A passage south…

On another beautiful clear and sunny morning, we edged our way out of Notch Point with the depth well below 2 metres in the area where we had anchored. One of the advantages of the east side of Dirk Hartog Island is the lack of swell and therefore it allows you to get as close to the shoreline as your boat depth allows without worrying about any form of breaking wave should a swell arrive. On departure, we need to backtrack to the north towards Egg Island in order to safely pass a shallow sandbar which runs in a north east direction for about 1 mile.

We have about 4nm to travel south to get to the Dirk Hartog Island homestead, and, with light winds, we are cruising at 6 knots under motor with the homestead visible ahead. Dirk Hartog Island has a history of pastoral use since the 1800’s and this was the case right up until 2008 when it was declared a national park. Former Perth Lord Mayor Sir Thomas Wardle acquired the pastoral lease in 1968, regarding DHI as one of Australia’s most historic destinations and with a future view for it to become a National park. In 2007 the ‘Return to 1616’ project was initiated to restore the island to the same condition as 1616. As such, DHI is a very interesting destination with a mix of nature and history. We were very keen to explore the homestead precinct , which has been converted to a tourist destination with a Lodge and camping areas.

As we slowly idled into the clear, green waters out in front of the homestead, we were met by a friendly dolphin. Our arrival also coincided with the arrival of the DHI boat, bringing visitors on day trips from Denham. No wind, sunny and lovely water so Pete was straight in for a swim and in true ‘task oriented’ form was soon giving the sail drives and propellers a quick once over in preparation for our passage south from Steep Point.

We were soon in Bob and headed to shore for a wander around the homestead. The original shearers quarters, built in 1865 has been converted into an Eco Lodge and looks fantastic. Only metres from the beach, with a lovely patch of lawn, the old stone building looks like a great spot to spend a few days. Adjacent to this is a small bar and shop which has been built to suit DHI and also pay tribute to its history. The pictures tell the story! Bar opens at 5pm each night, so, after some more exploring, we headed back to Singularity with a plan to return at 5!

In no time, the afternoon was here and we donned our ‘going out’ thongs and headed to the beach. Ginger beer on tap - as well as their own Cape Inscription gin - a perfect set up for the Singularity crew! G beer for Pete and Nic was into a G & T as we took up a seat overlooking the water. With limited numbers of people on the island at any time, the crowd is always small, probably bigger than usual due to school holidays.

After a couple of drinks and some fire pit time as the sun set, it was time to get back to the boat. We needed to start getting her ready for our big passage south, and the first step would be heading to Steep Point to in the morning.

It is another ten miles to Shelter Bay, the staging point for our departure from Steep Point. Tracking from the homestead, you pass Tumbledown Point before entering Blind Straight, which is a marked channel that traverses some more shallow flats. Then, around a corner, bringing you into Shelter Bay, with Steep Point a further 2nm to the west. We soon arrive and see some familiar faces in Arabella, Soujourn and La Mitsu - three catamarans all at anchor.

It is another beautiful day, so, after a quick hello to our neighbours, we head to the beach and go for a walk west towards a large sand point at the western end of the bay. Crystal clear water, white sand… why on earth are we continuing to head south?

After a walk, we returned to the boat for a bite of lunch and a swim before a dinghy explore. We had heard that there were some crew from Scarboro surf club camped here and before long Scott Hawkins pulled up in his tinnie to say g’day. Scott went to school with Nic’s brother, Drew, so a double connection there. We have a chat before they head to the beach to clean their catch and we jump into Bob to explore the northern side of the bay out towards Surf Point.

After a fun explore - there is certainly enough to see to spend a few days here - we return to the boat to prep for the next days passage. We have a minimum of 130miles to sail to get to the Wallabi Group at the Abrolhos or 170nm to go straight to Geraldton. This means an overnight sail, and, whilst conditions look favourable, the boat needs to be ship shape, including a check of the motors etc. More importantly, we only have an hour as we have a sundowner on the beach to get to!

Eureka IV arrives late afternoon and we end up having a good chat with Karl, who has his Dad (in his eighties) on board as crew. They have sailed down from Carnarvon today in order to get on this weather window.

At 4.30pm we head to the beach and have a sundowner with the crews of Arabella, Sojourn and La Mitsu. Quite a social scene this cruising, but, more importantly, the tips and info that you learn from other cruisers is priceless. We decide that anchors up will be at 0430hrs and our track will be down the strait and out to sea past Steep Point. We will be in the dark, but, with Arabella taking the lead, we will all follow in line!

3.45am… alarm goes off… kettle on and start final preps on the boat. The forecast is for an initial southerly, turning east and then becoming light, before going westerly. Fingers crossed that the forecast holds and we can sail in a timely manner in order to cover the big distance. Wednesday morning sees the passage of a decent cold front with strong south westerly winds, so everyone wants to be at a destination prior to that.

