Season’s Greetings

 

Home sweet home

We’ve been home in Suffolk for almost two months. The first two weeks were spent in voluntary quarantine. Our daughter had ordered food for us for the first week. On her advice, we booked delivery slots at Tesco for the next two weeks. Our first effort at online food shopping was successful except for the 29 bananas that we ordered by mistake! 

Ellie and Sophie

 We met Em, Ben, Ellie and Sophie from a distance and outside. It was lovely to see them again after being away for 10 months, but so hard not to be able to give them all hugs. Suffolk had very low numbers of people infected with Covid-19 and we were able to meet people indoors or outdoors in groups of six. Pubs and restaurants were open, so we enjoyed Sunday lunch in a local pub with the family. We had another meal out and I went socially distanced line dancing.

Family walk

 Covid numbers began to rise rapidly in the UK and the government announced that England would be put into one of three tiers. We were put into tier 1, the lowest level. Not long afterwards, the whole of England went into lockdown for 4 weeks. 

Masked pub lunch

 We were to stay at home as much as possible and only meet with one other person outdoors. No more pub meals (except takeaways) and no more line dancing. We met Em once a week for a walk and only saw the grandchildren through their car window once.

Halloween at home

 We booked GP appointments (online consultations) had flu jabs and had our eyes tested. Shopping was limited to once a week at the village shop and local Co-op. We went for a walk almost every day and tidied the garden. We kept in touch with our wider family by phone or video call. The local church held services via Zoom and the Westerly Owners Association arranged meetings via Zoom. 

Subdued lockdown Bonfire Night

 We feel blessed that everyone in our family is keeping well. Most have kept their jobs. We are sad that we cannot visit Simon, Erin and Nina in California or my Mum and sisters in the Isle of Man.

Log delivery

 Perhaps this will change in the spring now that we have vaccines. Perhaps we’ll be able to return to Sal Darago in the summer. 

Em and Kathy, socially distanced

 In the meantime, we are debating what to do over Christmas. We are out of lockdown now and in tier 2 along with most of England. Apart from 5 days over Christmas when three households can meet indoors and stay overnight, we can only meet one group of six outdoors. Pubs and restaurants are open again and non-essential shops.

Autumn mist

 It’s been a difficult year for many. We hope you manage to keep in touch with your loved ones and keep safe and well at Christmas and throughout the New Year.

Painting the pylons

 

 

Back in the UK

Carnarvon Airport

After several, hectic weeks, lots of bread making and many meals out of tins, we are home. To be precise, we arrived on our doorstep just after dark on Saturday 10^th October. Our journey started the previous Wednesday, when we locked up Sal Darago, said a sad good-bye to our home of the last 10 months and drove down the road to our first hotel. The next morning we returned our hire car to Avis at Carnarvon Airport, donned face masks and boarded our first flight to Perth.

International departures Perth Airport

A shuttle bus took us to our airport hotel in Perth. On Friday morning, we walked to a retail park and bought face shields. Our second flight left Perth in the evening for Singapore. Here we had a glitch. Australian Border Force cleared us to travel but Scoot Airlines said our carry on bags were too heavy. Unknown to us, they’d changed the weight limit from 7kg to 3kg. We scrambled around on the floor in front of the check-in desk, opening our hold luggage and transferring all we could from our carry on bags. 

Changi Airport

After an anxious wait while officials consulted with each other, they gave us our boarding passes. There was one cafe open serving a limited menu of pies, sausage rolls and quiches. No worries; better than nothing before our 6 hour flight. Our temperatures were taken before we boarded the plane.

Enterprise hire car

It was about 3.00am on Saturday morning when we touched down at Changi Airport. There were about 30 people on the international flight. We were all socially distanced. A tedious five and a half hours passed slowly as we waited in the eerily quiet terminal building trying to sleep in chairs. 

 

Keeping safe!

At last we boarded the flight to London Heathrow with about 20 other people and remained in our socially distanced seats for the next 13 hours, continuing to wear our face masks and shields. 

Zuytdorp Cliffs

Once we were through Immigration we picked up our hold bags, found the bus stop for the shuttle bus to the car hire area and collected our previously booked hire car from Enterprise. At no point were we asked where we had come from and whether we had Covid, a temperature or even a sniffle. Jeremy drove home in the rain. Hello Britain. Thanks for the welcoming rainbow.

