MV Dirona travel digest for North Kimberley 2015


Show North Kimberley 2015 travel log map Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise.

On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at //mvdirona.com/maps/LocationCurrent.html.


   

5/30/2015: Channel Rock
Notifying Darwin Harbour Control on channel 10 that we are clearing Channel Rock. Since Dirona is under 20m in length, we're technically not required to participate in the Darwin Traffic Organization Scheme. But Harbour Control requested that we report, and we were happy to comply.
5/30/2015: HMAS Broome
The HMAS Broome returning to its home port in Darwin. The 186-ft (56.8 m) patrol boat can do 25 knots and is used for border and fisheries protection. And speaking of border protection, we were expecting to have frequent contact with Coastwatch, the Australia Customs monitoring planes. Last year, covering a portion of the distance, we were radioed every second day. But they only radioed us once during the entire run from the Gold Coast to Darwin.
5/30/2015: Watch
Today we're reminded of the importance of spares when James' watch strap broke. It's a trivial component, hardly related to life safety and only worth 30 bucks, but amazingly difficult to get where we are right now. That's why we carry a lot of spares.
5/30/2015: Sea strainer
The original sea strainers all developed minor leaks. Eventually they can no longer be addressed and need to be replaced, so we're gradually replacing them with high-quality Groco ones. The hydraulics sea strainer just started leaking in an unrecoverable way, so we replaced it today. The job was made more interesting by two factors. The first is that even with the new engine room cooling system, we are operating in mid-80F ambient temperatures so the engine room is up above 110F. And the second is that removing the 90-degree L fittings from the old strainer turned out to require an enormous amount of force. James eventually got them off, but claims he nearly turned the boat over doing it.
5/30/2015: New strainer
The new Groco strainer in place. Here's a picture of the old one. It's pretty clear why we replaced it.
5/30/2015: Impeller
A reality of wet-exhaust engines, and we have two on-board, is you're dependent on a raw water pump for cooling. We've found that impellers last somewhere between about ten minutes and three years, so it's always a little difficult to know what to expect. All it takes is one jellyfish plugging the inlet and away goes that impeller. They're not too hard to change, so it's not much work to deal with a bad one. The wing engine impeller hasn't been changed for two years. So even though the cooling system was operating fine and there was no obvious problem, we decided to change the impeller. Pictured is a failure mode we haven't seen before. The core of the impeller had delaminated from the outer rubber and had been spinning inside the impeller. By the look of it, this has been happening for quite a long time, and yet the wing engine runs at a steady 188-189F degrees under load. The impeller must have been spinning just enough to satisfy the cooling requirements of the engine. It definitely was time to change it.
5/30/2015: Joseph Bonaparte Gulf
The body of water we're traveling through on the 235-mile run between Darwin and the Kimberley is called Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. Conditions are so calm right now we can see our wake trailing way behind us in the distance with no waves to wipe it away. It's not always like this though. While we were fueling in Darwin, Ben Dyson of Bailey's told us some local fisherman refer to Joseph Bonaparte Gulf as "Blown Apart Gulf". Apparently conditions can get pretty nasty here.
5/30/2015: Timezone
The Northern Territory is GMT+9:30, so we went back a half-hour from Queensland when we arrived in Darwin. And the Kimberley region is in Western Australia at GMT+8:00, so we're now back two hours from Queensland.
5/30/2015: Sunset
Sunset drinks (well, Cottees Fruit Cup cordial) on the flybridge. Conditions have remained wonderfully calm.
5/31/2015: Petroleum rig
We passed about three miles away from this petroleum drilling platform. It was clearly marked on our charts.
5/31/2015: Berkeley River bar
To cross the Berkeley River Bar, we were following the deepwater, four-waypoint route from Dennis and Annette Ford's sailing directions. We arrived about 90 minutes before high tide at Reveley Island on an exchange from 6.72ft (2.05m) at 10:28am to 11.9ft (3.63m) at 3:51pm. Depths were mostly in the 9-10 ft range as we began. Then they dropped below 8ft, and as Captain Washburn in John McPhee's Looking for a Ship would say "We might have touched bottom--I think". We nosed around a bit and eventually made our way inside farther to the north with 8-10' of water. The satellite imagery where we saw shallows shows breaking waves. Possibly the sandbar the Fords indicated was to our north had shifted south. We'll try a different route on the way back out.
5/31/2015: Harmony
We were radioing back and forth with Harmony, who was following a similar track behind us. When we encountered the shallows, they scouted further north and found the deeper water route inside. As we pulled up behind them, we noticed that the boat was from Strahan, Tasmania. It turns out we'd seen each other before. Harmony's skipper was at the helm of Stormbreaker to pick up rafters along the Gordon River in Tasmania.
