low
lying islands about 75 miles from the mainland. Basically, we were out in the
middle of nowhere. But we weren't alone as 7 other boats stopped there as well.
The boat 'Rutea' offered to host a celebration cocktail party... How convenient
is that with Sherry's birthday the same day! It was great fun and a wonderful
day. Here's a little video clip to record the extravaganza.
We stayed
here a few more days waiting for the high to move on and let the winds settle
down a bit. We decided to put to sea somewhat early as it was still a bit
blustery, but we knew we wouldn't make it sailing all the way if we waited
another day as the winds were expected to die before we got to the other side.
So we put up with strong winds and big seas (3-4 meter waves) for 24+ hours
that rolled EQ around quite a bit. But she’s a good sailor and the autopilot
didn't miss a beat, so all we had to do was hang on. 405 miles, another 3 days and 2 nights
later, we were motor-sailing into Darwin with light winds and a lovely sunset, happy
to be in one place for a few weeks. J
Now, that's 2214 nautical miles from Brisbane and the RQYS, where 1464 of those miles was up the coast of Queensland and 750 miles across the top of Oz. All in less than 2 months. Certainly not enough time, but we're on a mission to head into SE Asia and the "Orient". J
So, that's
the news from EQ, where the winds a fair, the seas following, and the crew
content.J with
Equanimity and Joy
