One of the best things about our recent week sailing to Port Essington, was that we were actually sailing. We bought Tramontana in November last year, then had to return to Darwin in mid December before we'd had a chance to sail her anywhere. Stuie McPherson brought her down to Darwin for us the following March, and we moved back on board in early May, but various things had got in the way of any sailing till now.
The run out to Port Essington was slow rather than rough. We left an hour before sundown, and had a comfortable ride on the outgoing tide before it turned and started working against us, so much so that by daylight we'd only reached Abbot Shoal. We then hammered into a headwind the whole way to Port Essington.
We arrived at Black Point at about midnight after a 30 hour passage. It takes a few nights of watches on a long passage to get used to interrupted sleep, so when we dropped the anchor and made the boat secure, we were asleep in minutes. Next morning we sailed down to Record Point and stopped for a few more hours. Lex and Mark headed off in the dinghy for some fishing, while I happily stayed on board and read to my heart's content.
The blokes caught some mud crab and sand whiting which made a gourmet lunch feast, and managed to snag barramundi and mangrove jack for the evening meal as well. A storm came belting in, and we decided to up anchor and move somewhere deeper. Mark has the incriminating photos of me on the foredeck in the blinding rain, raising the anchor like a good crewman. Evidence for the divorce judge, he reckons! But I had to agree it was better than dragging the anchor and banging into the sand bar nearby.
The time here at Victoria Settlement was wonderful - see previous blog - and we both loved coming back to this special place. The last time we were here we had Ali with us, and she spent as much time as she could with a fishing rod in her hand too.
The sail home was fast and furious - the boat speed reached 15.8 knots at one point. Listening to Lex and Mark whooping you'd have thought we'd broken the water speed record, but it was pretty fast. The wind was in the right place for most of the way home. We made it to Darwin in about 22 hours, and had a peaceful day reading and napping at anchor until there was enough tide for us to go through the lock at Tipperary again.
Keep an eye out for the next ""Weekend Australian or two for Mark's article about Port Essington!
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