We were up early this morning. Our appointment with Australian Border Force was for 0800, for our clearance to depart the country.
The weather is the same today as it has been for the last weeks, light SE trade winds of around 10-15 knots, with a heavy haze. Around the peninsular at Nhulunbuy and Cape Arnhem, the trades are bent around to the east. Clearing out with the friendly officials at Gove was easy, and we were soon under way.
After a week at anchor at Gove, our paddlewheel speed transducer was not working, and had to be cleared of weed growth once we anchored at the end of the day. At first we had to sail close to the wind to get around the eastern end of a couple of bulk carriers anchored off in Melville Bay, waiting their turn to be loaded with bauxite at the jetty. Later we could bear away, and sailed at round 8 knots for most of the passage north to Cape Wilberforce.
Our timing was poor, arriving at Cape WIlberforce with the strong currents pouring around the corner, emptying the massive bays to the south west as the tide ebbed out. Without the paddlewheel, we were unable measure the speed of these currents, but a rough estimate of 5 knots seems reasonable. After cruising along at around 8 knots, our speed over round was suddenly reduced to 3 knots and less at times due to the tide. We headed north-west through the passage between Cape Wilberforce and South West Bromby Island, across Malay Road and through the gap between Cotton and Wigram Islands.
After all the rough water we saw on the windward side of the sandstone cliffs, we are looking forward to passing through Gugari Rip “Hole in the Wall” and continuing north on the flat water under the lee of the Wessel Islands. Due to the strength of the tides in the Gugari Rip, we have had to anchor at Cotton Island so we can time our passage of Gugari Rip with the high tide slack water tomorrow morning.
As we have cleared out of Australia, we have effectively left the country and are not allowed to leave the boat.
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