Continuing from Dons Blog, We were heading north outside of the Reef once again up towards Raine Island Entrance which is a gap in the reef, just south of the Torres straits that would allow us back inside the reef so we could make our way NW up towards Cape York the most northern part of Australia and then onto Thursday Island.

We made excellent progress once again with 20-30 knots of wind sometimes a little more and a hefty following swell to boost us along. This next section of our trip would be fraught with hazards as we made our way up through the reef.

We arrived at Raine Island Entrance just after sunrise and entered the relative calm offered behind the reef. This was not to last as we discovered over the next few days. Our first stop would be behind Topaz reef. As we arrived the tide was low and the reef was protruding around half a meter above sea level. We anchored up in around 25 knots and settled in for the day.

Around 6pm as we were eating it began to get a lot rougher as the tide rose and started to come over the top of the reef. We also had problems with very strong tidal rips which combined with the wind made the boat sit either side on or stern too the swell, which is not a good thing at all. Once the tide was at its lowest we were battling with very large waves which was throwing the boat around a bit and due to this wrapped the anchor chain around some rocks. This combined with the large swell was putting an immense amount of pressure on the strop (a rope attached to the anchor chain to take the weight of the boat rather than the windlass) which started to chafe and fray. Long story short Don and myself were up and down on the bow getting very wet all night changing the way the strop ran and all sorts of other ways of trying to alleviate the problem we were facing.

We woke at first light which coincided with low tide as we thought we may have issues with a tangled anchor chain, but somehow it came up with no problem at all!

We left glad to see the back of that horrible reef and headed NE 40 miles up to our next anchorage weaving and winding through the various hazards on the way.

This next stop was Shives reef. A similar reef to the first but larger in size and we hoped offering more protection. Unfortunately this was not to be the case. The tide held us side on to the swell and once the tide rose above the height of the reef, 20-40 knots of wind was sure to whip up an uncomfortable evening. This was quite possibly the most ridiculous attempt at a night sleep I have ever had. The large swell rocked the boat so violently that things were falling out of cupboards and books flying from shelves. I think most people would struggle to sleep being rocked at 45° from side to side. It was so outrageous after the anger abated it started to become funny.

We decided to leave at first light as the next anchorage was in a bay an offered a goodnight sleep which by this point we were all in dire need of, but the trials and tribulations are never over for the crew of Shaya Moya! The anchor fouled! Joy!

Luckily after a bit of careful thinking and boat manoeuvring which isn’t very easy in 30 knots of wind we managed to come free and off we went on our merry way!

        iPad Scrabble has become a big part of our lives...

Next stop Cape York. This is the most northern tip of Australia and also the last part of Queensland, ironically called the sunshine state. We haven’t seen much of that stuff in a while. This stop offered a nice sandy seabed, shallow and flat water. Despite the persistent rain we were all happy to be somewhere safe and secure so that we could finally relax.  

Keeping in touch with family and friends                                 Cargo ship rounding Cape York

Once again we rose at first light to head for Thursday Island. We were planning on refuelling and stocking the fridge here in preparation for our 5 day trip across the Gulf of Carpentaria and onwards to Darwin. After arriving and motoring around for a while and realising that the place is a bit of a dump and the fuel pontoon looks rather precarious we came to a decision to just go straight on through and get on with our longer journey.

Having navigated the Torres straights renowned for its powerful tides and strong winds we are currently halfway across the Gulf of Carpentaria making good progress but perhaps not such great bread. (My attempt wasn’t much better but there’s no photo evidence)

See you in Darwin!