Admiral's thoughts

P.S. to the blog A few thoughts from our last 2 weeks of sailing from Lizard island to Gove. We have been lucky to be able to sail mostly day hops these last two weeks,sometimes we seem to be in a convoy of a dozen other yachts heading north and other days we are alone. As you may have read from our Portland Roads posting we headed ashore for a walk and in search of a strong 3G connection ,but forgot to check the tides ! So we were high and dry for about 4 hrs,we had to trudge through knee high sludge bordering the mangroves until our dingy finally reached water ,thank goodness for our dingy wheels which have paid for themselves over and over again. The best part of the day though was the surprisingly good cafe ashore where we ended up having lunch and watching for the tide.All the food was homemade ,from home grown salads and bread with fresh locally caught seafood and cheesecake ,a definite highlight. I do need to stand on my soapbox for one paragraph,you may have noted a caption on the unsanitized photo of the trophy wahoo that there has been a ban on fishing on Callisto!This moratorium  is whilst I am aboard ,UNLESS the captain is starving! I am no longer going to watch the brutal gaffing of one of these spectacular creatures convulsing blood all over our deck prior to slaughter,it deeply saddens me also to watch the smiles of triumph on the captors after this agonizing ordeal. Changing the subject,we had a wonderful quiet and restful night anchored up the escape river near the pearl farms ,the previous night had been  in Shelbourne bay and it was rolly and uncomfortable,not conducive for sleeping. I decided to get the washer going and hang the decks with all the laundry,whilst doing this Rusty the pearl farm owner came over in his skiff and invited us over for morning tea. Again it is a highlight to meet the the locals and receive their gracious hospitality.We ate a freshly baked still warm ,delicious fruit bread with our tea ,thanks Bronwyn .After gaining local knowledge we are now acutely aware of our surroundings from here on into the northern territories,crocs are everywhere ,and they look like sticks and logs! I would not walk through the sludge again at Portland Roads now I have this knowledge! Next was getting the right timing to get over the sand bar at the entrance to escape river and timing the tides to go through the Albany passage ,which was spectacular,if only we could go at 10 knts on flat seas all the time! Somehow I was expecting Cape York to look more dramatic,being the most northern point of mainland Australia, but it was a low headland and not really worth a stop for. Now to cross the Gulf of Carpenteria,we set off on a tide that gave us a wonderful push for the first few hours, we were the only yacht crossing that day, it seemed liked the others were resting .Weather was spectacular as you can see on the  posted photo. The only excitement that day was a small red and white Australian coast guard plane dived over us at about a hundred feet to check us out and called us on the radio to check out our paperwork. Then the next 24 hours were rather uncomfortable, with muddled seas,finally they seemed to settle and we arrived mid- morning into Gove to a quiet anchorage.Next day, we hitched a ride ( thats what you do here)into town with Shirley,very friendly ,she was taking her dog to the vet ,but said she would take us to town first. Then our first excitement of the day, just as we said good bye to Shirley and she headed around the corner I realized I left my camera on her backseat! OMG think quick! There was a taxi nearby, I jumped in and it was 'follow that car'. The taxi guy managed to radio call to another oncoming taxi ahead of us and he flashed her down and we came to a stop, mission accomplished.Now back to find the Captain and Ron and resume food shopping and the local library for some books on the local tides and waters. Over the last 24 hours about 10 yachts have arrived into the harbour,the weather has changed ,it is now extremely windy and it seems they had a much bumpier sail over the Gulf than we did. We had our wedding anniversary dinner in the local yacht club last night listening to the tales of their passages. We are anchored a long way out from the YC so the journey to dinner was a water drenching dingy ride , whats new! luckily we wore foul weather gear ,so as to be dry when eating! Good job I didn't blow dry my hair! For our fellow yachties the Gove Yacht club is open for meals and drinks Thursday through Sunday only.3G connection is excellent here in the harbor.