Darwin to Broome Feature

Sea Mist, our Tasman C35, was launched a few days ahead of schedule and set sail from the Gold Coast on July 30, just five days after hitting the water. We were to pick her up from Darwin in late August, with the aim of setting off for Broome in the first week of September.

My good friend and work colleague, Neil Watt, had put his hand up to come along for the journey. Neil had no offshore sailing experience but was keen to learn. While I have been sailing many years, it had been five years since I had owned a cruising yacht and I had never owned a catamaran larger than my speedy converted International 23-foot Day Sailor. I'd done a couple of long distance sails in racing yachts, but never a journey more than 250 miles as skipper.

So when news broke that our initial skipper had to return to the Gold Coast, I panicked! Every one of the 850 nautical miles through the Indian Ocean now felt like unchartered territory.

A phone call to Dale Peterson fixed all that. Having recently completed a six-year round the world cruise with his family on a Swan 57, I felt confident that Dale's skills and experience would be essential. As it turned out, his experience with boat systems and his knowledge of the Kimberley was invaluable – but I also learned just how simple navigation with C-Map and GPS technology really is.

At first light on Saturday, September 3, we filled the water tanks and set off across Joseph Bonaparte Gulf.

Motoring, motor sailing and sailing. That was to be the order of each and every day on this ten day voyage. The mornings would find us in little or no wind, building to a light sea breeze early afternoon, before fading in the evenings or early morning. Reefing wasn't part of our routine on this leg of the voyage!

We had two time constraints. With my wife booked in for an operation, I had to get back home to take up my role as 'house dad' to our three children. The second reminder not to dawdle was that there was a new crew ready to jump aboard when we got to Broome. This meant that our trip through the Kimberly, while fantastic, was far too short - about three months too short. But we decided to make the most of every minute, and our route took us to many places and through as many passages as time allowed.

Our first two days of sailing were relatively uneventful as we crossed Joseph Bonaparte, heading directly for King George River. But on the dawn of day three, just as we tacked onto a dying breeze into Koolama Bay, we were greeted with a sight of waves smashing against sheer cliffs in wonderful shades of red.

It was high tide, so we stowed the sails, motoring gently over the bar into the river; we had about one metre under the hull at full tide. What an awesome sight. What a glorious river. Sheer cliffs, mangroves and complete wilderness. We just lay on the trampoline and stared into the early morning sun.

We motored up the river, sucking in the beauty until we reached the famous King George River falls. Sadly, as it was nearing the end of the dry season, there was no water flowing; Sea Mist was able to nudge up close, right up to the base of the cliffs.

We spent some hours there before motoring back to a suitable anchorage, enjoying a decent lunch, catching a few fish and grabbing a couple of hours' kip. As the afternoon drew to close, we jumped in the inflatable and motored up a small finger to find the 'roped' cliff. Put there by charter companies, the rope allowed fit and able people up the side of the cliff, giving access to a lovely freshwater pool.

Gazing down at the river below, we spotted some crocs swimming near our dinghy, reminding us that swimming in the river was definitely not a good idea. We certainly took great care getting back on. Gingerly making our way back to the boat, we raised anchor and motored over the sandbar at half tide, setting sail towards our next and eventual destination: Freshwater Bay.

We made good way until about midnight when we tacked on a dying breeze and a flowing tide. As morning turned into dawn and after more than a few frustrating hours, we gave up sailing and flicked on the motor. Common sense prevailed as we sailed though Eclipse Archipelago, greeted by a small school of whales passing through and around later that morning.

Middle Rock Passage was a real test of our navigation skills and senses. So far, we had only encountered one yacht. Vagabond, a Roberts 44 owned by Bill and Cathy, was also in King George and the couple gave us revised long/latitude for the passage, making note of their waypoints. But like the cynics we were, coupled with excellent visibility and calm weather, we reverted to the chart plotter and made our waypoints through what appeared to be the correct passage...

Cautiously motoring our way through against the tide, something didn't feel right. We reckoned we went the wrong side of Middle Rock; it made us wonder about the offsets on the chart and we were glad for a shallow draft and nice weather. I think we would have reconsidered our route had conditions not been favourable. After the slightly unnerving experience, we eventually passed into open water where we enjoyed a beautiful sail that for once was not hard on the wind, reaching Freshwater Bay mid-afternoon. Finding a great protected anchorage, some big splashing noises made us wonder if we were indeed the only ones there!

PLEASANT CRUISING
Sea Mist continued to perform well, her engines purring along. Generally, we would use just one of the 30hp Volvo diesel engines at around 2500rpm, giving us a motoring speed of 6-6.5kt and an average consumption of 2.7 litres per hour. Once sailing, we would be able to achieve 7-7.8kt in light breezes.

By this time, our routine was settling in. The evening meals were nothing short of gourmet delights and our wine cellar was being explored - and depleted - daily.

Up early the next morning and through the Admiralty Gulf to Prudoe Islands, it was a long day as we covered 80 miles in daylight, accompanied by humpbacks, turtles and dolphins. But fish, alas, none. We had a great sail during the afternoon on a 13-knot sea breeze through the Institut Islands, past Long Reef. Our only contact with humans was when the Coast Guard flew by at close range and almost made us jump out of our skins!

Having identified ourselves and confirmed our plans, we were left alone while they continued their scanning of the remote coastline for unwanted guests and fishermen. Shelter Bay was a great anchorage, tucked in between two islands. Calm, protected and good enough for more gourmet delights, aided by cold beer or two and a slightly chilled red.