5/31/2015: Berkeley River
Dramatic red sandstone cliffs lined the waterway and the scenery just got better and better as we progressed. The humidity change markedly from 68% outside the river to 55% inside.
5/31/2015: Grand Canyon
Cruising along the Berkeley River felt being inside the Grand Canyon. Everyting is on such a large scale it's hard to fit in a single shot--we ended up taking lots of panoramas to capture the views.
5/31/2015: Spire
The rock formations were beautiful and complex. This spire is barely connected to the wall at the bottom.
5/31/2015: Casaurina Creek
Casaurina Creek runs through a narrow, steep-walled canyon with a waterfall at the head, and is even more dramatic than what we'd seen so far. Depths were 14-16ft up to a rock scree on the north shore, then about 10ft beyond, and increased to 40ft at the head where we hoped to anchor. Swing room was very restricted and it was difficult to get the anchor to set in the rock bottom. We might have anchored closer to a small island and picked up some mud there and stern-anchored or tied off on the opposite wall. But it was late in the day so we returned back out to find easier pickings. This is the view looking to the falls from the head--you can see why we wanted to anchor there.
6/1/2015: Sunrise
We anchored just south of the Casaurina Creek mouth, with excellent holding, plenty of swing room, and amazing scenery. This is the view looking upriver at sunrise. Having been in the Berkeley River for less than twelve hours, this is definately one of our top ten destinations ever and we're finding it hard to believe that this isn't the best of the Kimberley. We're sure looking forward to the rest.
6/1/2015: Gorge
The scenery as we cruised up the Berkeley River just kept getting more and more amazing. The video http://youtu.be/Q9zcC6geRcA (2:06) shows our route through a narrow gorge with soaring red sandstone cliffs on either side.
6/1/2015: Amphitheatre anchorage
Where we are isn't a popular anchorage, but it definitely is the best in the river. We're anchored just off a narrow amphitheatre that extends behind the boat to the east.
6/1/2015: Amphitheatre falls
We're a little too far into the dry season for Amphitheatre Falls to be running, but the gorge still is incredible. You can barely see James at the base of the cliff in the dinghy.
6/1/2015: Lunch
We climbed the slope on the west shore and had lunch with a sweeping view of the river and our anchorage. This sure feels like a marine version of the Grand Canyon, but we've really never seen anything like it.
6/2/2015: Dawn
A small runabout, likely from the resort at the river mouth, heading downriver at dawn.
6/2/2015: Rock bar
Freshwater meets saltwater on the Berkeley River at this tidal rockbar.
6/2/2015: Landing
We couldn't get past the rockbar in the dinghy, so tied it off in a narrow pool to continue farther up-river foot.
6/2/2015: Track
We walked about a mile upriver, past several tranquil freshwater pools. A four-wheel drive track crosses the water just over a half-mile from the rockbar. Except for the odd horse dropping, we didn't see much other evidence of human activity.
6/2/2015: Break
A quick stop for a drink and a break. It's really hot up here.
6/2/2015: Lunch
We returned back out to the rockbar for lunch by the falls. Visible in the distance is 700ft (213m) Mt. Casaurina.
6/2/2015: Falls
On the way back downriver, we noticed this tiny gorge where a pond filled with waterlilies fed a lovely waterfall.
6/2/2015: Gorge
The river is full of small tributaries, some ending in soaring cliffs like this one.
6/2/2015: Flying fox
Screeching filled the air as we followed this small creek. What we initially thought were birds turned out to be dozens, if not hundreds, of black flying foxes (fruit bats). They mostly are black, but have a reddish-brown mantle. The black flying fox is one of the largest bat species in the world. One flew off and its wingspan was a yard across.
6/2/2015: Crocodile
Our first crocodile sighting in the wild--a juvenile less than a foot long tucked into the mangroves.
6/3/2015: Casaurina Creek
We moved the boat back to the Berkeley River mouth in preparation for a late-afternoon departure and to explore Casaurina Creek. Here's another picture of the falls at the head of the gorge.
6/3/2015: Cliffs
We climbed a rock slide up to the top of the cliffs. A small boat already was tied off there, but we never did see the occupants. Cairns marked an inland path up-creek, but we didn't find them particularly helpful and instead mostly followed along the cliff edge for better views and easier walking.
6/3/2015: Rock bowl
The water flows over with such velocity in the wet season that these rocks have swirled around and carved a deep almost-perfect cylinder into the river bed.