Steep Point lighthouse

I’ll briefly run through our final weeks on Sal Darago. Once Jeremy felt better and had the all clear from his test results, we returned to Shark Bay. We spent a couple of days in Denham bouncing on a mooring in strong winds. When the wind eased, we motored south to Shelter Bay near the southern entrance to Shark Bay. More strong southerlies were forecast, so we knew the anchorage would be protected. Here we met Jonathan and Helen on board their trailer sailer called Jacana. We spent two enjoyable evenings having sundowners on each other’s boats. 

WA wildflowers

In the daytime we went hiking, visiting Steep Point and the Zuytdorp Cliffs. Several vessels have been washed on to the cliffs over the years. The Dutch trading ship called Zuytdorp was wrecked there in 1771. There is a monument to the trawler, Nord 6, that was washed on to the rocks below the cliffs in the 1960’s. There was one survivor. We had sailed past those cliffs a few months before giving them a good offing as the locals advised.

Don't jump!

We had hoped to walk on Dirk Hartog Island, which is famous as a place where a Dutch vessel, Eendracht, landed in the 1600’s and left an inscription on a pewter plate. Dirk Hartog was the Captain. This was a long time before Captain Cook “discovered” Australia as he sailed up the east coast and claimed the land for Britain in 1770. The strong SE winds meant we could only have a brief stop at the south end of the island and a quick recce ashore in the dinghy, before we returned to Shelter Bay.

Nord 6 monument

When the wind eventually calmed down, we motored to Tumbledown Bay off Dirk Hartog Island, where the holding for the anchor was poor. It was too late to go ashore so we took turns swimming and snorkelling instead. I was swimming near SD when Jeremy shouted, “Shark! Get out of the water now!” I kept close to SD’s hull and clambered up the steps as fast as I could.

Walking back to Shelter Bay. Dirk Hartog Island in the distance.

After a stop over in Denham for laundry and shopping, we set off for Carnarvon, anchoring for the night in rolly Gregories. We saw many humpback whales with some groups putting on a show for us breeching and slapping the water with their enormous flippers. We anchored in our usual place at Teggs. There were three catamarans in the anchorage and the big tug, MacLeod.

Drying the genoa

Bruce at Pickle Point Seafoods and Boatyard had made a special jinker for Sal Darago. We had supplied the measurements for our keels. Jeremy motored on to the jinker and tied up to it. Just to be sure everything was in the right place, Bruce waded into the water up to his chest to make sure. A small adjustment was needed and then we were out and in the yard again for the second time in just over a month.

Sal Darago on her jinker

There followed eight days of hard work putting Sal Darago to bed. Here are a few examples: anchor and chain removed and washed; anchor locker cleaned out and anchor and chain replaced; genoa washed, dried, removed, bagged and stowed; mainsail taken down and stowed (washed previously in the rain); all canvas washed, taken off and stowed; most halyards moused, washed, dried and stowed; all lifejackets cleaned, gas bottles removed; engine winterised; outboard motor serviced and flushed through with fresh water; solar panels, horseshoe lifebelts cleaned and stowed; boat batteries disconnected; food tins sorted and taken to HOPE charity (Help Other People Eat) etc.

Bye bye Sal Darago

Finally, we packed our bags, stowed the dinghy, the spinnaker poles and boom, locked up and descended the ladders for the last time. When will we return to Sal Darago? Who knows? When the pandemic ends or a vaccine is found? When Australia opens up it’s borders to international travellers? When the hurlyburlys done..?

Thank you Ellie and Sophie

We wish all of our readers good health through these uncertain times. Thank you for your support through your comments and emails. We will update the blog from time to time as we return to our land based life.

 

Update from Carnarvon and Shark Bay

There was a great deal to do once we’d made our decision to fly home to the UK. The most reasonably priced boatyard and one we already knew was Pickle Point Seafoods and Boatyard at Carnarvon. A haul out date was arranged for 29^th September.

 

Kneading the dough

We would have liked to use our vouchers for our cancelled Malaysia Airlines flights, but this meant spending 12 hours overnight at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. No food was available overnight and the lounges were closed until the morning. There was also a restriction on how long we could stop over at the airport, but no actual times were published. We continued our internet search.

