Avoid Bay to Port Lincoln      30/3/15 - 31/3/15

Horatio on, the battlements of Elsinore Castle (Hamlet Act 1 Sc 4) judged the dog watch wind a "a nipping and an eager air" which was much like to the probing land breeze we faced on the decks of Calista in the pre-dawn in Avoid Bay. A sun, slothful in arrival, islands obscured in fog, and a coach house dripping with dew were the hallmarks of the new season and a good reason to energise the kettle as we readied ourselves for the last leg of our journey in the direction of Port Lincoln. Later in the day, if the sea gods aligned, we would bid farewell to the Great Australian Bight, and Tiger country.

Misty sunrise over Pt Avoid

With some long days at sea behind us and now in somewhat familiar waters it might be easy to relax a little, in easing out of Avoid Bay. Set some waypoints and let the auto-pilot earn its keep might be the call. After clearing the reef protecting the anchorage, it was a case of leaving Price Island to port before a direct passage was available to the slot between Cape Carnot and Ligueana Island, some 23 miles away. Between the reef and Price Island, however, a double check on the chart plotter showed a miniscule cross, directly in our line of passage. It could be easily missed in the foggy thinking of a new day. A check of the paper chart provided a salient reminder that a nasty, breaking reef, lay across this direct passage and that this tormented area should be given a wide berth. It would be easy to make a mistake in over-relying on technology, as in this case, and to seriously, maybe tragically, get bitten in the Great Australian Bite.

Plotting our course

Seas cascading over this reef when we drew abeam of it, was an indication that a heavy swell had been marshalled to farewell us from West Coast waters. For us, wind generated top sea and not swell size was a more significant concern. As the wind was predicted to head us in the afternoon causing conditions to deteriorate, we were away as soon as we could to make the most of the smoother running of the morning. To make way, while the sun shone.

A highlight of this voyage, and nearly impossible to photograph from a moving deck, has been the almost scary but totally captivating explosions of southern ocean swells on so many stoic reefs and headlands, the length of the West Coast. Time and again we have tried to hold a camera to capture the moment, but eventually we have had to resolve ourselves to seeing and remembering these natural cataclysms, knowing that only from out at sea can they be fully appreciated. This is when we feel the lift of our little vessel as another blue monster passes underneath and we follow its path to its destruction in torrents of spray, seismic and frightening. Getting up close, really close, to these raw displays of nature has been unforgettable. Tiger country.

Stuart Reef

 

Price Island was under siege from the swells as we passed to the south of it, and with Golden Island obscured in wreathes of mist a little further away to port, our 36 feet of floating humanity seemed tiny indeed. Then as the coast edged away to the North, there were only the outcrops of Stuart Reef and Cape Rock to avoid, as Avoid slipped out of sight. Again it was not a time to entirely relax as, with Stuart Reef looming larger to starboard, another nautical hazard gained our entire attention. Cray pots! We had set a path wide enough from this reef to have depth rule them out, but here they were, in over 160’ of water, and on our bow! To have a rope from one of these pots strangle our propeller, and cause mortal damage to our drive mechanism was an outcome too awful to contemplate. We bore away to port, and did not relax until Stuart Reef with its fans of spray had receded in our wake on the starboard quarter.

Now you see Pepper....



Now you don't!

 

Nearing Cape Carnot, we noted an object ahead that we saw, and then we lost it to view. Sure enough, it was a mast, a sail, and occasionally on a wave top, a whole yacht. A yacht! We had not seen another at sea in our entire voyage and now here was one, although often all we could see of Pepper was the top of her mast in the billows. Later via Garry of Tumby Bay VMR, we would glean that Pepper was Coffin Bay bound, although at sea when we crested waves together we shared hearty waves, before each was lost to the other in the blue. Small ships that pass in the bight.



