07/05/2012, Seisia, Cape York, AU
Weather really dominates over a cruiser's life. It is the weather that one uses to make a "go or no go" decision. Right now, we are in a "no go" holding pattern as we watch this massive high pressure cell hover over Victoria and build, and build and build. It started out at only 1029 Mb when it reached the SW corner of Australia. It has now grown to a whopping 1037 mb (millibars). Plus, it has decided that it loves the Victoria area so it has decided to stop and stay put a bit.
To give you an idea of how big of a high pressure system this is let me compare it to what the NZ Met Service advises sailors to look for when sailing from Tonga to New Zealand. You want to leave Tonga when a high pressure system is over NZ so you can ride the winds toward the southwest for the 700 to 800 nm to NZ. Since high pressure cells circulate counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere the winds from a high pressure cell over NZ will blow W to SW as you leave Tonga. Most high pressure cells will take between 5 and 7 days to pass over NZ so this gives you favorable winds to make the 5 to 6 day passage. However, the NZ Met Service warns you not to leave Tonga if the high pressure system is greater than 1030 mb. If it is greater than that, the winds circulating around the system will be too strong (30 plus knots) and will create large seas making the passage uncomfortable and put a lot of stress on your boat and its rigging. This system that is hovering over Victoria right now is 1037 mb: 7 mbs greater than the maximum sized high pressure system that you want to sail into as you cross from Tonga to NZ!
This strong high pressure system is the reason why we are experiencing high winds as we sit out this blow, safe and sound in Seisia. We had hoped to leave today and continue on to Darwin but with the stalling of the system, it looks now that we will have to wait until at least Sunday or possibly Monday before continuing on. We need to wait until the winds die back to about 15 knots or so to avoid very bad seas over the shallow Gulf of Carpentaria. Our friends on S/V Sea Mist crossed the Gulf last week when the winds were blowing over 20 knots and had just a miserable time. I would like to avoid that if at all possible.
Since we will be here for a few days more, we decided to dinghy into shore and go grocery shopping. Our supply of fresh fruits and vegetable that we bought in Cairns a few weeks ago is almost gone and it looks like it will be another week or so before we reach Darwin. Mary Margaret was delighted to see that the fruits and veggies were wonderfully fresh and we loaded up on lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, and apples, along with some cold cuts and cheeses. Yumm!
After returning to Leu Cat we had just finished unpacking the goodies when we were hailed by the folks of S/V Salamander. They were just returning from the grocery store also and stopped to invite us over to their boat. This was too much to pass up so we quickly accepted their kind invitation.
When we arrived carrying a large plate of cheddar cheese and mixed nuts and dried fruit, we were greeted with a spread of goodies that just would not stop. Sue and Hillary brought out cheese, hummus, seaweed crackers, fresh tomato bread that Hillary had made and a kilo of prawns! Wow! Plus, not to be outdone, Chris brought out two of his last cans John Smith Extra Smooth Stout, from England. I had died and gone to heaven.... It was all too much to finish but I must admit, I gave it a yeoman's try!
We ended up staying for four hours and just had a wonderful time. As it turns out, Chris and I both have the same "sparkling" sense of humor and we played off of each other's jokes all afternoon. I think by the time we left, Mary Margaret and Sue were glad to see Chris and I part. I am not too sure they would agree with my assessment of how great our senses of humor were!
Nevertheless, we all had a wonderful time and really enjoyed getting to know Chris, Sue and Hilary so much better. We hope to have them over to our boat to reciprocate their generosity before we both shove off for Darwin.
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This is the gem of Seisia, from our perspective: the grocery store!!! It was remarkable well stocked and we will be making a sojourn to it tomorrow morning.
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Here is the view from the pier, looking east toward Cape York
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Here is the fleet sitting in front of Seisia. These boat are sitting in Seisia's little harbor. I did not recognize any of the boats and most of the were Australian. Thus, I am guessing that most of them have come up for the season. I did meet one couple that were crewing on a friends boat. They all live in Perth and are sailing it to there. That is one long sail!!!!
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Here is another view of the people enjoying their time fishing.
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