Preparing for our international flights

We were impressed with the Covid safe practices put in place at Changi Airport, Singapore, where our night-time stopover would be five and a half hours. Prices were competitive also and we were able to book flexible tickets. However, Singapore is not on the UK safe list, so a fortnight’s quarantine at home is mandatory. We fly from Perth to Singapore on 9^th October and Singapore to London Heathrow on 10^th October. We have booked a hire car at Heathrow so we can drive straight home on arrival.

Carnarvon is a nine hour drive from Perth. It has an airport. We booked a domestic REX flight on 8^th October with free cancellation up to 48 hours before. Now we needed a hotel in Perth and more internet searching led us to a suitably priced hotel, which we booked for two nights as our flight to Singapore does not depart until late evening. The final booking was for an overnight room not far from the boatyard for the night before we fly from Carnarvon.

Monkey Mia jetty

We could relax a little after this and plan a trip to Shark Bay. We made bread and lists of the food onboard which needed to be eaten first. Then Jeremy noticed a skin eruption or wart just below my collar bone. Another internet search told us we should have it checked out. We took the dinghy ashore to the boat harbour and walked into town. The pharmacist said to see a GP at the medical centre across the road. It was Friday and there were no appointments until next week. We were advised to go to the hospital. We walked to the Emergency Department. I was seen by a triage nurse and as they were busy with emergencies, I was asked to return later. I saw a doctor at about 4.00pm that afternoon. Although, a diagnosis can’t be made without a biopsy, she assured me it was not a melanoma, but I should see my own GP when I return home. The skin eruption was treated with liquid nitrogen and I had to take a course of vitamin B3 tablets.

We weighed anchor on daughter-in-law, Erin’s, Birthday and motorsailed 48nm to Herald Bight in Shark Bay. We saw whales, dolphins and a turtle on our journey. The first night was OK even though we were about a mile from the shore in 3.1m. The wind increased overnight and became increasingly gusty. The next day a gale force gust dragged the new Rocna anchor. We started the engine and motored towards the shore watching the depth decrease until we were as shallow as we dared. We re-anchored and stayed put. It was too windy to go ashore in the dinghy.

Monkey Mia Resort

We had lighter S-SE winds the next day, so we motorsailed south to the world famous Monkey Mia Resort. A local fisherman arranged a free mooring for us for three nights. Thank you, Marco.

Calm seas for a change

Jeremy started with the symptoms of a urinary infection while we were in Herald Bight. Fortunately, everything returned to normal after 24 hours. It was while we were ashore having lunch at Monkey Mia that his symptoms returned. Back on board SD, he began a course of antibiotics.

We left Monkey Mia when Jeremy felt better and motored south towards L’Haridon Bight. This eastern area of Shark Bay is poorly charted. Some of it has not been surveyed at all. We had a cruising guide and thought we would find the deep channel that led into L’Haridon Bight. Alas, it was not to be. We ran out of water and went aground. Jeremy was keen to keep looking for the channel. I was not. We turned back and motored to Cape Rose about four miles north of Monkey Mia. Jeremy was not well again the next day, so we did not go ashore.

Gale force gusts

On Monday 7^th September, we weighed anchor after making some bread. We motorsailed around Cape Peron to Gregories and anchored for the night in pleasant conditions. We had intended to go to Denham the next day, but it was becoming obvious that Jeremy probably had a secondary infection and needed to see a doctor. There is a nurse’s station in Denham but no doctor. It was decided to return to Carnarvon about 45nm away and go to the hospital the next day.

Force 6 at anchor

In the hospital at Carnarvon, the emergency doctor confirmed a secondary infection and prescribed ointment and another course of antibiotics. Swab tests were taken and sent to Perth. We stayed on anchor at Teggs until 14^th September, experiencing strong winds with gale force gusts to 38 knots. When the weather calmed we took SD into the boat harbour to fill up with water. Friends from yacht Sandale and another yacht from Fremantle Sailing Club were tied up in the harbour awaiting suitable weather to head south. We were invited aboard and were sad to have to refuse.