Mainsail Break Whalers Way



At Cape Carnot we saw the famous Mainsail Break of Whaler’s Way in fulsome display and fully unfurled; although with swells heading in one direction and waves reflecting from the rocks in another, the resultant maelstrom was such that holding on, much less than holding a camera, was a challenge in itself, until we cleared the area making across Sleaford Bay for West Point and Cape Catastrophe. Soon we could see the infamous Cape ahead, then, leaving Williams Island to starboard, we rounded to port into Thorny Passage, and marked the chart, noting that at 1630hrs, on 30/3/2015, SV Calista passed abeam of Cape Catastrophe and departed the Great Australian Bight. Later we reflected on how the complexity of our feelings on rounding the Cape and heading west five weeks ago, compared with how we now felt, with the islands abeam of Memory Cove in clear view and the swell, as if by miracle, having disappeared. “It’s like a graded road” was Cookie’s call from the helm.

Approaching Cape Catastrophe, almost out of Tiger Country!

 

We were nearly “home”, but not quite, and we had reserved one more anchorage, entirely new for us, for our last night of this voyage “at sea”. This was Grindal Island, not far from the much larger Taylor Island in Thorny Passage. Seaman Thomas Grindal was a member of the ill-fated crew off Investigator as we noted earlier, and had he survived the journey to Terra Australis his name may never have featured in any chronicle bar the ship’s manifest. Now the memory of poor Grindal has been preserved in stone, on his island in the sun. Grindal is a plainly featured island, with Black Tiger Snakes ashore that would keep us at bay, but with a cosy cove on its western side, just perfect for the light NNE airs predicted overnight. Nearby Memory Cove with its scenic allure, is a mecca for visiting mariners, but on this occasion we opted for Grindal because we had not “overnighted” there before, and we were keen to explore a sandy recess at the northern end of the island that had been mentioned to us by seafaring locals. As we snugged up on our anchor chain, already our experiences on the West Coast seemed a little surreal. Did we really swim with the friendly seals on Pearson Island? Did we really visit the land of Lilliput? Did we really see the fabled Bali Hai? Were the extraordinary sunrises and sunsets mere figments of our imagination? Did we really experience these things? Did we really?

Safely anchored at Grindal Island

 

With a chilled bottle of Sparkling Shiraz to assist, we dined in a celebratory mood on Calista being grateful, both for our deliverance from the waters beyond Cape Catastrophe, and that our ship and crew were back in familiar waters in good shape and vastly the better for the experience.. We could not have asked for more. As night fell on Grindal Island and Thorny Passage, the ruddy wink of the “danger sector” of the Taylor Island lighthouse, and the loom of the lights of Port Lincoln over the Jussieu Peninsula, were a reassurance that we had nearly completed our journey. On the West Coast, balancing the needs of the next day’s passage, alongside the likely wind, sea state and swell, whilst hearing the wind in the rigging off and on through the night, made for imperfect sleep. At Grindal, we sunk in our pillows, leaving the light atop Taylor to keep watch on our ship, lying quietly at anchor.

The new day at Grindal broke as clear as a monastery bell and we were in for a surprise. Following our morning report to Garry at Tumby Bay VMR, we were called up on the VHF radio by Geoff Gowing off MV Andante, a regal 55foot Fleming motor cruiser, abeam of Taylor Island and heading our way. A long-time friend of ours, it was Geoff’s call to us at Port Elliot in 1997, that invited us to join his wife Tess McGrath and a group of kindred souls, on their luxurious 42’ yacht, Leda to learn about offshore sailing in SA waters. Apart from a pastime of sailboarding, our knowledge of “big boats” at that time was limited. Thanks to Geoff and Tess, we were introduced to a new world of voyaging at sea. What we learned aboard Leda, combined with our love of the sea, led us ultimately to this morning on Grindal, with the stately lines of Andante hoving into view. One of Geoff’s passengers on board was kind enough to record us at anchor with Grindal as the backdrop. Geoff and friends were off fishing. Nice fishing boat is Andante!

