Dear Friends
Carnarvon was our first long stop, for about a week, and it was here that we finally replaced the alternator and got rid of the needling battery problems.
We are totally self sufficient on Mischief. We have to be! We generate our own electricity, via wind, sun, and when both fail, via either engine or generator. I’m happy to say that, over the past month, we have only resorted to the generator 3 times for very short spurts, and that includes running not only all our ‘household’, including washing machine, but also the water maker, with the water tank in a very healthy near full position most of the time.
The next stage of our journey northwards along the West Australian coast took us along Ningaloo reef, with the first stop at Coral Bay. Here we caught up with fellow cruisers Leighton and Julie on Downshifting with whom we cruised for the next few weeks.
Our first foray ashore in crystal clear waters, and these lovely spangled emperor came to greet us (it’s a norm, especially as no fishing is allowed in the marine park) – photo attached.
We swan and snorkelled along the pristine turquoise waters, incredible coral reef and lots of marine life in the various places we called into along the reef, always anchoring inside the reef. A number of spots we called into were turtle nesting places, and though these were all around us, never succeeded in taking a photo of these shy creatures, which dive the minute they spot you.
We did try fishing where this was allowed, but have not yet landed anything worthy of mention. Unfortunately though, there are a number of fish now swimming the ocean with our lures attached. The first one broke an 80 lb line, the second, split a lure open and took off with the hook and the last one snapped the line again. Luckily Leighton and Julie on Downshifting proved incredibly successful fishermen and kept us going. We repaid their generosity by introducing them to a very versatile card came called “Frustration”… we still have to finish it!!!!
Our first brush with strong winds came at Tantabiddy, near Exmouth, where we stayed for about 10 days. With Downshifting, we hired a car so we could get to Exmouth, collect our mail, do some shopping, see some sights, and see to the bits and pieces that need attending to.
We waved Tantabiddy and our friends on Downshifting farewell on the 12 June. After a lovely 5 hour sail averaging a good 7 knots we reached Serrurier Island, and I i
mmediately fell in love with this place and opted to spend the next 3 days there. The reef was in really good condition, and the fish plentiful, as were the oysters along the shoreline. We had the place all to ourselves for the first two days, and then a powerboat called in on the third.With favourable winds blowing again, we headed off to Onslow, a very interesting old town that services the Onslow salt works and surrounding mines. Again, strong winds have held us here longer that the two days planned. There are strong wind and gale force warnings all around us, and this has been the case all week, but we seem to have been in a wind hole at Onslow as the winds have not exceeded 20-23 knots until this morning.
One of the pleasures of cruising is the circle that develops on HF radio, and we are in touch with cruisers up and down the coast and even in Cocos Islands. With two radio schedules a day (morn & evening) you can catch up with who’s doing what, where all the time!!!
Tomorrow we head north towards Dampier (a three day trip through the Mangrove islands passage, past Sholl Island for a sleepover and then on to the Dampier archipelago and Dampier).
There have been few idle moments since we left Fremantle, as we have been attending to the numerous items that demand attention and fine-tuning the boat. Living aboard in a marina and living aboard whilst under passage is significantly different – you are constantly looking for good anchorages, as there are no marinas to speak off along the northern coast line. But Mischief is doing very well, and we’re following suite.
If you want to follow our journey, you can visit the Google Map you find if you follow this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112571862415287107174.00044d3e61644f046395b
