A Passage to Tiger Country      24/2/2015 -  /4/2015

Calista's Voyage to the West Coast Of South Australia

    

 

 

Tiger country. On board Calista this descriptor is used to define coastlines with a forbidding aspect; places where the resolve of normal cruising souls might understandably wilt. Heading west along the spectacular north coast of Kangaroo Island for example, one eventually leaves the outpost of Cape Forbin and draws abeam of the towering battlements of Cape Torrens with only Harvey's Return and Cape Border beyond. You feel well and truly on your own and you have entered a "remote and desolate place - miles from humanity" as our good friend and peerless sailor Allan Cotton would put it. If you have not put about and headed for the relative security of Snug or Western River Coves, you could push on out to sea past Cape Borda, glancing to port down the relentless and unforgiving west coast of the Island. Craggy cliffs beetle above as fans of spray from the Southern Ocean swells herald their unending assault. Terrible tragedies and heartrending tales are drawn from this area where ships under sail, steam and diesel have fetched up on this cruel coastline. This is Tiger Country.

On board Calista we carry extensive cruising notes relating to SA waters, and amongst these is the excellent four volume series of guidebooks for sailors, by marine scribe and historian, Graham Scarce. Our ship's copies of volumes 1 - 3 are well thumbed and have been invaluable to us in planning passages in Gulf St Vincent, Spencer Gulf and Kangaroo Island waters. Volume four "A Cruising Guide to the Historic West Coast" on the other hand remains in near pristine condition, although a cursory glance from time to time has confirmed for us that SA's glorious coastline to the west of Port Lincoln waters has boundless treasures to discover despite being truly "a remote and desolate place". What is also clear is that each year a window of weather usually presents, centred loosely around March, positioned between the hard Sou-Easters of summer and the gales of winter, where a cruising yacht might make the most of visiting one of SA's most spectacular marine destinations. It may be SA's nautical Shangri La.  Seafarers who have gone before us rate the West Coast as amongst the best on offer in Australia. We are about to find out for ourselves, and now, being not constrained by either clock or calendar is the time for us to head West. So come and join us on board our 36' sloop Calista as we head for western waters, hopefully reaching the far off waters around Ceduna where Jonathon Swift was sufficiently inspired to pen the first guidebook to the far west coast, Gulliver's Travels.

We may say more later about planning our voyage to the land of Lilliput, but first glance for would-be West Coast voyagers would be cartographically enough to keep them in the aforementioned Gulfs. The first point to round in heading west is Cape Catastrophe, but this title is understandable as Captain Matthew Flinders lost eight of his crew in this vicinity in 1802, with their names, Thistle, Taylor, Little, Lewis, Smith, Hopkins Williams and Grindall being given in their memory to islands in the locality. Sadness; preserved in stone, girt by sea. Further to the West, lies a likely first port of call - Avoid Bay, with places like Misery Bay, Anxious Bay and Denial Bay beyond. Even locals have dubbed the cute little anchorage at Pt Sir Isaac, off Coffin Bay, "seasick bay" just to add to the picture.

For a number of years we have cruised to waters off Port Lincoln in the Christmas - New Year period, often with friends and making many more along the way. This year however, instead of making for our home port, Wirrina Cove, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, in mid January, we have remained anchored in the Port Lincoln area, to enjoy the famous Tunarama Festival, to enjoy Port Lincoln Race - Week (following the Adelaide - Port Lincoln Yacht Race), to enjoy the social aspects of a cruising life and to prepare for our passage beyond Cape Catastrophe to the West. After frustratingly changeable weather over new year, a bout of unrelenting sou-easters set in and most casual cruisers were confined to port. For us, Race -Week also heralded what seemed to be a break in the SE strong wind warnings and, with Calista fully stocked and provisioned, it was time leave the good life in Port Lincoln and put to sea.