MV Andante

 

With Andante humming away in the direction of Thistle Island, and the morning being one summoned from a holiday brochure, we boarded our duck to see what we might discover at the northern end of Grindal. The modest appearance of the rest of the island did not prepare us for what we were to find, as, with a natural breakwater to protect it, we happened upon a tranquil lagoon of turquoise transparency, with seals, seabirds and dolphins to boot. The nook was inviting and impossible to resist, so we settled upon a spot hovering over the sand, in water of safe depth and just fell in, where floating in the crystal waters was as good as it looked. Experiencing this spot had turned our Grindal visitation from a stopover to a delight. Just when we thought there were no more cherries to be had on the cake.



Perfect morning at Grindal's northern anchorage

 

Finally, we were ready to hoist our anchor, and in setting a stabilising mainsail for the gentle Nor-Easter, to make for Port Lincoln. Having left the waters off Coffin Bay, and rounding Cape Catastrophe, we were to pass Carcass Rock on our way to Cemetery Beach. On approach to Cape Donnington, with the harbour of Port Lincoln before us we felt none of the feelings that the names of these places might evoke. As ever, there was a change on the way and it was time to seek shelter. The log of SV Calista would record that we passed safely and securely into Boston Harbour, abeam of Donnington Lighthouse at 1445 hrs on 31/3/2015, after exactly five weeks at sea. After a call to Garry at VMR Tumby Bay to log our return, we could fairly say that we had completed our unforgettable voyage to the West Coast…..to Tiger Country.



Abeam of Cape Donnington

 



The welcoming lights of Port Lincoln from Cemetry Beach.

 



 

Postscript

Terrible warnings such as “There Be Dragons Here”, and illustrations of sea monsters with claws and flames issuing from nostrils adorned the earliest charts of the Atlantic. The fear that this created in mariners of the day helped keep them close to the European coast, until explorers of the ilk of Columbus, Diaz, Da Gama and Magellan discovered both riches and a new reality beyond the known horizons. Fear of the unknown might easily deter coastal cruisers today from embarking on a voyage to western South Australian waters. Sometimes travelling in company can provide mutual support if like-minded companions can be found. We travelled alone and mostly we had anchorages to ourselves. One can either value the solitude that is there for the finding or feel a sense of unease associated with distance from humanity, in places that are little changed since Flinders and Nuyts saw them. Anyone contemplating a voyage to western waters might easily be alarmed by the thought of what might happen if something serious occurred to the boat and one of its systems, or worse, to someone on board. For us, we felt that if we planned our voyage carefully, paid close attention to the weather and safe passage making, and did all we could to prepare Calista for the journey, then the potential rewards could be immense. Thus it has proved to be.

 West Coast waters are as challenging as we thought they would be; the distances between safe havens can be far and there is always the threat of foul weather to sully the mind. On the other hand the rewards for the coastal cruiser can be great and places can be visited, of rare and exquisite beauty, that are rarely seen by others. Seeing these places as a cruising couple, and getting there in one’s own vessel, adds another dimension to the pleasure of being there, that is hard to quantify. On our Voyage to Tiger Country we have been privileged to observe at first hand some of SA’s most precious, unique and fragile marine environments. Some of these places have been like they are now for centuries, and more. May they long remain so.

 

Calista & crew pictured at Grindal Island after an unforgettable
"Passage to Tiger Country"

Notes on the Voyage

The following notes on our voyage to the West Coast are reflections on our voyage and are not intended as prescriptive advice to others planning a voyage to South Australia’s West Coast. We could be termed “cruisers on a budget”, with Calista being a 1990 launched Swanson 36 cruising yacht.

Specifics of Calista’s voyage to the West Coast are as follows –

·       Distance covered (Port Lincoln to Port Lincoln) 726nm (1344.5km).

·       Motor usage (Yanmar 40hp) 82.7hrs. Note, voyagers to the West Coast may find a greater motor usage than expected, either to assist passage to anchorages by nightfall, or to make way in light or non-sailable directions. We covered many “motor and mainsail” miles. Hence, fuel carrying capacity, and access to fuel sources en route is significant.