Sunset at Teggs, Carnarvon

All three yachts left Carnarvon on 14^th September. Jeremy was feeling better and did not want “harbour rot” to set in! We motorsailed to Gregories and the other yachts must have sailed further south in Shark Bay because we did not see them again.

Going fishing!

After a calm night at Gregories we motorsailed to Denham and picked up a mooring we have used before. A yacht called Chinook, from FSC, is moored nearby. Strong winds began to blow soon after tying up and they increased overnight. This morning the mooring buoy had disappeared. Fortunately, over a month ago, Jeremy had tied the mooring line to a ring under the buoy, so we were still attached. Today, he has attached a second line. We’ve had the anchor drag alarm on since we arrived. Better weather is forecast for tomorrow.

Change of Plans

Sal Darago and tugboat MacLeod anchored at Teggs

Our sailing friend of five continents, Ann Lange, once said that the plans of cruisers are written on the sand below the high water mark. The tide has come in and wiped out our plan to cross the Indian Ocean, stopping at Cocos (Keeling) and Reunion Island.

Occasionally, a tram uses this bridge from the Railway Museum to Carnarvon

Only eight days after granting permission, the Indian Ocean Territories (IOT) revoked it. No reason was given. We were allowed to stop at Christmas Island instead but would have to quarantine on the boat. Our British friends on Zoonie, were sent a similar message. We both emailed to point out that Christmas Island was several days of sailing in the wrong direction and asked again for permission to stop at Cocos. Permission was denied. I tried telephoning and learned that fear of Covid-19 reaching Cocos was the main reason for the decision. The IOT personnel had seen that New Zealand had another outbreak after 100 Covid free days and the Australian state of Victoria had gone into lockdown as a second wave of the virus arrived. This made them nervous of receiving any visitors.

The old lighthouse at the Railway Museum

We were not looking forward to 35-40 days at sea, sailing direct to Reunion, but we decided it was doable and we were provisioned and ready. We observed the number of new cases of Covid-19 in Reunion and were horrified when the numbers jumped from single figures to 92 in less than two weeks.

Spot the Gascoyne River

So, with heavy hearts, we made the decision on Monday 24^th August (two days ago) not to go. Jeremy phoned Andrew at Carnarvon Australian Border Force(ABF) and cancelled our appointment to clear out on Friday. He phoned Zelka at the DoT boat harbour and cancelled our pen booking for Wednesday and Thursday. 
 

Pressure cooker valve restored

I phoned Avis and cancelled our hire car for Thursday, when we were going to provision with fresh food, do laundry and buy extra diesel. Today, Jeremy emailed ABF to let them know of our revised plans. He also emailed Jerome at Reunion Island cancelling the berth we had previously arranged.

Wind speed working again

After much discussion with friends and family, we have decided to find an affordable boatyard where we can haul out Sal Darago for a year. Then we’ll see if we can book a flight to the UK. The safest place to be with very few new Covid-19 cases is Western Australia, but we have already been living aboard for nine months and do not wish to be away from our home and family for a further twelve months.

Blue swimmer crabs given to us by passing fishermen

We are still in Carnarvon anchored in the Teggs channel. I have had my broken tooth fixed enduring one and a half hours in the dentist’s chair! Our parcels have arrived at the post office and Jeremy has been up the mast to replace the broken wind speed and direction instrument with the new one. Our pressure cooker works again with its new release valve.

The Gascoyne River flows underground most of the time

We have discovered some walking trails along the Gascoyne River bank and have visited the Railway Museum, the lighthouse keeper’s cottage and the one mile jetty. There is a cafe there serving breakfast and lunch. However, check before you walk out there as the first time we visited the cafe was closing for a private function and they could only offer us coffee and cake!

Huge numbers of shells shore up the river bank

Last Friday was a rare, calm evening and we were able to join the friendly folks at Carnarvon Yacht Club for drinks.

One mile jetty, sadly closed to the public for safety reasons

Fresh to strong southerlies have been blowing for several days now. When they ease we might return to Shark Bay for a while until we hear from the boatyards we are contacting. We hope to eat our way through 50 days of provisions before we leave. Does anyone want a bag or six of flour?

