Shark Bay

Three Bay Island

Shark Bay is a World Heritage Site “valued internationally for its rich and abundant marine life and spectacular scenery where the desert meets the sea.”(Shark Bay Marine Reserves Visitor Guide) Roughly, it covers an area 80 miles long and 50 miles wide. There are a number of marine protected areas, 320 species of fish and more than 80 coral species. Seagrass meadows are extensive supporting 10,000 dugongs. Turtles, sea snakes, dolphins and sharks inhabit the many bays, inlets and islands.

Northern bay, Three Bay Island

Alongside the maritime reserves there are national parks, campsites, 4 wheel drive tracks, holiday resorts and many boating and fishing opportunities. We have been here for 16 days and we’ve barely scratched the surface of this unique place.

We started in the south at Geritsen Cove and motorsailed up Blind Strait with Dirk Hartog Island to port. We were heading for Denham, the main town in Shark Bay. We spotted catamaran Barbarossa with Frank and Marianne on board, last seen in Geraldton. We contacted them on VHF. Then we had to concentrate. There are many shallow areas that most keel boats must avoid and there is only about half a metre of tidal range. To save an hour on our trip to Denham, we went across the well- marked Bellefin Flats with a least depth of 2.1m and made it safely to the moorings off the town. As it was neap tides, we were able to pick up a mooring which we learned belonged to a local man who was happy to have us use it in exchange for a bottle of red wine.

After a few days, we moved to a deeper, outer mooring near a Bavaria yacht called Sandale. We met the owner, Andrew Maffett, who was Australian Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2015. As we spoke to him from our dinghy, the strop on his mooring broke free and he was drifting. Quickly, he started his engine and we helped him reattach to the mooring buoy. Later that evening, we had sundowners on board Sandale and swapped sailing stories. Andrew gave us lots of information about anchorages in Shark Bay and further north in WA.

Don't stand on the edge!

After provisioning for a week, we set off the next day and anchored overnight at Ant Island. The next day we tried to enter a protected anchorage called Boat Haven Loop. We met Barbarossa on her way out. Frank called us on VHF and gave us information about the channel into Boat Haven. It was not as charted. In spite of having this information and the mid morning sun behind us to light up the shallows, we lost the channel and found ourselves in shallow water and aground at one point. 
 

Sandy Coves

After an hour or more, we gave up, turned away and headed for a less protected anchorage about 25 miles south called East Landing. In the distance, on the beach, we saw the wreck of a WW2 lifeboat from the German ship, Kormoran (the ship that had sunk HMAS Sydney II with the loss of all hands.) We were now in Henri Freycinet Harbour.

Arid scrubland at Sandy Coves

Fortunately, it was a calm night so we slept well. The next day, we set off for Three Bay Island, anchored and went ashore in the dinghy to explore. Mostly, the rock was too fragile to trust and the scrub was of the prickly sort, so our walk was short from the east beach to the north beach.

Gregories, Peron Peninsula

A weather front came through giving us rain for a whole day. We filled our tanks and water bottles. Fresh wind came with the front and started to blow from W to SW to S. The short waves became uncomfortable so we weighed anchor after lunch and headed to Salutation Island. We changed our destination for Sandy Coves as neither of us wanted to attempt a narrow entrance into a new anchorage with a fresh to strong wind blowing. Sandy Coves gave us more protection from the wind.

The jetty at Denham

Ashore, there were miles of beach to explore with no signs of other humans other than footprints. We were on mainland Australia, but it was a remote place with access to some of it by four wheel drive vehicles over sandy tracks. We could send text messages by hauling my mobile phone up the mast on a halyard. This was how we contacted Wende at ACRM.

Jeremy, Barbara and Rob

We headed back to Denham on 19^th July and tied up in the evening to one of the outer mooring buoys. Two days later we met up with British sailing couple, Barbara and Rob from Zoonie. They were returning from a road trip and camping in Denham.We had lunch together and met up again the next day for coffee and cake. It was great to catch up on their news. They are keen to launch their yacht and set off across the Indian Ocean. Always, the same question crops up. Is it safe and sensible to leave Western Australia? Cocos Keeling and Reunion have opened up but South Africa is struggling with huge numbers of Covid infections and deaths.