·       Anchorages – 16, for specific details re Google Earth overview, plus precise anchoring coordinates, see skiprnet link under Communication, below.

·       Length of cruise – 5 weeks. The west Coast could be divided into three broad cruising areas; the area abeam of Coffin Bay including Point Avoid and the Whidby Isles in the South, The Investigator Group off Elliston, and Nuyts Archipelago and the Ceduna area in the North. A 4-6 week period is suggested in order to cover this significant marine area, to factor in sheltering from weather and to allow time to return to Port Lincoln, potentially against prevailing SE’s. Shorter time availability could allow visitation to the southern portion of the West Coast, including Coffin Bay.

 

1.     Our “Road Trip” to the West Coast 

There are many sources of information on SA’s West Coast, but for a couple planning a voyage to these waters, and with little personal knowledge of the area, we considered that taking a familiarisation and information-finding trip by car, prior to departure would be valuable.  We would now list this as an invaluable planning activity.

On a four-day hire-car trip ex Port Lincoln, we journeyed to Ceduna and return. We visited as many towns, potential anchorages and ocean viewpoints as we could in the time available.

In towns

·       Investigating reprovisioning potential and access to closest anchorage – supermarket (esp examining grocery / vegetable lines available), bakery, butcher (cryovac meats).

·       Access to water, water quality, distance to closest ‘duck” access.

·       Fuel access and distance to carry (we have a small hand trolley and can convey 30lt of fuel at a time)

·       Hotels, eateries, etc, for on shore entertainment, R&R.  If one is held up by weather, why not make this eventuality into a treat for the crew,

·       Visiting Visitor Information Centres where available and collecting relevant information, especially town maps.

Also

·       Visually inspecting accessible anchorages and jetties – photographing same. Note especially Hill Bay.

·       Visually inspecting coastal locations likely to be seen from at sea in passage. Photographing same and viewing some offshore islands with binoculars – eg Waldegrave Is, Topgallant Islands off Elliston.

·       Visiting places that we were unlikely to visit, but appeared on maps and charts, eg Port Kenny, Smoky Bay. We visited Coffin Bay and inspected the town and approaches across the bay from local vantage points, but ultimately did not get an opportunity to call in.

·       Using shore-based assessment to provide input into viability of entrance, anchoring etc. Waterloo Bay, Elliston, was such a place where, although visually a delight, we noted concerns that kept us out of this harbour.

·       Gaining an insight into coastal environments, distances, etc.

Car Hire in Port Lincoln was sourced via the Port Lincoln Information Centre and via the internet. A restriction was that hire was generally for 200km/day.

2.    Maps and Charts

We are aware that some vessels on voyage in an era of internet access and chart plotters no longer carry paper charts. We carry paper charts and on passage on our voyage regularly plotted our location with a recorded time. This we saw as maintaining our skills in basic chart-based navigation. We found that familiarity with paper charts on passage added significantly to sources of electronic information, in a complimentary manner, and contributed to safe passage making.

 

Australian Hydrographic Charts used were –

·       Aus 776 Williams Island to Winceby Island

·       Aus 342 Streaky Bay to Whidbey Isles

·       Aus 120 Approaches to Thevenard

·       Aus 121 Plans in South Australia – South West Coast (Details of Streaky Bay, Venus Bay, Coffin Bay, Waterloo Bay [Elliston])

·       SA Department of Marine and Harbours Coffin Bay- Small Boat Chart

      Also useful –

·       RAA Map publication – Lower Eyre Peninsula

·       RAA Map Publication – Upper Eyre Peninsula and Far West Coast

 

