Esperance Bay to Albany

Beautiful Dillon Bay

We had a comfortable night on Stuart’s mooring at O’Brien’s Beach. Our starter motor was giving us cause for concern. Jeremy had stripped it down but could not repair it because of a sealed unit. He put it back together and was relieved when it started the engine.

Vehicles on the beach at Dillon Bay

Jeremy telephoned VMR Esperance and we motored out of the bay with the genoa folding in the light NE wind. Dolphins swam at the bow. A large smoke cloud formed on the land behind us and soon we could smell burning vegetation. I switched the engine off in the afternoon and we sailed with the genoa only in sunny weather. The seas began to get bigger and the swell had breaking waves on top.

Little Boat Harbour, Dillon Bay

In the evening we had two poles up and flew our No.2 jib to port and a slightly reefed genoa to starboard. The wind increased after dark and I reefed the genoa twice more as we surfed at alarming speeds down the big waves.

Much needed r&r

In the morning the wind died away and we motored towards Little Boat Harbour in Dillon Bay. It was a lovely place to have lunch, catch up on sleep and have a quick dip in the sea followed by a shower on the stern in the sunshine. We would have liked to stay longer, but the weather window gave us just enough time to make Albany before strong winds arrived.

Approaching Albany

We left at 0300 for another night at sea. We motorsailed all the way avoiding a well-lit fishing vessel that was on our course. We took the Middle Channel into King George Sound, rounded Possession Point and approached Princess Royal Sailing Club watching the depth sounder carefully. We phoned the club and left messages, but it was their Sailability day and everyone was busy.

Entering Princess Royal Harbour, Albany

We turned around and headed towards Albany Waterfront Marina, run by the DoT, and wondered if we would be refused entry. I phoned to arrange a berth, but there was no reply. We needed fuel, we needed to have our gas and electricity installations checked and we had a dodgy starter motor. We asked a man on one of the berths where we should go for fuel and tied up at the Service Wharf. The man was Gerry and he came round in his car and took Jeremy to meet Mark. A mechanic called Tom was working in the marina and Jeremy was given his phone number.

Safely tied up at Albany Waterfront Marina

We were directed to a berth next to Gerry and tied up. Jenna from the DoT came by with keys to the marina gate and the ablution facilities. She was welcoming and friendly and also gave us a direct line to Christine at Albany DoT and a form to complete and hand in the next day. Two hours later, Mark returned from helping out with Sailability and put us in contact with a gas and an electricity engineer. Both would be at SD at 0800 the next day. Jeremy gave Tom our started motor. He was unable to fix it and a new one was ordered which was delivered on Saturday, only two days after our arrival. Everyone was friendly and helpful. The ablution block had hot showers, toilets, a washing machine and a tumble drier and the marina was secure.

Floating pontoon berths at Albany Waterfront Marina

By the time we met Christine on the morning after our arrival, our gas and electricity had been inspected. Grant, the electrician, put a new plug on our cable, tested our system and issued a safety certificate. Lee, the gas engineer, could not pass our gas installation, but told us we would need to have SD hauled out to have the work done. Clearly, this was not practical, but as we were expecting to be hauled out in Freemantle next month, perhaps we could have the work done then. Jeremy had looked at the Energy Safety Bulletin-Gas Focus No 57 for details relating to older gas installations. We had to put in writing that we had read these details and understood the consequences. Christine was happy that we were doing all we could to comply with WA standards. Later that day, we sent her an email with the electricity safety certificate attached and the information from Bulletin No 57.

Today, we met up with a British couple, Rob and Barbara, on Zoonie, who have hauled out a few miles away at Emu Point and spent a pleasant couple of hours exchanging boating tales.