East Hope Island
Vega
Hugh and Annie
Mon 8 Jul 2019 23:32
A small, low, wooded Island surrounded by coral reefs that need to be carefully negotiated before finding the anchorage under the lee of the island. After threading our way in with the aid of Google satellite images on which we are able to show our position using GPS (would Captain Cook be impressed?) we found three of the four moorings occupied. In many places the Australian government maintains moorings that are robust and graded for different sized vessels. We are always grateful for one that is rated for monohulls up to 20m in length and 34kts of wind. To our joy there was still one of these available. To our dismay it didn’t have a pickup line, the buoy floating invitingly but deceivingly on the end of the main mooring line to the seabed but with no means of attaching a yacht. The usual 20kts of wind was blowing so we needed to anchor securely, normally not a problem with the sand/mud bottom usually found. Here our first attempt hooked a large, heavy piece of bent and coral encrusted wire that, when raised to the surface, took 10 minutes to prize off the anchor. Our second, third and fourth attempts achieved nothing more than bumping and grinding as the anchor ran across the rocky bottom. We had an hour of daylight remaining but nevertheless the night would not be spent at East Hope as we needed the light to safely clear our way out of the anchorage. Our alternative option was an overnight sail northwards with the possibility of getting into Cooktown if well lit with entrance lights............