6/3/2015: Pools
A series of freshwater pools can be found upriver from the falls.
6/3/2015: Bradshaws
The creek led into a gorge where we found Bradshaw rock paintings under an overhang on the north shore. Known simply as "Bradshaws", these are aboriginal paintings named after Joseph Bradshaw, who discovered them in the late 1800s. Two handprints are beside Jennifer's hand, with other drawings on the wall to the right. The paintings bear a remarkable similarity in paint color and choice of location to the pictographs we've seen along the British Columbia coast.
6/3/2015: Jellyfish
These Bradshaws were painted on the bottom of the overhang. We believe they depict jellyfish.
6/3/2015: Termites
Termite mounds were all along the track. These ones were relatively small at a couple of feet high--we've seen pictures of ones over six feet tall.
6/3/2015: Crocodile
We spotted our second crocodile shortly after exiting Casaurina Creek. This one was a mid-sized specimen, hunting along the river edge.
6/3/2015: Crossing the bar
We scouted the bar in the dinghy, looking for a deeper path across, but couldn't find one. We did find good water close to shore south of the river mouth, so decided to follow that route to where the chart and Western Australia Cruising indicated a path through the bar. We exited about 40 minutes before a 12.2ft (3.74m) high tide at 5:41pm at Reveley Island on an exchange from 5.6ft (1.7m) at 12:18pm. We saw between 10ft and 20ft running about 200 yards off the starboard shore as we exited the river and ran south. Turning northeast, we mostly saw at least 9ft-11ft through the exit channel, with the occasional blip to near 8ft. All around, it was a much better path then on entry. Had we exited the following morning, we would have had another three feet of water with the 15.8ft (3.81m) high tide, but the winds were predicted to come up to 30kts tomorrow morning and this is not a bar to cross in big winds.
6/4/2015: Koolama Bay
We awoke just before sunrise in Koolama Bay after a late-afternoon departure from the Berkeley River. We'd arrived here around 11pm, had a relaxing glass of wine on the flybridge, and then went to bed with plans to cross the King George River bar this morning. The winds did pick up overnight to SE 20 as predicted, sending small wind waves through the anchorage, but no swell or larger waves reached us.
6/4/2015: King George River bar
We crossed the King George River bar about an hour before an 8.6ft (2.62m) high tide at 7:42am at Lesueur Island, rising from 1.5ft (0.45m) low tide at 12:26am. This was a much easier crossing than the Berkeley River bar. We saw a brief blip to around 8 ft as we reached the charted shallows, then depths gradually increased to 14 ft at the charted narrow neck between two sandbars, and 25 ft through the neck at the actual river mouth.
6/4/2015: Balancing act
We were soon into a narrow gorge with car-sized rocks perched precariously high above us. You would not want to be nearby when one of those tumbled loose.
6/4/2015: Gorge
A narrow gorge leads from about halfway into the river to twin several-hundred-foot waterfalls at the head. We loved the Berkeley River, but the King George was even more spectacular. In the video https://youtu.be/p3-zSrQlZA4 (3:17) shows our cruise upriver through the gorge. At 1:56 is the final bend into the head. We bring the boat up close to the first waterfall at 2:10 and to the second at 2:35.
6/4/2015: First waterfall
Twin falls are at the head of the King George River. The water is deep in front of both falls, and you can bring the boat up fairly close.
6/4/2015: At the falls
The southern of the two falls is in a narrow gorge where we were able to keep the boat stable enough to take a few photos of us together on the bow.
6/4/2015: Northern falls
The northern falls spill down across a wide cliff wall.
6/4/2015: Close-up
The northern falls, towering above Dirona.
6/4/2015: Anchorage
We were surprised to find good holding over mud, and had just barely enough swing room to anchor in 70' at the head. For certain, this is one of the best anchorages we've ever experienced.
6/4/2015: Treasure chest
We followed a steep track, well-marked with rock cairns, up the western slope to the cliffs above the falls. Along the way was this treasure chest--we added our boat card to the collection inside.
6/4/2015: West anchorage view
The view into the anchorage from the western cliffs.
6/4/2015: Waterfall view
We hadn't had breakfast yet, so stopped at the falls for the morning meal.
6/4/2015: Down
It's a long way down from here.
6/4/2015: East anchorage view
The view into the anchorage from the eastern cliffs above the first waterfall we were at earlier today in Dirona. The terrain above the waterfall is relatively easy walking, so we could quickly cover the distance.
6/4/2015: Helicopter
We saw a helicopter land upriver, so walked down to check it out. We were expecting it was a tourist group, but it was a team of two doing controlled undergrowth burns from the helicopter. They had setup a base camp here to do burns in the immediate region.
