TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Rob and I were are watch as the sun rose across the Sea. We were heading towards Shelter Bay on Prudhoe Island. This is where Royce sheltered in the cyclone back in 2000. Looking at the Bay he should have stayed there. We took the dingy ashore after breakfast, with crowbar, hammer and screwdriver and proceeded to extract some beautiful whitish clear crystals.

Next stop was Wary Bay on Bigge Island, where we saw some more amazing rock art, different to Jar Island, with a lot of “Contact Art” depicting Dutch sailors. Went for a walk along a short beach, a clamber up some rocks and a quick dip in the ocean in the shallows next to the dingy, before getting back on Camelot and heading off to the Maret Islands, which were an hour and a half offshore.

On the way, we heard over the VHF  “This is Australian Warship requesting to board”. Couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation (if there was one) so we didn’t know if there was any further drama. Heard the same conversation several times with significant gaps in between.

The FSC Cruising Guide describes the Maret Islands as some of the most beautiful offshore islands in the Kimberleys. We stopped in Brunei Bay, and on the way into the beach saw a couple of very large turtles mating. We walked along the beach picking up some shells and watching the sea eagles hover above. Royce then dropped us back on Camelot and once again took off in the dingy to some other bays with us following behind in Camelot.

Re-docking the dingy without tipping anything out, we turned off the motors and had a great sail. Kim celebrated his alcohol free day by downing quite a bit of beer as well as both red and white wine, whilst wearing his “Drive in Moderation – Frequently” T-Shirt. Looking forward to when he resumes drinking tomorrow. Royce through some lures over the back and lost one pretty well straight away.

Just before midnight the wind dropped and we motored the last little bit to our anchorage for the night at Careening Bay, some 40nm from the Marets.