Overnight, we have been joined by another cat, Kindred, which increases our convoy to six vessels. At 4.30am there is an orderly departure with Arabella taking the lead and everyone sitting in behind with about half a nautical mile between boats. Thank goodness for AIS - it means you can see where everyone is without looking at radar, so makes life much easier in the dark. The campers on the beach must have got a shock when they got up - went to bed with six catamarans moored out the front and woke up to an empty ocean out the front.

We clear Steep Point and find ourselves in a somewhat confused sea. It was what we expected and not too bad. We are able to unfurl the screecher and sail for about 45 minutes before the wind gets a bit too fluky. Our plan is to use the south easterly to travel quite west, which will both clear us from the confused seas off the cliffs but also allow us to have a better wind angle when the wind arrives. So we head quite west away from the rest of the fleet; motors are on and whilst the mainsail is up not much is happening in terms of propulsion from the sails. As we get further out, we find ourselves with a nice tail current of nearly two knots, and, as a result, are making good ground. It is a bit lumpy but not really uncomfortable.

By 3pm, it is completely glassy so we have dropped the mainsail and continue to motor. It is so calm that the scrabble board comes out and we managed a game just before sunset. The forecast westerly hasn’t arrived, but we still have a good current going with us and we aren’t punching into big seas so we are content.

There are some interesting currents in this area which are noted on the charts. We are sailing on course and when we are about abeam Kalbarri the current goes from 1.8knots south to 6.5 knots east! We felt the boat shudder and then watched the course go a bit haywire as the autopilot struggled to match up to the new current. In order to hold our course over ground, we was adding in 50 degrees of compensation to the west - so we were almost tracking sideways!

We are constantly reviewing our position and, based on our current projections, we will arrive at Turtle Bay, Wallabi Group, Abrolhos at about 0300hrs in the morning. So, we decide that we will run straight into Geraldton. It will be touch and go with the front, but we are confident that we will be close enough to be ok. This will mean a big course change once we get abeam with Gregory to cut across and into Geraldton. The current continues and at times we have 7knots of eastward current… kind of bizarre as we had never heard about this from other cruisers etc.

We are running shifts, with Pete on watch up to midnight, Nicky midnight to 0300 and then Pete from 0300 through to dawn. Some music, podcasts or some general contemplation are what keep you going whilst on shift. Once we get closer to the coast, we start to get internet so that means we can listen to the radio which helps to mix things up a little.

During the early hours, we pass in front of Kindred and Arabella as we make for Geraldton and they continue on track for the Abrolhos. Dawn arrives and the wind and seas are still calm with a westerly of about 10 knots blowing. However, it looks a bit ominous to the west and about 12 miles north west of Geraldton we have a quick chat with Karl from Eureka who is behind us and also heading to Gero. A large black mass of clouds to the west signals the arrival of the front, and, in anticipation, we reduce the mainsail area with two reefs in place. No point waiting until it is blowing - better to be prepared before it arrives.

Nic is asleep on the couch, blissfully unaware of the impending squall, and soon the rain is torrential and the wind is blowing 28knts from the south west. We still have a strong eastward current which means that the boat is side on to the wind and waves. The next one and a half hours are not too much fun as we try and negotiate a rapidly building sea and maintain our course into Geraldton. We take a few decent waves on the beam and Pete is hand steering to try and keep us on the safest course. With the wind hitting 30knots, we turn into wind and drop the mainsail, before turning back and continuing on with just the jib in place. We find having the jib out, which is quite small, helps balance the boat and makes it a bit easier to manage.

We can finally see the harbour but now need to negotiate the Northern channel into Geraldton, with the wind still on the beam. After a fair old slapping, we find ourselves in the lee of Point Moore and the safety of Geraldton harbour. We have been sailing for 28 hours and have travelled 190nm so it was a welcome relief to get out of the weather into the safe haven of Champion Bay, where we will anchor.

We have a quick passing chat with Eureka as they set anchor and then we do the same, in our familiar spot out front of the Francis Street boat ramp. A quick tidy up of the boat and then the call is made for coffee and breakfast. So, into Bob it is, and walk the short distance into the CBD for a well-earned cooked breakfast with all the trimmings. The previous 28 hours has well and truly caught up with us and we are in a bit of a fatigue induced ‘walking coma’ - reminded Pete of the good old days of night shift! We debrief our trip - the usual sailing trip - 90 percent boredom, ten percent sheer terror and then head back to Bob and back to Singularity to crash out.

A busy few days ahead in organising to get Singularity hauled out as well as a whole bunch of jobs to be completed; but we are happy to be back in Geraldton knowing that we have just accomplished the most challenging passage of any visit north. We are also excited to be back closer to friends and family!