THE WESSEL ISLANDS

After crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria, in company with two other catamarans, 'Kinetic Energy' & 'Kularoo', it was time to finally relax & put that leg of the journey behind us. It'd taken us 54 hours to cover 372 miles & although we were all really tired from lack of sleep, we still felt that we needed to celebrate so an afternoon beach party was soon underway. The Wessel Islands are north of Gove & because it was such a beautiful area where we felt totally isolated, we decided to stay for a week. There was so much exploring to be done so we were kept very busy each day, walking the long, white, sandy beaches, the low scrubby inland & the vast waterways where there were heaps of fish to be caught. Of course there wasn't any diving to be done, especially with the crocodile sightings but the tidal lagoons offered plenty of fishing so we generally ate fish every day & usually had the choice of mangrove jack, barrumundi, trevallie or mackerel.

The weather, once we'd crossed the Gulf, was quite hot & the doona was finally stored so that we only used a sheet each night. The daytime temperatures usually sat around 32-34 degrees C with the humidity at 70-80%, making it rather sticky & uncomfortable. The aqua water of the bays looked soooooo inviting but with croc tracks on every beach, there was no way that we were going swimming, unless there was fresh water lagoons to be found.

We still had quite a long way to get Darwin & although we hated leaving the Wessels, after a week, we felt as though we were ready to go. Although our original intention was to explore all the little nooks & crannies along the way, we seemed to get caught up in the moment & tended to follow "Kinetic Energy", who unfortunately, had already covered these areas in previous years. So, even though we realize that we've missed a lot of great river systems etc, there'll be other times, I'm sure!

Coast Watch was on patrol every day before our arrival in Darwin & we were contacted from passing helicopters, planes or boats on a very regular basis, asking details of where our home port was, our last port of call & our next port of call. We certainly didn't mind passing on those details day after day, but I know that a lot of the yachties were over it & became quite rude over the radio. Totally unnecessary, in my opinion, but I guess that everyone is different!

Trepang Bay, which is in the Coberg Peninsula, was another favourite stop for us as far as fishing went. I actually ended up with RSI in my wrists from hauling in one fish after the other, but it was great fun & a great challenge as the mangrove jack, in particular, proved to be rather tricky when you caught them. They'd drag the line under the nearest mangrove or fallen log when they were hooked, so whether or not you actually got them in, was another thing!

We saw a few crocs at Trepang Bay & one set of tracks led right past a massive yellow buoy that had been washed up onto the beach there. It was HUGE & although it was made of a thick, plastic, it would've been a real shock to have run into something like that out in the waters, especially at night!