We set off again the next morning and passed through Scott Straight about one hour after low tide, a current of 4 knots moving us along quite nicely at that point of tide. This was one of our shorter day sails, covering 50 miles before arriving in Carrening Bay early evening. We anchored in eight metres on a falling tide - which later found us in about two metres of water at low tide! A little nerve-wracking, watching the depth under the boat disappear...

Careening Bay is famous for HMS Mermaids' stint ashore in 1820, when she spent an extended time there undergoing hull repairs. To mark their stay, they followed Her Majesty's instructions to “leave proof of the visit in no uncertain way”, carving the vessel's name and date on a large Boab Tree near the beach; it is now a well-visited tree with a commemorative plaque nearby. Fascinating that these tiny vessels with no charts or upwind sailing ability could navigate their way safely through tidal waters in such large currents.

Day six saw us motor our way into the mouth of Prince Regent River, where we experienced some dramatic whirlpools and tidal currents. The bottom would constantly change by from over 100 metres to 25 metres and back again, giving rise to churning waters. A challenge for the autohelm. Not having sufficient time on this journey to navigate up the river, we messed around in the channels around its entrance. On a rising tide, we negotiated our way up past Greville Island, then across and past Lammas and Gap Island.

We experienced some exciting moments edging our way up a shallow tidal section with only a metre under the keel - it felt a bit like a salmon swimming back up the river! It seemed to take five minutes to cover 50 metres before the bottom deepened and the flooding tidal current eased. My heart was pumping.

Progress was slow in unchartered waters at the mouth of Price Regent, with sometimes only two metres under her hull or less. Quite concerned about hitting an uncharted rock, we exited Prince Regent through Treachery Passage against a seven-knot incoming tide!

We entered this passage from a placid waterway, only to be confronted with the incoming rush of water trying to make its way up the Prince Regent River. For about 45 minutes we ran the engines at 3400rpm, making a good 1-2 knots and moving as close to the side of the short passage as we dared to get out of the main current.

Once clear we were in open waters and out to sea, welcoming moderate currents and tides. We made good speed, bearing away to sail down through the tidal Rogers Straight via the Quninian Channel. Our progress was yet again slowed by motoring against a 3-5 knot current as we awaited the ebb to start working with us.

A beautiful sail through Brecknock Harbour, past Kuri Bay Pearl Farm avoiding the pearl farms as best we could.

Breaching whales were milling in the protected waters as we exited out of the harbour for a couple of miles into a choppy sea, making our turn into Sampson Inlet just as the sun fell over the horizon. A great day, with a fantastic finale of the Sampson Inlet surrounded by her steep, sheer cliffs. In many ways, the inlet was similar to King George; I would have liked to explore the trails to the freshwater pools near her uppermost regions.

Next morning saw us heading out to sea and past the famous Montgomery Reef. At the time, I was blissfully unaware of the famous reef being 40 kilometres long and 25 wide. The reef is famous for the waterfalls created as water rushes off the plateau when the tide recedes; we passed at high tide so we didn't see anything of the reef apart from the odd breaker at the western end, but I made a note to go back again and wait.

FUELLING DILEMMAS
Another beautiful sail during the afternoon past the deep red, iron ore-filled patches surrounding Koolan Island. Later, we bubbled our way through the turbulent fast flowing waters of 'The Drain', the passage into the canal between Koolan Island and the mainland. With our fuel now running low, we pulled into Dog Leg Creek where there was a welcome pontoon lined with diesel drums. After sailing for seven days, seeing only three boats and one plane, here was a fuel jetty in the middle of nowhere!

All of a sudden, we were faced with a choice: either refuel here and pay 1.87 per litre for an instant and effortless refuel, or wait till our next stop in Broome, where we would hire a car and lug 20 litre jerrycans, saving us 30 cents per litre. In 30 minutes we were full of fuel, empty of cash and on our way! We just managed to refuel before the tide went out and left the pontoon dry. The idea was to visit the famous Silver Gull Tavern and then spend the night in Crocodile Creek, but that would have meant a 24-hour stopover, which sadly we did not have time for.

After a pleasant night in deep water near the entrance to Dog Leek Creek, Sea Mist set off for her last leg. We sailed right through the day, passing Cockatoo Island and the Buccaneer Archipelago to Cape Levique, then passing Cape Levique as the sun set to the west, highlighting the cliffs' many shades of red. A gentle overnight sail, tacking into a light breeze, found us motoring towards Broome in the morning before arriving at noon.

854 miles of glorious wilderness, whales, archipelagos, tidal races, pure peace - a trip of a lifetime. I appreciated Broome and understood the reason for its existence. It has to be experienced to be understood.

Sea Mist functioned well. The upstairs galley was appreciated by all the cooks. Our gourmet delights were prepared by the chef du jour, and thanks to the excellent vision from the galley bench top, he didn't miss out on any events or scenery, remaining very much a part of the social banter or evening sundowners.

My only regret: not leaving earlier, so I could have spent another four weeks in the region.

The rest of the trip down the coast was made by Jan and Phil, the trip from Broome to Fremantle taking 12 days and from what I've heard, a real pearler. But that's another story.

The Tasman C35 had a successful launch into the WA market at this years Mandurah Boat Show, Seamist is currently at the Fremantle Yacht Club where she is available for Test Sails.