Teggs anchorage, Carnarvon

After provisioning for a week and doing our laundry, we left Denham for Carnarvon, stopping for two nights at Gregories on the north west side of Cape Peron. We walked in the Francois Peron National Park using the beach and 4WD tracks to circle from our dinghy to Gregories’ Campsite, Bottle Bay Campsite and back to our dinghy.

Another crowded beach

We left Gregories on Saturday 25^th July and sailed 45 miles north to Carnarvon. We are anchored at Teggs about 2-3 miles from the town. We are waiting for letters from Albany and Geraldton and two parcels from the UK, which have been sent to Carnarvon Post Office.

Houtman Abrolhos Islands

Tied to Fisheries Department mooring, Pelsaert Island

Generally known as the Abrolhos, the 122 islands lie 40 nautical miles west of Geraldton. There are three main groups: Wallabi, Easter and Pelsaert. All by itself lies North Island. They spread north to south across 55 nautical miles of ocean and are a meeting place for tropical and temperate sea life. The south flowing Leeuwin Current brings warm, tropical water through the Abrolhos. Normally, corals and tropical fish would not be found in these southern latitudes. This is what makes the islands unique.

Sal Darago at Pelsaert Island

After a few heart stopping moments on our passage into the Pelsaert Group, where the depth plunged to only 1.9m at one point, we found the yellow triangular Fisheries Department mooring buoys. We tied to one and informed VMR Geraldton of our arrival on VHF 81. The wind was blowing strongly from the east.

Remains of guano loading jetty, Pelsaert Island

We stayed here for two nights. We took the dinghy ashore at the old Guano Jetty and saw the remains of the mining industry of the past. Someone had left a pair of diving/reef walking boots on the sand. They were Jeremy’s size. There were no other people on the island. We walked around the southern end of the long, ribbon like Pelsaert Island to the lighthouse and aptly named Wreck Point, then back to the old jetty. We were careful to keep to the tracks or walk close to the beach to avoid damaging fragile plants or disturbing wildlife. We saw many types of seabirds, several sea lions and a couple of lizards.

Lighthouse at Wreck Point, Pelsaert Island

It was possible to get a Telstra phone signal if you were 3 metres above sea level and the lighthouse was the highest point. We sent messages to our family. On our way back, we walked along a beach made entirely of tiny, white shells piled up by the sea into banks a metre or so high. Then we saw footprints. Perhaps they belonged to the owner of the boots although we saw no-one.

Can you name this lizard?

In the afternoon, I donned my wetsuit and swimming cap and we snorkelled on a nearby reef. We could see various corals and some tropical fish, but the water was cloudy and parts of the reef were shallow.

Do not disturb the sealions

The next day, once the now northerly winds had settled down, we headed north. We would have stopped at Middle Island, but the wind was easing, so we continued on to Morley Island in the Easter Group, 21 miles away. The swell died down as we reached the shelter of the South Passage, identified the entrance markers, furled our genoa and avoided bombies and an aquaculture area, to reach a yellow, Fisheries Department mooring. 
 

Climbing up for a phone signal

In the afternoon I persuaded Jeremy to come with me to snorkel a diving trail. We found the reef to be very interesting with lots of different types of coral and many tropical fish.The next day three lads in a “tinny” whizzed past us and zipped out to sea through a small gap between Morley Island and Crake Island. Two of them started surfing the rollers on the seaward side. Meanwhile, we took our dinghy ashore and walked around Morley Island, avoiding several beached sealions and noting a sea eagle on the highest bush on the island, which was probably only a couple of metres high. We talked to a crayfishing family enjoying time off at a small beach.

Beautiful evening at Morley Island

Back at the dinghy, Jeremy saw the surfing lads were in trouble. One was pushing the tinny and the other two were paddling it against the wind towards Morley Island. Jeremy called out to them that we would tow them to SD if they could bring their tinny through the gap. Soon we had brothers, Tom and Will on board along with their friend, Riley. Somehow, their Dad’s 15hp outboard had dropped off the transom into the sea. The fuel line was broken. 
 

Sunset from Morley Island

Jeremy fixed the broken fuel line with a Bic pen top, but the motor would not start. Eventually, we managed to send a text message to their Dad by hauling my mobile up the mast on a halyard. Dad arrived in his fishing boat called Connada and picked up the lads from the beach.

