Today is a day of very light winds - mostly 7 knots or less. This combined with the fact we’re sailing along behind reefs, means its quite flat. Conditions are very pleasant apart from the lack of wind. We have been mostly motorsailing but now we’re turning more towards Cape Melville its more on the nose.If conditions remain like this, we’ll carry on overnight as its a good opportunity to get around Cape Melville and make progress south. Not sure where we’ll stop - there are quite a few

We left the outer reaches of the Lockhart River at dawn. Leaf, another cat, was head of us and he stopped at Night island.The wind first thing was SE which gave us an unexpected lift out to Cape Direction, but then it was hard going after that. The swell eased off during the day, and the wind turned more easterly but we were mostly very hard on the wind all day.We’ve opted to stop at Morris Island for the night, and we’ll resume tomorrow. Another day of easterly winds, going NE towards Princ

At high tide, we left the river and anchored outside again. There’s a bit of beam swell but hopefully it’ll calm down as the tide begins to ebb. It was nice to be safe, sound and flat in the river for the blow, but the wind is improving now.Already today we see periods of E wind - and tomorrow looks better. So we’ll leave at dawn and begin the trek south. The aim is to be in Cairns for Friday. We will stop on the way - but the first leg will be at least 24hrs as I want to get as far down t

After a long last day, chasing Palawan Dreaming (another cat who left Margaret Bay as we were approaching it), we finally anchored in Portland Roads for the night. We had hoped to get internet access there, and though we found a signal, it was pretty slow.Scott from Palawan Dreaming came over to talk about the weather, and suggested that Portland Roads would be uncomfortable in the coming blow. I’d seen reports which had said it was ok if you anchored fore and aft to point into the swell that

Wind has been more S than E which is a pain, but somewhat expected. It won’t be until we reach Cairns that we can expect a bit more convenient wind. So we just need to keep on plugging away at it slowly.The sea state has been a bit worse today than the wind would have you imagine - so its slowing our progress a bit. It will improve overnight and tomorrow should be a bit lighter combined with us being a bit further south. We’ll see how it progresses.All good onboard. We’ll probably end up s

Well, thats it - we’ve rounded Cape York. 12hrs later than I had hoped but it was a tad too windy to bother last night. So we’re taking this mornings tide (we hope) to get a nice shove down the Albany Passage.So having rounded Cape York - I’ve now done all 4 corners of the Australian continent!

We had a nice day at Thursday Island yesterday. Visited the most northern pub in Australia, had a beer to two (though at another pub as the most northern pub wasn’t doing food or anything other than tinnies. There’s only a few metres in it…). Saw some of the island including the forts at the top of the hill and the very impressive cemetery. Photos to follow…Today we did a quick final provision, said our goodbyes to the boats in the anchorage and made our way in 25knots of wind and some m

We opted to sail the last day, as we finally had wind - but that meant a late arrival into Seisia. At 9pm we were picking our way through the channel markers heading to the secure anchorage behind Red Island. Anchoring was easy with the good moon we had and our radar meant we could find a spot between 2 other boats with plenty of room to swing. That done, we didn’t do a lot more.In fact, the next day we didn’t do a lot - recovering from the long passage. We did go ashore to have a quick look

We had a great morning of sailing - wind slowly went NNE, and we were making great progress under full sail and full genoa. Lovely conditions, even though we were tight on the wind. Typically we were seeing 10knots of true wind, and managing to sail at 5 or 6 on almost the right course!This afternoon, the wind has done what it usually does and has gone light and very variable. Lots of shifts from N through to E. N is great, E less so. Its also eased back to 6 knots or less. We’re now motorsail

Still making steady progress across the gulf. Sailing when we have enough wind, motoring or motorsailing when not. Not enough sailing for my liking but that was the forecast we expected.We haven’t seen another vessel, so the watches have been pretty easy. Plenty of TV being watched and books being read…

