Shark Bay - Season 2

After a quick nap – we can never quite seem to get a proper sleep straight after a big passage – it was time to get organised to depart Shelter Bay and head the 10nm north to the Dirk Hartog Island Homestead. We were familiar with this great location from last year and rather than spend a whole day at Shelter Bay, we figured we would head up there for the night and then set off around towards Useless Loop the next day.

First, we wanted to await the arrival of Resolute, who had left Turtle Bay a few hours before us. We had seen them on passage, but never really got too close and now they were heading in to Shelter Bay some 4 hours after our arrival. It was Damien and Kerry’s first big passage so they were tired, but relieved to be at their destination. After a quick chat, we headed for the channel and north to the homestead.

Just like our last visit, the weather gods turned it on…. Not enough wind for sailing, but glassy and the colour palette was simply amazing. Wildlife everywhere, including dugongs, dolphins, hammerhead sharks and the copious array of birdlife in this area.

Before long, we were anchored out in front of the homestead at Dirk Hartog. Time for some chill. Nicky was pretty quick to set up the brolly up the front whilst Pete was straight in for a swim. We had a visit from a crew who were on a Canadian yacht heading north, aptly named True North. We had been crossing paths a bit, but never had the chance to chat, so it was good to have a yarn about sailing plans for both of us.

Bar opens at 5 and we were on the beach shortly after. A magic afternoon presented itself with a complete glass off – not a breath of wind and so calm that the yachts looked like they were floating in the sky. Pretty rare for this part of the coast so it made the “Dirk’n’Stormy” and the Cape Inscription gin all that tastier.

The next morning it was a 7am sails up and up anchor. Our plan was to head south east across the channel towards Denham and then turn south and head down to Boat Haven, which was about 15nm. Across this area there are numerous sand flats, so there is a marked channel to allow boats to pass east/west between Dirk Hartog/Steep Point and Denham. This channel is not super deep and there is also a deeper marked channel that runs north/south for the ships that come to Useless Loop to collect salt. Our track would take us straight past Useless Loop, which by our reckoning is probably the last ‘closed’ mining town left in WA.  

With a light south easterly, we were able to sail as far west as we needed and then we turned south and were tracking pretty much direct into wind. The wind was only about 20 knots, so we left the mainsail up and motor on.

We passed abeam of Useless Loop, staying the mandatory 800metres off the loading wharf, which was empty. The mine is owned by a Japanese company, Mitsui, and all of the salt harvested goes directly to Japan. The ships that collect the salt are not massive and have to fend for themselves getting on and off the loading wharf – there are no tugs or pilot boat here - which would be interesting to watch.

Before long we were at the entrance to Boat Haven. Entrance is a loose word as the charts show a channel, but it is not clearly visible and after about a mile we were in depths of less than 2 metres – trying to find the channel!! With Nicky on the bow trying to see ahead, we were slowly edging our way upstream and of course the sun had decided to go behind the clouds, so no help there. After about half a mile of shallow stuff, we found ourselves in the channel, which was delineated by the tidal movements and the very shallow water on each side.

The channel continued for about three miles and at places was up to 9metres deep. We felt is was very Kimberley like as we wound our way down the tidal channel following the contours of the Cararrang Peninsula. Soon, we were about as far as we could safely go and after passing a small rocky islet called Kangaroo Island we tucked into a beautiful small bay, with a rocky headland to the west, a beach to the north and a rocky coast running away to the southeast. So beautiful! We felt like we were in Greece or Croatia – except we were the only ones there. That was until we spied the local goat population who kept us entertained over the next few days.

We spent a few days exploring, unsuccessfully trying to catch squid and generally enjoying the pristine peacefulness of the area. With the lack of fishing success, we were keen to move to greener pastures, so, after a couple of days, we waited for the incoming tide and when it was about mid tide we picked our way back out the channel and then turned southeast again to explore the Henri Freycinet Harbour.  We didn’t sail this part of Shark Bay last season, so we were looking forward to discovering new ground.