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| Fanny Bay Darwin. The gathering fleet of Sail Indonesia 2006 |
The fleet of over 100 boats gathered over the past couple of months in Darwins Fanny Bay preparing for the Sail Indonesia Rally. Our preparation included taking out the propellor shaft whilst in the croc infested water.. on anchor. David dived over with a bung and pulled of the prop. I pulled the shaft into the boat and David bunged the hole. Sounds simple. Well it was a little more complicated than that but that was the basic principal of the job. The shaft was taken to town to be balanced and make sure it was straight after fouling it in a line on passage to Darwin up the East Coast and across the Gulf of Carpentaria. It was fine. So we reversed the procedure to replace it!
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| And they are off. |
There was much provisioning and plenty of wine loaded aboard Taipan. Huck flew in and joined us for the trip and Mum and Dad were driving round the north of Australia so they dropped in to say farewell and help load some stuff.
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| David Huck and Kris arriving in Berkley River. |
When the rally was due to depart Huck had a medical emergency so we delayed our start a few days and instead sailed to the Kimberley with La Barca Bronnie Adam Jack Aimee
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| La Barca crew. Adam Bronny Aimee and Jack |
The passage from Darwin is approximately 220 miles and we sailed it overnight from Darwin. One needs to work the tides out of Darwin and this we managed without incident.
Our first stop was Revelry Island at the mouth of the Berkley River. Its always a good idea to stop here and gather ones self in preparation for crossing the bar. We have been caught here before and dried out as we misjudged the height and times.
After some recognisance in the dingy an appropriate crossing was found and time decided. We made it. Once inside this beautiful 40km long river it is plenty deep enough to go all the way up to the end. Almost. What a stunning trip is is. Huge rocky ramparts peer down as we slip quietly from shadow to shadow. The only sound a swish of water on the bow and bird calls.
King George river has a tricky bar entrance also and requires some careful navigation. We checked for the channel in the dingy with lead line and hand held GPS to get the course mapped. Once inside, again its very deep all the way to the end. And in this river you can go right to the end and tie up under the Heart Falls.
Successful fishing here really needs live bait. That is a tricky process with the crocs lurking and watching. Adam and David went to net for bait each taking turns with the gun to watch for predators. There are a number of commercial tour boats which come this way and they feed the crocs and encourage them to jump out of the water for tourists. Very irresponsible and illegal but it means yachtys in dingys need to be alert. Always taking the dingy back on deck or onto davits at night so they don't get chewed. |
| Taipan in the King George River |
We fished and walked and generally had a relaxing time for about a week before deciding to make a move. The next move was to catch the Sail Indonesia Rally in Kupang, Timor Indonesia.