Forgot to mention, we hooked and landed a nice Spanish Mackerel which has yielded quite a bit of meat. The fish was over 1.3m long, so the freezer is now stocked and we had a lovely lunch!We had been told there are lots of bigeye tuna in the gulf at the moment too, but with the freezer and fridges full, we’ll not put a line back in just yet. Maybe Thursday we’ll see if we can bag a tuna…

This morning we picked up the anchor just after dawn and headed around to the Gugari Rip (or Hole in the Wall). We planned to be there about 30mins before high tide, but we were a bit earlier.The channel was quite calm but the current was flowing strongly - over 4 knots pushing us though. With both engines on (just in case), idle speed, we managed 9 knots over the ground!On the other side, we raised the mainsail and started motorsailing in light breezes - which went around to the SE. Very conven

…was the phrase I heard whilst listening to The Pretenders on the stereo this morning. Its very true, the Wessel Islands are very special indeed. Stuck out into the current the washes back and forth along the Arafura sea, they are teaming with life and yet also very rugged.We’re anchored next to the well known Hole in the Wall, which is very apt when you look at the formation of islands projecting NE from close to the mainland. Its also known as the Gugari Rip - a 64m wide, 1nm long cut thro

Not much to report. Not much wind, so we’ve been motoring the past 24hrs. Its very hot, particularly without the breeze. We’re expecting 10-15knots on the nose tonight, arriving at the Wessel Islands at dawn.We’re seeing plenty of fish. Its so hot, at first we weren’t fussed but we have put the lines in now. Just lost a small tuna - but given the number of schools we’ve seen, I think we stand a reasonable chance of landing one.We’ll have 24hrs or so at anchor in the Wessels whilst th

Plain sailing all the way. Well, I say sailing, but we motor-sailed or motored through the night. The current was against us to begin with, but we hit Cape Keith at the allotted hour (1.5hrs after high tide Darwin) and had a nice push the rest of the way. It was pretty flat all the time - no overfalls or lively sea states which is much appreciated!The forecast is for continued light or no winds, so we’ll make the most direct route for the Wessel Islands that we can. We should arrive there arou

After our day in Kakadu, we were up early the next morning and underway to Litchfield. The promise was for swimming holes in fresh water and without crocs! It was a 4.5hr drive back, and we ended up at Florence Falls which was lovely.We did managed a swim at Florence, but it was pretty busy. However that was nothing compared to Wangi Falls which was heaving. We skipped the swim there.That meant we were back in Darwin a bit earlier than planned, and left us time to get on with a few jobs. Monday

Small progress, but we have made it out of the marina and are back at anchor in Fannie Bay. Now we’re looking for weather to head east across the Top End.Its been quite hectic in the marina. Lots of jobs to do, and inevitably, fixing one job leads to another. I got the air-conditioning working by changing the sea water pump which is used to dump the heat by the chiller. Of course, the pump I needed wasn’t available up here - so I took a spare one from the generator which then meant changing

Well, we’ve managed to refuel and get through the lock into Cullen Bay marina. Since then its been a bit of a whirlwind. Socialising with boats we’ve not seen for a while, washing (boat, clothes and bedding), assisting another cruiser with an electrical problem which left them ‘darkship’ in the middle of the Arafura sea (melted battery switch, all sorted now), and the odd meal out.Our job list is shrinking slowly. A new control module for the freezer was acquired and the freezer is now c

We made it into Darwin safely in daylight. We had to motorsail more than I’d wanted, but the forecast wasn’t quite right. Then the fabled NW sea breeze stayed determinedly NE, which caused us to be very very tight on the wind up to Charles Point. Naturally, the wind was increasing then, but we did have the tide with us.The last 11 miles was a blast, wind on the beam, current with us and very fast. We even got a bit of water on the deck.The anchorage isn’t too bad, a bit of a slow roll comi

We’re making reasonable progress across the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf - also known as the Blown Apart gulf for its habit of very strong winds. As a result, most yachts pick the weather carefully which really means motoring rather than sailing.For us, so far, its mostly been motoring or motor-sailing. Not that we’re complaining! I knew this would be the case, which is why we were so careful to save diesel in the Kimberley. We have the luxury of being able to motor as required.We’ve seen a few t