3.     Weather Information

We rely heavily on a variety of weather sources in aiding safe passage making and planning. We use the internet, VHF Radio, HF Radio, AM/FM Radio and Television ( when in service area) as information sources. The internet carries the most diverse and valuable sources, but on the West Coast, internet access was found to be patchy. In the Port Lincoln Area, Bureau of Meteorology weather bulletins (esp wind strength and direction) are currently broadcast daily by Garry Smith at VMR Tumby Bay, on VHF channel 81 at 0745, and 1715hrs, for Lower West Coast, Central Coast and Spencer Gulf waters and as required when severe weather warnings, eg thunderstorms or strong wind alerts are issued. At sea in the Port Lincoln area our radio routinely monitors Channel 81.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) sites (includes) –

·       Met Eye

·       Marine Wind Forecast

·       Interactive Weather and Wave Forecast

·       Colour Forecast Map for next Four Days

·       SA Coastal Waters Forecast (Central Coast, Lower West Coast, Upper West Coast sites for this voyage)

·       Ceduna Radar Loop

·       Latest Coastal Weather Observations

Other sites include (there are many online sites available today)

·       Willyweather

·       Weatherzone – esp link to 10 Day Weather Forecast Charts

·       Worldweatheronline.com – 14 day forecasts for Australian towns, eg access to a 14 day Streaky Bay model generated forecast.

·       Swellnet.

HF Radio Weather

·       Four-hourly SA Coastal Waters forecasts via BOM Marine Weather HF Radio Schedule (especially services via WMW Australian Weather West [Wiluna] – 6 frequencies) - used by us beyond internet and VHF/ VMR Tumby Bay coverage.

 

4.     Communication

A standard practice for us in SA waters is to remain in daily communication with a VMR / Coast Guard station to provide advice re our movements and intentions at sea and to confirm our safe arrival at a destination. We link with daily “skeds” available via American River VMR, and Tumby Bay VMR. We regard the practice of maintaining communication with VMR stations whilst at sea as integral to our safety at sea.

Beyond Port Lincoln and up the West Coast, Tumby Bay VMR has coverage extending to an area south and seaward of Elliston. The service provided by Garry and Sue, and Carol at the above VMR’s is not duplicated at VHF Channel 80 (Elliston) or VHF 82 (Ceduna). In these areas, calls we made requesting a radio-check went unanswered. We heard no other vessel using these channels whilst in these areas.

The advertised SA Coastal VHF Marine Safety Communications Network (see SA Government Tide Tables and Marine Information, 2015, p 168) proved to be disappointing. Calls in areas supposedly covered “24 hours” on VHF Channels 67 / 16 requesting a radio check, position report went unanswered.

Australian cruising magazines such as Cruising Helmsman in the last year or so have had input from cruisers praising the HF link to Kordia Marne Services, as a daily reporting capacity for cruisers beyond the reach of VHF support. Allied to the Australian Marine Safety Authority (AMSA), Kordia provided a service both valuable and reassuring to us. We established a daily HF sked via Charleville Radio on a designated 12 kHz frequency, which was dependable and reliable. Contacting Kordia to establish this by phone is easy via the internet – follow the link to Maritime Services.

Phone and Internet coverage was patchy, and seemingly not as good as the “Area Coverage Map” issued by providers. Clearly it was best closer to coastal towns.

We used the site “skiprnet” (www.skipr.net) to post a link to Calista and to our movements. Those accessing our site via “Calista” are taken to a Google Earth image of our latest and other anchorages, plus a brief report from on board. Naturally we could only “post” in service areas.

Calista has AIS send / receive capacity via an on-board transponder, and as such our precise location, speed etc can be viewed on a Google Earth background, via the Marine Traffic website. This is easily accessed via a web search. Marine Traffic also advised of our location whilst at sea.

5. Printed Sources

Sources of printed information relating to the West Coast and planning a voyage there were many and varied. The following list is not exhaustive.

·       Scarce, Graham A Cruising Guide to the Historic West Coast 1988

·       Robinson, Tony, et al South Australia’s Offshore Islands, Department of Environment and Natural Resources 1996, 554p, (out of print, available as pdf file, via internet search)

·       Personal notes of experienced SA mariner Stephen Siebert (unpublished), based on multiple voyages to West Coast waters. These notes which included extensive attached Google Earth images, copies of personal photographs, chart plotter printouts and information relating to towns, islands, anchorages and general items of interest were invaluable to us. We are indebted to Steve for kindly allowing us access to his meticulous records.

