Out into the Bay

Weds 6/3/94
Dawn: Tamea and Bill go fishing.  Bill cooks breakfast of sausages, egg and tomato on toast.  Overcast day.  Wind building up 15 - 20 kts.  Up anchor and move to entrance of the river to explore the western arm.  Quite bumpy at the entrance.  Anchor just inside and at the mouth of the western arm.  John and Bill go fishing.  John successful again, returning fish to the water excess to requirements. Wait for the tide to change for crossing sand bar back out into Koolama Bay.  Hope to explore the little coves along the western side of the bay.

HMAS Geelong in Koolama Bay.

1330 hours: Leave King George Rv and out into Koolama Bay.  Very bumpy outside with huge waves driving up against the cliffs on the western side.  See the Navy Patrol Boat HMAS Geelong anchored in the bay. Assume it's there to wait out the rough weather outside.


Rattle and Hum at anchor inside Koolama Bay
headland.

Afternoon: Contact Wooli on radio.  Don tells me all the other yachts are anchored in the lee of the eastern headland so we make our way over there to join them.  Have some trouble getting the large Danforth anchor to set once more.  We're in 8m of water but can't get closer to the beach due to location of the other boats.  Make a couple of attempts laying out 45m of chain before it seems to set.  Connect a safety rope to the last 15m of chain is it’s pretty old and rusty.  Two Navy blokes come to each boat asking questions on behalf of Coastwatch.  Very polite and friendly.  Go ashore and climb the eastern headland.  Take some photos.

Bill on the eastern headland
Koolama Ba

1630 hours: Weather forecast not nice.  Tropical low in the Timor Sea expected to degenerate into a cyclone.  Located 191 nm from us moving west at 8 kts.  Winds locally quite strong.
1800 hours: Tamea cooks tea of rissoles, bubble and squeak.  Am concerned about the holding power of the anchor considering the now strong winds howling through the rigging and rocking the boat.  Set an anchor watch through the night of 2 hrs on and 4 hrs off.  Night is pitch black and hard to make out bearings.  Other boats turn off all lights and it becomes harder to keep track of them.  Having to use a torch occasionally to check their position relative to ours.  Some anxious moments but GPS assures me we're still holding, but swinging around a fair bit. Wooli’s fabric canopy gets ripped and a hatch is blown off at some point in the night.  Glad to see the dawn.

John and Russ on the headland.

Thur 7/3/94
0800 hours: Everyone up.  Problems with alternator.  Pull it out, strip it and clean everything in sight.  Re-check the manual to learn all the connections and how they work.  Replace some electrical contacts which are a bit corroded.  Also replace the voltage regulator as I have had some suspicions about it's performance. Don Ross kindly loans me a spare alternator just in case.  Check that it will fit if needed.  Manage to refit my own alternator and it appears to be working okay. Overcast day and solar panels not providing much power to recharge batteries.  Batteries down to just over 12v.  Having to run the motor to recharge batteries.

Yachts anchored just inside Koolama Bay

Midday: Coastwatch flies over and speaks to Wooli on the radio. Gets details of all four yachts present.  Mostly a social call.  Very polite as usual.  Day continues overcast and drizzly.  Still only getting about 5 amps of solar power but its enough to keep the fridge going.  Have to conserve fuel for the trip home so turn motor off.  Have used more fuel than expected coming over at just under ½ tank (about 120ltrs of diesel).  Winds E to NE and quite strong in gusts but eases a little from time to time.  Coastwatch tells us the seas in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf are the same as locally.  We can see they are quite big outside the headland.  It had been my intention to leave Thursday afternoon considering how slow we have been, but opt for caution. All yachts decided to wait it out to tomorrow.
Lunch: Frankfurts, bubble and squeak with Bills compliments.
Afternoon: Lay out a second anchor using the 35lb CQR with 3m chain and 100m rope. Notice Wooli has also laid a second anchor.  Feel a little more secure now but cautious just the same about anchor dragging.  It keeps us pretty much in place overnight despite a rain squall and very high winds.
Late Afternoon: Don Ross invites all crews from over to his boat for rum punch cocktail hour.  Take some tinned fruit and two bottles of non-alcoholic champagne which adds a nice taste.  Very pleasant social event but it breaks up on dusk when it starts raining.  Return to Lowana for dinner. Bill cooks a stew and we all settle in for the night.  Have to get up a few times to the call of the anchor alarm and for a hard rain squall but otherwise pretty uneventful night.