Spot the sea eagle

The next day, we headed to the Wallabi Group passing Rat Island with its many fishing houses to port. We felt the 2-3m swell as we left the shelter of the island and headed north to Goss Passage. We saw the reef where the Batavia went aground in 1629 and passed nearby Beacon Island where the survivors camped and suffered terrible atrocities at the hands of their Commander, Cornelius. We saw the memorial cairn erected on the island, but the swell was too big for us to stop.

Sealion family

Jeremy changed his mind about anchoring off Pigeon Island near another crayfishing village and we headed for quieter Turtle Bay further north. Here we tied to yet another yellow mooring and went ashore for a look around. We were surprised to see an aircraft pilot and a small group of people in a beach shelter. It turned out they had flown in from Kilbarrie.

Crab on Morley Island

We walked along the lovely, crescent shaped beach, where the white sand was partly covered in more seaweed than we’ve ever seen on a beach before. We followed a trail that led us to a dirt runway and there was the plane parked nearby. There were toilets but we didn’t find the terminal building! Later, we watched the plane take off and disappear into the distance.

Kathy on the runway, East Wallabi Isalnd

Back at SD, we swam and showered. Jeremy checked the engine over and we prepared for our overnight passage to Shark Bay 152 miles away.

Plane about to take off

On Wednesday 8^th July, we dropped our anchor in Geritsen Cove near the south passage into Shark Bay. We contacted ACRM Base in Denham and they let VMR Geraldton know of our safe arrival. So here we are in Shark Bay, our interim destination to discover whether it would be sensible to cross the Indian Ocean while Covid 19 rages across the world.

Geraldton

The Courthouse, Geraldton

We stayed in Geraldton for a week. There is an anchorage off Geraldton Yacht Club, which is sheltered from the south and east, but exposed to northerlies. Nearby, there is the DoT Batavia Coast Marina, which we found friendly and accommodating. 
 

Batavia Coast Marina

When strong northerlies were forecast we phoned Lila in the DoT office and arranged a berth for the night. The charges for casual berthing are 54AUD per night but the washing machine and tumble dryer are free. Hot showers are available in the ablutions block.

The actual entrance to VOC Batavia, which never arrived

The Geraldton Museum is a must to visit. Admission is by donation. Amongst the many interesting displays is a gallery dedicated to the discovery of the wreck of the Dutch VOC (East India Company) ship, Batavia, which was on passage to Batavia (Jakarta) in the 1600’s and ran aground on Beacon Island in the Abrolhos (with 12 cases of silver worth $30 million today).

HMAS Sydney II memorial

Another sight not to miss is the striking monument to HMS Sydney II, which was sent to the bottom by a disguised German ship, Kormoran. Both ships sank. All hands perished on Sydney II, over 600 men, but more than 300 German survivors were picked up and taken to Australian camps until the end of World War II.

Sculpture of the bows of HMAS Sydney II

St Xavier’s Cathedral is also worth a visit, with its mix of architecture styles and unusual interior.

St Xavier's Cathedral

Close to the marina there is a shopping centre with a Coles Supermarket. Nearer to the yacht club there is an IGA and a Woolworths. Consequently, Geraldon is a great place to reprovision.

It’s also the place to find out information about the Abrolhos Islands from the Fisheries Department. It’s essential to inform the authorities of the dates of your intended visit to the Abrolhos. This is easily done online. Another essential is a fishing licence, which we applied for online. There are no charges for visiting the islands, but the fishing licence costs 40AUD (£20 approx.)

Ignore STOP sign at your peril!

We had a few days of worry when our FairFX currency cards were suspended due to a company called Wirecard becoming insolvent. Fortunately, our money was protected by Barclays and we were soon able to use our currency cards once more.

Knowing we would be out of phone and internet contact for a week or two, we contacted our family and friends to inform them of our plans and also contacted VMR Geraldton. They keep a 24 hour listening watch and have a VHF repeater in the Abrolhos, on VHF 81.

The sun doesn't always shine

We had food, water and diesel. We’d checked the weather. We’d informed people of our plans. We’d completed all the paperwork. It was time to leave. It was just a pity that we had to leave at midnight. We could have left it for an hour or two, but it is important to arrive in the Abrolhos in daylight and use the morning sun to help eyeball into anchorages. The navigation is tricky.

Immense road train

We arrived in Pelsaert Island and tied to a mooring off Guano Jetty at 0915 on Thursday 2^nd July.