Gove to Elcho

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Dad and Bren arrived Sun 7:40 in Gove and were on the boat by about 8:30. After a short induction and safety brief, we were on our way. As it turned out, it was a very soupy and rough trip to Cape Wilburforce. We dodged most of the rain showers, passed a couple of anchored ships in the harbour and were all happy to drop anchor in Elizabeth Bay a couple of hours later. So, not the best first day for Bren and Dad. Pete and Margaret from Swara II came over for sundowners.

The next day we sailed through the hole in the wall. We had to time the tide exactly right so that we could safely pass through. We had to reduce all sail to try and slow down, and typical, the day we want to go slow….we can’t. So we ended up at the entrance too early and had to wait outside for the tide to turn. Friends from Swara II went through before us, and found it slightly hairy, but ‘made it through ok’. We went about 2hrs after and it was all fine. Still early for the tide, but managed to sail most of the way through. It is a stunning short trip through, but you have to be on the ball as far as depths and currents go as it’s very narrow and the tide just races through. Once we got just round the corner we anchored up just before the pearl farm. We went ashore and all went for a walk, stretching our legs and enjoying the sunset from the shore. We saw 3 turtle nests and some small crocodile tracks. It was a lovely little beach though.

From Hole in the wall we had a longer day sail, but it was lovely. It was calm as we were protected by Elcho Island and so went a bit further than originally thought and anchored in Refuge Bay. We had to anchor way out as the depth shallowed very quickly. We considered the current state of tide, the amount it was to move and set in for the night. Bren and Dad went for an explore on land. Later that night, Phil checked the depth and realised that it was way lower than we expected for that time. For the next 4hrs we were constantly checking the depth ready for ‘action stations’ if it got too low. Bren and Phil had done the maths (the rule of 12ths) and had decided that really we should be ok with cms to spare. Dad stayed up on deck the whole time watching the lowering depth sounder and at 10:30pm decided that it had stopped falling and that we should be ok. The lowest we got was 0.6m under the keel. (too shallow in our books). The next day the low tide was going to be even lower, so on high tide we upanchored and moved out into deeper waters.

This made us even further from the shore, but nonetheless, we went ashore on a fishing expedition. We enjoyed hunting and gathering - Dad got a small crab and the claw of a large one and Bren caught a Barracuda and a shark. We lit a fire on the shore and cooked the crab and fish. What a lovely way to spend the day. In the afternoon we went ashore again to visit the community and a good friend there – Bunthay. He showed us through his garden and gave us some very, very sweet fresh bananas from his tree.

Then it was on to Elcho. What a wonderful way to arrive….to sail down the coast. Dad was often watching the coast and recognising many camps, creeks and landmarks. It is very difficult to describe the emotions when we set anchor in Mission Beach, Elcho Island. And there, waiting on the shore were Nao and Alfie – family waiting for us to arrive.

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