At anchor in Mullet Bay on N. Goulborn Island Serenity was all alone.
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Comments [1]
The rock formations at the side as we we went through the Hole in the Wall we very cool looking.
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Looking aft as we go through the passage in the Hole in the Wall.
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Approaching the Hole in the Wall.
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June 17, 2012 Up in the dark and weigh anchor--our fellow boats were already gone. We motorsailed the fifteen miles to the Hole in the Wall-- a narrow passage from east to west in the Wessel Island chain. The Wessels make a great sea wall running from south to north. And one of the few 'holes' in this wall is the 64 meter wide and 9 meter deep Gugari Rip or the Hole in the Wall. As the tidal currents can reach 9 knots in the channel--it is important to transit the channel at slack water--which is exactly at high or low tides. We timed our arrival for exactly high tide--and after a really bumpy ride we were right on! Passing through the narrow channel was a 'life experience'--very cool. We had to hand steer due to the eddies and Sherry did her turn as I took some photos--she had a ball. We followed Sea Eagle in and Windancer followed us. Once through the Hole in the Wall we were going to spend the night in an anchorage on the other side--but, the water was calm and the wind was right. We said goodbye to our friends and set our course for N. Goulborn Island-- a twenty-five hour overnight trip. This turned out to be a rough overnighter as the waves and wind increased overnight. And to make the crossing worse-- we had no moon. It is hard to describe the feelings we have when the boat is being rocked by these large waves that are crashing and hissing at the sides of the boat and we cannot see them. We arrived at N. Goulborn Island at 9am, tucked into Mullet Bay, and though we still had 20 knots of wind--we were anchored and asleep by 9:30am--sweet naptime.
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At anchor in our snug little bay on Cotton Island. It was a nice and calm night, but we did have smoke from the fires on the mainland and Islands. We found ashes all over our decks in the morning.
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