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| Stokes Bay - our turnaround point. |
We spent 10 days in Flinders Group exploring and fishing.
Over a couple of days at Owen Channel we had bid farewell to Ceilidyh and Endurance of the South http://www.enduranceofthesouth.com as they headed on towards Darwin. We made the short hop across to Blackwood Island.
Here we caught a beautiful big mackerel, which along with the fresh water we picked up from the tanks on Flinders Island kept our provisions well stocked.
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| Bushwalking on Blackwood Island |
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| Blackwood Island anchorage - Princess Charlotte Bay in the background. |
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| Blackwood Island |
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| Cubic Rocks Blackwood Island |
After Blackwood Island it was Stokes Bay, Stanley Island for our northernmost anchorage. On the way we caught another tuna. We marked this momentous event with brunch on the beach and made an Arjuna 2014 sign out of driftwood on the beach to leave at the Stokes Bay "Yacht Club". We had the whole place to ourselves.
On our second afternoon at Stokes Bay, super-yacht Silent World II unexpectedly appeared out of the wilderness to anchor next to us. They had been intrepidly exploring Princess Charlotte Bay. Seeing their high tech communications capabilities, we radioed them to see if they could give us a weather update. We later met the always helpful Captain Mitch on the beach. He was to assist us a number of times in upcoming days, as our paths crossed again.
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| A cosy crab at Stokes Bay, Stanley Island |
The next day we headed back to Owen Channel to await a forecast easing in the south easterly trade winds which howl through this patch of coast for months and months on end.
It was here that we met the enchanting Ronnie and Annie. Ronnie had the crew completely spellbound: taking us exploring, teaching the crew new knots and terrible jokes, and the joys of eating green ants. To the third mate's joy, Ronnie and Annie's boat had rigging that you could climb all the way up. Which is exactly what he did (with Ronnie's encouragement). Annie spoiled the crew with home cooked lasagne and pavlova. When she discovered that she and the third mate shared an interest in art, she spirited him away for the morning for a painting session. It was with much sadness that we left Annie and Ronnie on the evening of Friday 26th September to start the return journey south.
Finally there was a small window of opportunity for us to head back around wild old Cape Melville.
It was here that we met the enchanting Ronnie and Annie. Ronnie had the crew completely spellbound: taking us exploring, teaching the crew new knots and terrible jokes, and the joys of eating green ants. To the third mate's joy, Ronnie and Annie's boat had rigging that you could climb all the way up. Which is exactly what he did (with Ronnie's encouragement). Annie spoiled the crew with home cooked lasagne and pavlova. When she discovered that she and the third mate shared an interest in art, she spirited him away for the morning for a painting session. It was with much sadness that we left Annie and Ronnie on the evening of Friday 26th September to start the return journey south.
Finally there was a small window of opportunity for us to head back around wild old Cape Melville.
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| Sunset over Stanley Island (Yindayin) |
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