Our hurried departure and sail to Port Denison

Dear family and friends.    Yes, we did leave Mandurah, albeit rather hurriedly.    We were pretty much prepared to leave on Saturday morning, but the Premier’s announcement of the Covid lockdown meant a quick departure late Friday afternoon 23 April 2021.  We left Mandurah marina about 5 pm in order to get out of the Perth Peel region before the lockdown commenced at midnight.  It was all a bit of a rush, but S2ee did manage to fit in a last minute trip to ALDI for even more chocolate and peanut cookie supplies!

This was the start of a two night sail and our first big passage on Mad Fish.  We headed North West from Mandurah, going about 12 km around the back of Rottnest Island before turning North East toward Jurien.  At one stage we were  45 km from the coast and in 110 m deep water – very exciting.  We took three hour shifts overnight, but did not manage to get much sleep as we were both pretty alert to funny bumps, noises and wind shifts.    But the sailing and sea conditions were amazing and all went smoothly.  I even managed to make water, catch up on the washing, and grind the coffee so we had plentiful supplies to keep us awake.


En route, we were visit by a small pod of dolphins who took it in turns to ride the bow wave of the tiny house.   This was a much larger species than the resident dolphins of Dolphin Lagoon in Mandurah.  I think my next project will be reading up about dolphin species of WA.




We arrived in Jurien late Sunday afternoon, totally exhausted.  We fell into bed with no dinner at about 7 pm and slept for 11 hours straight.   We then left early Monday for a quick trip to Green Head, planning for some more relaxation and sleep – but that was not to eventuate.  While the sea was glassy smooth, the swell picked up overnight, making for very rolly conditions.  I thought if felt like being rocked to sleep as a baby – but S2ee reckoned it was more like trying to sleep in a washing machine.   So by 3 am he had enough and insisted we leave immediately.     We took it in turns sitting on the bow watching for lobster pots in the moonlight as we motored out of Green Head to make a day trip to Port Denison.   En route I tried out my beautiful new fishing rod, a gift from my work colleagues.  I got a large strike off the back of the Beagle Islands, but I lost it and managed to tangle my line in the process– still lots of learning for me about how to catch big fish!  

We have been safely moored in Port Denison since Tuesday afternoon, and met up with our friends Cassie, Jeremy and their new daughter Isla – we bought Mad Fish from them here in Port Densison 2 years ago!    Also more washing, finding that the helm is perfect for drying all the little bits!


We are also planning for our sail out to the Abrolhos Islands.  It looks like we will probably leave in the wee hours of Saturday morning so we can be there to find an anchorage by early afternoon.  The Abrolhos is about 50 nm (100km) from Port Denison, which means around a 10 hour trip.
 
Our next blog will be about our sailing, fishing, snorkeling and diving adventure at the Abrolhos.  Stayed tuned for a report of my first big fish (fingers crossed) and some marine life photos.
 
Love to all
Naomi and S2ee


Comments

  1. UnknownMay 3, 2021 at 9:04 PM

    What a great read. Love the video. I'm sure you'll get a big fish some time over the next few weeks Naomi.
    It sounds as though you are having an amazing, unforgettable experience with who knows what's in store for you. I'd love to get to the Abrolhos Is. Such a story is hidden in those sands.
    Fair winds...xStef

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Darwin to Gove - the fabulous Arnhem Land  Dear all We are currently sitting in the delightful Gove harbour where we arrived 5 days ago, just in time to celebrate S2ee's birthday at the Gove Boat Club.   There are five other yachts here, all of which we have met through our travels, and we have done heaps of socialising with our fellow sailors.  We are all here waiting for the same thing - good weather conditions to cross the Gulf of Carpentaria (Gulf of Crap Interior?) to Cape York.  That good weather has now arrived - two boat are departing today and the rest of us are departing tomorrow for a 3-4 night sail across the Gulf. Gove harbour and the associated Nhulunbuy town are delightful - I expected a dirty, dusty, mining town - but it is quite the opposite.  Green, neat and tidy and has all the services for a travelling yachty. Entry to the harbour is marked by the now defunct alumina refinery, which closed a few years ago.  So sad for the town to lo...
Read more
Image
 From the Arafura to the Coral Sea - the Gulf, the Cape, and Lizard Island  Dear friends We are currently in Port Douglas where we have been berthed for the last week waiting out some strong south-easterly winds before heading south.   We have really enjoyed our time here, especally a day trip to Cape Tribulation.  It always feels amazing to come into a marina and the civilisation associated with that, but after a few days we find ourselves yearning for the sea and the wind! We are off tomorrow in some great northerly winds and hope to get to Magnetic Island, off the coast of Townsville, by the end of the week.  We departed Gove at dawn for our trip across the Gulf of Carpentaria - Stewy's good planning led to an uneventful sail from a weather perspective - flat seas and little wind, so we motor sailed much of the way.  There was heaps of sea life - turtles, seasnakes shedding their skin on the surface, brown boobies, and lots of fish jumping out of th...
Read more
Image
Rounding the northern tip of WA and the spectacular Eastern Kimberley  Cape Londonderry marks the northern tip of mainland Western Australia, and has a poor reputation amongst boaters.   It is not nicknamed Cape Laundry without good reason.  On each side of the Cape, the tides occur at different times, and it is not unusual to find tide meeting tide at the tip, creating  turbulent waters and difficult currents.   Add a decent breeze into that mix, and the sea really does become a bit of a washing machine.    Fortunately, marvelous people have put together good instructions on timing your passage around the Cape.   Unfortunately for us, this would have meant a night passage, something we were not keen to do because of the potentially difficult sea.   Instead, we timed it for neap (low range) tides, lights winds, and kept our fingers crossed.   In the end, the seas were reasonably tame, but it did mean motoring int...
Read more