·       Wood, Chris, Black Friday’s Cruise to the Far West Coast of SA - February March 2012. CYCSA Website

·       Wood, Chris, Land Based Tour to the West Coast of South Australia [including photos, background preparation for the Black Friday cruise, above] CYCSA website.

·       Jack and Jude South Australian Anchorages – West (website) jackandjude.com

·       Kildea, Michael, Sailing to the Land of Gulliver’s Travels Cruising Helmsman, September 2014

·       Simpson, A A, Riot’s Cruise to the Investigator Group, 1984, RSAYS website.

·       Simpson, A A, Riot’s Cruise to Nuyts Archipelago, February 1993, RSAYS website.

·       Ullett, I, With Achernar to the Investigator Group, RSAYS website.

·       West Coast Cruising Notes (no author / date available) RSAYS website.

6.  Special Thanks

We thank the many people who in their own way provided input, information encouragement and advice for our voyage. Some went out of their way to do so.  We found not one marine soul who offered less than support for what we were undertaking.

We thank the Sealions of Pearson and Waldegrave Islands for allowing us to share their world, for the Dolphins of St Francis Island and those who regularly congregated at our bow in passage for their company.

We thank you, for taking the time to share in our journey to SA’s West Coast, on board Calista, to “remote and desolate places, miles from humanity”.

Be reassured, we have not annotated our Marine Charts of the West Coast with a note reading…There be dragons here. Tigers, maybe.

 Blog production team.

Deirdre “Cookie” Sibly,

Photography, daily diary, ship’s log, skiprnet updates, blog design, production and captions.

Colin Sibly

Blog text and photography.

Commentary and questions relating to this blog are welcomed via the link on the blog.

 

Hill Bay to Avoid Bay   30/3/15

Perfect one day, perfect the next. Beware of complacency. With the evening unfolding on Calista in Hill Bay, our sanguine comforts and sense of security was about to be sullied, turning an anticipated night to remember into one of unwanted challenge. First, just on sunset, with us absorbing the last light of day, Cookie slapped her leg, then again, then uttered the clarion call…’mozzies!” Not a mangrove or a swamp in miles and there we were, under attack, ducking below and assembling our defences. Back in Streaky Bay, fly spray sat atop of our shopping list, following the Battle of Davenport Creek, where our vaporised artillery had been exhausted in the conflict. Now, try as we might, and with a squadron of the horrid insects having followed us below, the can of spray we were sure had been purchased was nowhere to be found. With our counter attack limited, it was battle on again, with hostilities continuing on through the night.

Then, as the tide filled and the small swells overwhelmed the natural breakwater, we rolled, and rolled. Not terribly, but enough to see mugs replace wine glasses for the evening repast. With this instability, which disappeared later when the tide fell, Cookie abandoned the forepeak berth, for sleeping in her ‘nest” amidships, where she gained stability but in the end limited sleep, due to the refusal of the last of the last of the mosquitoes to be found, cornered and despatched.

"The Nest"

 

By 3am, with airborne and anchorage peace at last prevailing, with a light wind shift came a grinding and crunching noise, like a novice driver befuddled by clutch pedals and gear levers. It was surely from the anchor chain, and equally as surely, the chain had grappled with a chunk of limestone below on the bottom. Try as we might to ignore it, this discordant scraping, repeated with metronomic certainty every few minutes thereafter, ensured that, at dawn, we emerged, bleary eyed, to tackle the problem, and hopefully rectify it. A stuck anchor chain, and maybe worse, a stuck anchor is one of those things in a cruising life you do all you can to avoid. When setting an anchor on an unknown bottom we attach a "trip line" and buoy to the head of our anchor so that if worst comes to worst we can try to extricate it by pulling it out "backwards", via the trip line and buoy. Here at Hill Bay one crucial thing was in our favour. Even in the early morning light, we could see the anchor chain, and see that we were just abeam of our anchor, with the chain stretching forward, from it and from us, in the shape of a a bobby pin, with the bight of the chain around a gnarl somewhere ahead. By releasing a little more chain, and driving in an arc to “unwind” the obstruction, we were free. We were lucky, too!

