24 August 2010
Finally at one o'clock in the afternoon of our fourth day at sea we had to deploy the iron sail. We were punching into a two knot current and a headwind. Fortunately the seas were not as steep as described in the pilot book. We really could not complain. We had had four days of the most wonderful sailing conditions. Drawing level with Cape Don, which marks the gateway to the Van Diemen Gulf, we could see its distinctive lighthouse from afar. We gave the cape a good offing to avoid overfalls marked on the chart. Huge clumps of seaweed were floating around the boat. It must be a feature of this sea area, we had remembered that phenomenon from last time. A little early for the tide we had around a knot and a half against us but it was not too long before we saw the effects of the current tail off. Now we knew we could make the remaining miles to Darwin in one tide. Once again we were overflown by the customs aircraft, followed soon after by their sea watch vessel, Arnhemland. There is a huge Dutch influence along this part of the Australian coast, due to the early exploration of Dutch navigators.
David was once more net controller today having had a break from radio duties for a while now. We persevere with our Scottish theme tune, trying to bring a touch of levity to the proceedings and always in hope of others following suit. But so far no one else seems to have taken up the challenge. He also announced in his best German please to change channels from the calling channel of 4 Bravo to a chat channel eg, Charlie, Delta, Echo , Foxtrot etc. Anybody caught not doing so it would cost them a beer. There has been much aggro of late over the not switching of channels, so hopefully David gave a reminder in such a way so as not to give offence but at the same try to get the message across! It certainly made us chuckle. We have long since given up trying to call other boats on the SSB but as we approach our long Indian Ocean passages we really do need to get this sorted out. With only two of us on board Voyageur, it really is a lifeline to us and we always found the daily chat on SSB something we really looked forward to and have missed that vital verbal contact so much. But what we have missed we have gained at the listening watch at 9pm. It is guaranteed that Tucanon are always listening and most always, Eowyn. As I am frequently on watch at that time I enjoy checking in with either Beverly or Dick.
In the "wee sma" hours!
Our ETA for Darwin is 5am. None of us will get more than three hours sleep as our final approach will require all eyes on deck. My watch, very quiet with only one ship and a trawler, to which I gave a wide berth, saw us go past our final cape, Hotham. David took the middle watch, the trickiest part when we entered the Howard Channel, Voyageur doing up to 10.7 knots, SOG, as she felt the full force of the current under her keel. Peter's watch brought Voyageur to the first of the entrance channel markers .A full moon made for an easy approach into the wide expanse of Fannie Bay anchoring at 04.30 half an hour ahead of time. It was straight back into our bunks for all of us. Another significant chunk of this voyage completed, regretfully our last Australian landfall on this trip at least.
Susan Mackay