WEEK 6 - 31 May to 6 June - Escape River to Gove

Well we made it – we crossed the dreaded Gulf of Carpentaria and are now in Gove in the Northern Territory taking a little time out for some well earned R&R!

Day 38: 31 May Escape River to Cape York
Two yachts and a cat came in late yesterday afternoon so we called them up and told them we would be going out with them so we had a convoy leaving the Escape River heading to Cape York. Despite the strong wind warning the seas were surprisingly flat and we left at 12 midday to catch the rising tide to go through the Albany Passage to the Cape. Coming into the Passage was just magical. The current caught us and we floated through doing almost 8 knots but it didn’t feel like we were moving. Came out the other side and the sail was so good we just kept going and rounded the Cape and anchored on the western side where it blew an absolute gale and rained all night.
Miles: 30 Total 1,422

Day 39: 1 June Cape York to Seisia
We all abandoned our trip to the Cape as we couldn’t even get our tenders in the water it was so windy so left to go to Seisia. The sail was lovely until we rounded the corner past Possession Island where it gusted to 45knots!! It was a short sharp blustery trip down and we anchored on the western side of the Seisia anchorage with Whistle Down The Wind and Cillentro while Escape and Wave Chaser joined Kristie 1 in the bay. Went to town and had a nice walk. It is a lovely clean little town with friendly people.
Miles: 20 Total 1,442

Day 40: 2 June Seisia Happy Birthday Judy
Whistle Down the Wind and Kristie 1 left for their trip across the Gulf and we went to town – found a hot dog at the petrol station – amazing the things you crave for!! Spent some time in town, walked to the jetty and watched the kids fishing and met up with Eric and Kim from Escape. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at lovely little Seisia. Returned to the boat and Peter cooked meals for the next three days and we prepared the boat for the Gulf crossing.

Days 41 – 43 Seisia to Gove
We left under cloudy skies at 8.30am with Cillentro and headed for the southern channel of the Endeavour Straits. Escape, Wave Chaser and Play On left and headed for the northern channel. It was extremely windy and the seas through the Strait were like a cauldron and it was very hard to steer the course Peter was calling to me – correction followed by overcorrection etc but we finally got through so put the autohelm on and headed out to the Gulf. The seas were very confused with. very short steep waves from all directions -extremely uncomfortable. We did three hour shifts through the night and it was always comforting to see Cillentro’s light in front of us and their sail through the day. During my early morning shift I was singing all the songs I knew (that’s Dell not Peter) and came to the realisation that I did not know one song all the way through – just snippets and chorus’s. Very sad – resorted to nursery rhymes and then made up my own – whatever, it got me through the night. The first night was overcast and the second night the moon was up – personally I prefer the dark as if you can’t see the waves they can’t frighten you! Jeff off Wave Sweeper called us all up morning and night to see how we were all travelling and to give position reports. Coastwatch aircraft called us up again after swooping low beside us. Obviously their eyesight wasn’t as good as the last time as they called us Pacific Princess and Cillentro became Charlotte! Suffice to say it was a truly uncomfortable three days and two nights with very short sharp seas the entire journey and the sea was so dark. I saw my first sea snake and when we sighted land at noon on the third day small dolphins played around the boat. We had a lovely sail between the final island and mainland and made our way round to Gove closely followed by Cillentro. There is a huge aluminum plant on the point which looks a bit like a large fun park except it smokes! At night it lights up like a Christmas tree and is very pretty! We finally anchored at 5.30 and went to bed feeling absolutely shattered!!!
Miles: 345 Total: 1,787

Day 44 – Saturday 6 June Gove
We got up late and tidied up and then went in to check out the yacht club. Called in to see Wave Sweeper on the way and went aboard for morning tea. Met Tom who runs the yacht club and got some good information then had a couple of drinks with Kim and Eric (Escape) then back to the boat then back to the yacht club at 5 for drinks and dinner with the crews from Whistle Down the Wind, Cillentro, Single Malt and Wave Sweeper A lovely young girl was sampling different types of champagnes for her wedding in three weeks time so came over and asked us to sample them all to see which ones we liked the best. Suffice to say it was a good night out!!!
As I said we are finally in the NT and we will stay here a few more days (besides it is a holiday tomorrow and the shops are closed in the nearby town).



Miss you all.
Fair Winds
Dell and Peter