Yardie Creek

Before leaving Coral Bay, we collected our DVD of the Whale Shark experience (link will be posted soon) and moved Smiley up to Point Maud via the tortuous channel through the markers. We took the opportunity to try and spot some manta rays. We saw a few, but nothing too large. We also saw a dugong close up.

Camelot was anchored up at Maud Point, so we had Steve, Mike and Elaine over for sundowners and dinner. All very civilised until Magda decided to crack the bottle of spiced rum that Matt gave us before we left. 3 hours later and after a couple of hours disco dancing to Magda’s gym music, the Camelot trio staggered off to bed.

I don’t know how they felt the next morning but Magda didn’t appear above deck all day. Thanks for the headache Matt! Read more »

Exploring the reef

Last day but one at Coral Bay and we decided to do the swimming with Whale Sharks tour. The kind lady at Ningaloo Reef Dive picked us up from the Marine Facility at 7.30, so we could drive into town to sign the indemnity form (“anything happens to you, it’s your fault”), and wait 30minutes for the bus to take us back to the Marine Facility. Ho hum. Read more »

We swam with not just one, but three different whale sharks today. Absolutely amazing experience. Longer post tomorrow – we are rushing to prepare our G&T for the sunset.

I also managed to get a photo with Stuart behind it:

Main bay

It’s been about 15 years since I was last at Coral Bay and boy, have things changed! There was the resort of course, but it was single storey, not double. The caravan park was there but it was small and discrete, now it fills the shoreline, not counting the permanent residents’ camp ½ mile back. And they’re building a new luxury resort.

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The problem with the batteries was that we’d run them down and the solar panels and windgenerator weren’t getting them back up (or not quickly anyway). So we grabbed a pen and hooked up to shore power to charge up the batteries. This seems to have fixed the problem, but we will need to be a lot more conservative with battery use, especially overnight.

As Magda said, I also took the chance to do a couple of minor jobs using shore power which sets us up nicely for ‘The North’.

We left Carnarvon on Friday with a new battery management plan and a high tide to handle the Fascine. No problems now we know the markers. Read more »

Town centre

Another longer than planned stay – this time not as pleasant as Monkey Mia.  Fortunately we are leaving tomorrow morning – batteries are fully charged and Stuart fixed a couple problems on the dinghy davits. Can’t wait to leave….

I don’t know why, but I had really strange feelings about this place. First – the place itself. Forget the clash between my expectations (fooled by colourful tourist brochures) and the reality. The place was just strange and unwelcoming on this hot and dusty Saturday afternoon after our arrival. The town centre was almost completely deserted. Read more »

Cruising The Fascine

We arrived in Carnarvon on Saturday and successfully negotiated the infamous entrance to the Fascine. Thank God it was high tide as a confusing cardinal mark sent us into what would be dry land at Lowest Astronomical Tide. The mark is set up for the commercial boats which use a different channel. The cruising guide implied we should ignore it but the local Volunteer Radio guy told us to follow it. As depth dropped to below a metre we realised the guide was right, so quickly turned round and recovered the situation.

The rest of the channel was straightforward, if a little nail-biting as the mudflats seemed to be in touching distance.

Dropped anchor just off the yacht club with yet another cat. This time a pair of ‘grey nomads’ who annually head up to Carnarvon from Perth and spend 4 or 5 months here. Read more »

Red Cliff Pt, Bernier Island

Turtle Bay (northern tip of Dirk Island) was rather disappointing – on the second day we experienced some swell which made the stay quite uncomfortable. I got seasick while at anchor! We were pretty happy to leave on Thursday morning heading north towards two islands west of Carnarvon: Dorre & Bernier Islands.

A very nice sail (a bit slow according to Stuart). The scenery as we passed Dorre was spectacular – long, low red cliffs and beautifully clear water. We could see the bottom at 8 metres. Read more »

Smiley in Turtle Bay (Dirk Hartog Island)

We finally departed Monkey Mia as the weather improved. A late start as the tidal streams down the Peron Peninsular are pretty fierce. Camelot and Kinchega left with us for a pleasant downwind sail to Broadhurst Bight, on the west side of the cape.

The sail training ship Leeuwin II had arrived at Monkey Mia the weekend and dropped anchor quite a way out. We were astonished the next morning to see the tender being rowed in against a 20 knot breeze. As they docked we could see they had a motor, so it was a bit of a puzzle why they rowed. My theory is that the students had opted for a conservative anchorage and the skipper had said, right, you’ve chosen to anchor right out here, so now you can row in! Read more »

Northern WA costal scenery -yellow & red sand

Time to move today, so probably the last chance to update the blog for a week or so.

We had a great time here – one week with some walks, fishing trips and a one day drive down to the south of the Peron Peninsula. This came up quite unexpectedly in fact. We just wanted to catch a bus or one of the airport shuttles to go to Denham (28 km from Monkey Mia). We’ve been at the resort at least 2 times asking if they know how to get to Denham without any success: no buses, shuttle goes only to the airport (6 km out of Denham) and no, they don’t know ANY way we can get there in the morning and come back in the afternoon. None. God Bless those girls – selling must not have been part of their training. Nor common sense if you think of it. On the third day someone else told us the resort has… cars for rent. We went there again. Read more »