“YOU WOULD NEED TO BE PRETTY TOUGH
TO LIVE UP HERE ALL YEAR ROUND.”
Dan and Carol, it appears they draw the same
amount of water as we do and, at two metres, we
had plenty of depth when entering. I did not note
it down at the time but, from memory, I seem to
recall we had at least two metres under the keel
when we anchored.
If you get up this way and take the tender to
shore, know the beach dries a long way out at low
tide. It is marked on the chart but we think there
may have been even more shoaling since the chart
was printed. So if you are headed in to the beach
on a falling tide be prepared to carry or push the
tender a fair way out back into the water.
Do not follow the waypoints blindly, they are
for reference only. On the day we entered there
was enough depth under the keel for a two metre
draft vessel, you however will need to judge for
yourself on the day.
WHERE IS THE CROC?
Back to the bit in the title about the crocodile,
during our trip north so far we had only seen
one crocodile, even though we had sailed from
Brisbane to the very tip of Australia. While we
knew they were around we had only spotted one.
That was when we were in Cairns preparing
for the rally to Indonesia, we spied a large croc
on the river bank and were able to take a few
photos as we kept a safe distance away in our
inf latable dinghy. But our luck was about to
change and, as we were in the tender headed
back to the boat after our walk to the very tip
of the Australian mainland, out of the corner of
her eye Deb saw a bird she had been trying to
photograph for some time standing on the rock
in the bay.Usually the problem with this type of bird
was they never seem to stay still long enough
for her to get out the camera. Since we were
some distance from the bird Deb was able to
set up the camera and, as she was zooming in,
she noticed this beautiful croc sitting right on
the big rock in the bay next to the bird. I think
he liked it out here away from the consistent
buzz of 4x4 vehicles as they came in for a quick
photo shot with the sign before zooming off to
their next stop.
Even though the bird f lew away it was quickly
forgotten about as we circled the rock for the
next couple of minutes, we were able to inch
closer and take some great shots. While ours
were good, Dan off the vessel Sentinel had his
good camera with him and was able to capture
some fantastic shots. So after returning to the
vessel feeling very good with the way the day had
turned out, it was time to pick up the anchor and
head out to Thursday Island.13
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