Mixing it up at South Lefroy

With a nice easterly, we chew through the short passage pretty quickly and soon we are preparing to make our way in through the reef. There is a decent swell running so, after dropping sails, we always take our time watching and observing the water and where waves are breaking and peaking etc. No need to rush these things and better to be cautious to ensure you get the right line.

We are back in one of the major camping areas now, so there is a little bit of dinghy and small boat traffic coming and going. This is reassuring in that we know we are in the right place to pass through the reef, but also if it all goes tits up there are some people around to help!! No surprises as we pass through the first main channel and then we need to just be cautious as we pick our way through coral bommies sitting just below the surface. All new territory for us and again pretty much unsurveyed - so we make our way carefully back north towards Point Billie.

Point Billie was going to be our destination, but as we approach there is plenty of depth and nice sand so we continue south right up to the point at South Lefroy. This puts us right amongst the campers, but it is nice and sheltered and calm - oh, and access to a left and right hand surf break right out the front of us.

We have a great couple of days here - mixed results on the surf - with one nice afternoon surf on the left - a bit sketchy on low tide with plenty of sharp coral nasties, but fun all the same. The next day a forecast new swell arrived and it was way too big for these breaks - so exploration took over and we took Bob right up to almost Point Edgar, at Norwegian Bay. From here, we did a big walk, passing close to an osprey nest, with mother and chick, right through to the northern side of Norwegian Bay. We were in a full moon phase, apparently a ‘supermoon’ and so the tides were exceptionally high. This meant some great foraging on the high tide line around into the bay, with the old whaling station in sight in the distance. Keen to get back there and explore more closely next time we visit. An unsuccessful fishing outing and then back to the boat for swim and relax…what we do best!

A good weather window to get to Yardie Creek is upon us - which means cutting our time short here - but also a good wind and swell to sail the 14nm to Yardie and then set up and surf the next swell. Blue Yonder was also on the move - up to Tantabiddi so we planned to join them as they sailed past northwards up the reefline.

The safest way to get out is to follow your route on the way in - so with our incoming track displayed on out chart plotter we head north and out of the reef. Once outside the reef we hoist the mainsail and then quickly discover that our steering bug is back and we cannot steer. A few moments of angst as we are only 500 metres beyond the crashing breakers and the wind and current are conspiring to not allow us an easy passage away. We finally manage to break free of the current and get some distance between us and the surf and once again Pete is on his hands and knees trying to fix the problem.

We make a pretty quick determination that we need to head straight to Exmouth to get this sorted once and for all. This means bypassing Yardie Creek - but hey we can catch that later. Our new destination is now Tantabiddi, some 36 plus miles north. We call up Blue Yonder and update them on our situation and soon we have the screecher sail up and the boat is behaving. When we had our initial steering issue we lost a small piece of metal, called the key which sits in a small groove and keeps the steering cog from turning on itself. Ours disappeared down into the abyss below our steering set up and whilst we could still steer the boat, if there was any significant pressure on the system then the steering cog would turn on its own. Pete knew what the problem was, now he needed to confirm and order a new part, something best done on the shelter of the Exmouth canals.

So a short day turned into a long day and we pulled into the leads at Tantabiddi just before the sun was setting. We quickly found anchorage just to the north of the channel and well short of the main anchorage area, but is was a good hold and would allow for a quick exit in the morning.

Next stop = Exmouth.