Carnarvon

We really wanted to get into the Fascine, which is a sheltered anchorage and much closer to the town than Teggs. Thanks to Joanne and David of Fremantle Sailing Club, we had a phone number for Jan and Terry who are members of Carnarvon Yacht Club. Jeremy phoned them for advice on entry into the Fascine. The answer was decisive. “Not a chance!” We draw 1.5m and the maximum depth on a high tide is 1.2m. The entrance has silted up and only catamarans and shallow draught boats have been able to get in and out for the last two years.

Sunset at Teggs anchorage

Teggs anchorage is fine in most wind directions. The surrounding sandbanks prevent big swells rolling in, but choppy wind waves can develop at high water. The holding is good. Nearby, a marked and dredged channel leads into the DoT Boat Harbour. It takes us about 15 minutes in the dinghy to a small boat ramp in the harbour, where we can haul out the dinghy and walk for 30 minutes into town. About half way along the road we came to Carnarvon Yacht Club and met John. He gave us lots of information about the Fascine and Carnarvon. He said we could use their washing machines and showers. The DoT harbour has uninviting ablutions with cold showers and no laundry facilities.

Waiting for the laundry at Coral Coast Tourist Park

Soon after our arrival we needed to do our laundry, fill a cooking gas bottle and buy food for a few days. Jeremy had the great idea of taking the dinghy into the Fascine. It was about half tide on a fairly calm day. We touched the bottom with the outboard at one point and crossed breaking waves on the bar to reach the deeper water beyond. About 30 minutes after leaving Sal Darago we chained and padlocked the dinghy to one of the pontoons along the Fascine.

 

Mangrove beach near Teggs channel

I had found out that Coral Coast Tourist Park had washing machines and dryers and also filled gas bottles. Jeremy phoned and asked if we could use their facilities. No problem. They were very friendly and helpful. Afterwards, we carried a full gas bottle and two bags of laundry back to the dinghy. The tide had gone out revealing sandbanks in various places, so we motored to a small boat ramp and hauled out the dinghy. Fortunately, our dinghy has wheels, but it was still a hard ten minute pull along the road to the small boat ramp in the DoT boat harbour.

We believe there is a bus around town, but not out to the boat harbour. There are taxis and when we had heavy shopping to carry, we used one.

SD before power washing

Located in the boat harbour is Pickles Point Seafood and Boatyard run by Bruce and Gail. Bruce agreed to haul us out so that Jeremy could renew the antifoul paint on SD’s bottom. We arranged to hire a car from Avis to make provisioning and general running around easier.

SD washed,sanded and undercoated. Avis hire car

 We also contacted Andrew, who is an officer in the Australian Border Force. We made two appointments: first, to extend our Control Permit (this is similar to a cruising permit and has to be extended every twelve months up to a maximum of three years and second, to clear out of Australia. Since we hoped to stop at Cocos (Keeling) which is part of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories (IOT), we had to obtain permission from the IOT before we could be cleared out.

New antifoul paint applied

We filled out the required online form and sent emails. Permission was granted, but we

 have to quarantine on the boat for two weeks before we can go ashore. However, we

 understand that food, water and diesel can be brought to the boat.

Next, we emailed the harbour master at La Reunion and were given permission to berth in Le Port. As Reunion is a department of France, we are accepted as European citizens. No-one seems to know what will happen to boats (and crew) that are in Europe after 31^st December.

Inside the Apollo 11 capsule

All being well, we leave on 28^th August and start a 3,700 nautical mile passage across

 the Indian Ocean which will bring us closer to home.

The OTC dish at Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum

With most jobs done, we were ready to launch. Unfortunately, no-one told the weather and a gale warning was issued for our area. Bruce very kindly agreed to postpone our launch and we sat out the gale in the boatyard.

Carnarvon from the OTC dish

We had the opportunity for a day off so we extended the car hire and visited Carnarvon’s number one attraction, the excellent Space and Technology Museum. Here we had a trip in an Apollo capsule and had our photo taken on the Moon! It’s a great place showcasing Carnarvon’s role in tracking NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab missions.

Guess where we are?

Now that we’re back on Earth and the gale is easing, we think we’ll be on the water tomorrow. We’re still waiting for the parcels from the UK. The letters have arrived. I have to contact a dentist and have my broken tooth fixed.

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