Now free of impediments and with our precious anchor on board, we used our track on the chart plotter to make our way out of Hill Bay to the open sea. The weather was predicted to be wonderful for all things except sailing. Sunny, light airs and smooth seas would make the day picture perfect. Café Calista was promptly open for business and the enticing aromas of cheese and tomato jaffles and brewed coffee soon wafted from the galley into the cockpit. Champagne flutes would have sat in perfect stability in the cockpit, as we cleared Point Drummond, and, with Rocky Island and the broad expanse leading to Coffin Bay somewhere to port, we made for Point Sir Isaac, with an intention of anchoring later in the day in the familiar confines of Avoid Bay.

Dolphin Escorts

 

With the ocean so convivial and the day so fine it was easy to feel the need to make the absolute most of this gift from the Bureau. As noon neared, and, abeam of the point of the Coffin Bay Peninsula, the haunting peaks of Greenly Island became prominent off our starboard bow. What was that “come hither” line from South Pacific….. was it something like come to me my special isle? To this point we had reconciled ourselves to missing Greenly Island, Pearson’s “twin”, on this voyage, due to a host of things that now seemed to recede in importance. There was Greenly. Come to me, my special isle. Crew meetings and decisions arising from them have rarely been as brief or as emphatic as this one! Alter course to starboard…make for Greenly Island was the call. The detour to Greenly, which was 17 miles out to sea when we altered course, would cost us many sea miles and it would mean us arriving at Avoid Bay after dark, but this anchorage was familiar to us and something that would not have been contemplated early in our journey, was now within our capacity. Even the dolphins agreed, for as we rounded on our new heading for Bali Hai, they gathered in numbers at the bow, and with the sea clear to the plumbed depths it was as though these wonderful creatures were swimming in suspension. Greenly Island dead ahead, less than four hours to go!

On a pond smooth, placid sea, with puffs of cumulus like cotton wool against an azure sky, Greenly Island rose as though a conjurer was at work. No failed sponge was Greenly! Proud, prominent and spectacular was its visage. The island is like two conical bluffs, of immense proportions; almost joined at the hip, with a companion islet just away to the South East. As we eased into the “v” between the two portions of the island, it was too imposing to film, too sublime to forget. New Zealand Fur Seals broke the silence with their garrolous cries, as we sat in peace on a limpid sea, gently rising and falling on the ever moving sea whilst the granite buttresses of Greenly towered overhead. Like at Pearson, it was sobering to contemplate the forces at work over the ages that it had taken to make Greenly Island as we see it today. Hand forged by Nature. It was not hard to imagine Sir David Attenborough, emerging from the foliage up on the peak saying something like “..and here on a remote and desolate island off the Southern Coast of Australia, there is an island that has been here since the dawn of time…..”

 

With the afternoon hurrying on, the captivating outline of Greenly Island, refused to recede astern of us, and we left the equally enticing Perforated and Four Hummocks Islands to starboard, as Point Avoid, with Price Island seaward of it, thankfully manifested themselves off our bow. With night falling and a half-moon already aloft, we supped in the cockpit as these extraordinary islands lost substance in the gloom. Then as we rounded the reef that protects the Point Avoid anchorage, well into the night, we resolved to pick up a mooring if one was available and head below to encourage the kettle, and to draw a celebratory measure from the ship’s supply of essence of Scotland. As it turned out Avoid Bay was devoid of company, a mooring was there for the taking, and we had it to ourselves. Did I hear something to awaken me in the forepeak in the dead of night, apart from the penguins ashore? Was it a voice; did it say…special island…come to me. ?