6/4/2015: Lunch
We expected to be up here for a while, so brought a lunch as well and had it on a sun-shaded shelf below where Jennifer is sitting.
6/4/2015: Gorge view
One final view to the anchorage, this time looking downriver through the gorge. We're going to have a tough time leaving here.
6/4/2015: R.I.C.E.
R.I.C.E.: Rest, ice, compression, elevation. Jennifer slipped on the rocks while we were retrieving the dinghy and her shin swelled up immediately to a 1-inch ridge about 8 inches long. We were pretty concerned that we had a serious issue, but the ice got the swelling under control quickly and now it's just a nasty scrape. We haven't had much in the way of injuries since leaving Seattle--this has been probably the worst so far.
6/5/2015: True North
True North is a luxurious mini cruise ship bringing people to the Kimberley in style, with many high-speed tenders and a helicopter for overhead viewing and transport. Two chase boats preceded True North to the head of the inlet. The ship came right up to both falls and put the bow under so passengers could stand in the spray. Some of the passengers hiked up the path we'd taken yesterday to the top of the falls, and later were picked up by the helicopter.
6/6/2015: Bugs
Besides the crocodile risk, the only other downside of the anchorage is these bugs. Fortunately they don't seem to bite and their only irritating feature is that they seemed able to get through our screens and die in droves inside and outside the boat.
6/6/2015: Cockpit view
The video https://youtu.be/80t0kNAgCw4 (0;33) shows the spectacular view around the gorge head from our cockpit. We're definitely having trouble leaving.
6/6/2015: Charter boat
Another charter boat visited King George River today. This one didn't cross the bar, but sent a small high-speed boat upriver to the head. Two inflatable chase boats accompanied it, and they took bathing-suit-clad passengers in small groups right under the falls.
6/7/2015: East arm
We moved the boat downriver to explore the east arm. It's shallow, and only accessible by dinghy, so we anchored near the mouth.
6/7/2015: Gorge
The east arm starts out wide, then narrows near the head into a beautiful gorge.
6/7/2015: Climbing
Sturdy climbing ropes had been rigged to reach the top. The climb would have been challenging, if not impossible, without them.
6/7/2015: Pool
The reward for the climb is this tranquil pool with a waterfall in the background. A perfect place for lunch.
6/7/2015: View
We couldn't see an obvious way up higher, so climbed the east side above the pool. This is the view looking back down into the east arm from above.
6/7/2015: Gorge
We followed along the east shore above the creek until we could find a way down into the bed. We followed the bed for a bit, then climbed back up the west side to look for a way back down. You can see on our track the various paths we took trying to find a route. The scenery up-creek was appealing, but the going was slow-going over large rocks, both climbing up, walking along and returning. Overall, the rope climb to the pool definitely was worth the effort. And the walk up-river was fun, but there really isn't much unique beyond the pool.
6/7/2015: Balancing rock
A close-up from the other side of the balancing rock you can see on the left of the previous photo.
6/8/2015: Struts
One of the gas struts that supports the hatch from the salon to the engine room was failing, so we replaced it with a spare. The strength of these struts is important as it could easily catch a finger if it slammed shut. We also replaced one of the struts on the barbecue cover.
6/8/2015: True North
True North re-entering the King George River at high tide on a new passenger voyage out of Wyndham.
6/8/2015: Lady M
The winds had been blowing 30 kts for the past few days, and we were the only boat overnighting in the King George River during our entire stay. But now that the winds have settled down, more boats are arriving. Harmony came in shortly before Lady M. We exited about 90 minutes before an 8.4ft (2.55m) high tide at Lesueur Island rising from a 2.56 (0.78m) low tide 6:44 before high, and saw a minimum depth of 7.8' on the way out.
6/8/2015: Cape Londonerry
As capes go, Cape Londonerry is not very imposing.
6/8/2015: Parry Harbour
On an overnight run from the King George River to the Mitchell River, we passed Parry Harbour around midnight. The bright lights of the anchored HMAS Paluma and HMAS Mermaid were visible a long way off. We didn't need to run overnight as there are plenty of anchorage on the way. But we're moving quickly to visit the rivers waterfalls as early as possible since their flow will slowly be diminishing in the dry season. We'll coastal-cruise on the way back to Darwin later in the month and catch up on what we missed.
6/9/2015: Walmesly Bay
Sunrise as we approach Walmesly Bay at the mouth of the Mitchell River. We had an nice, easy overnight run. Conditions were particularly calm once we'd rounded Cape Londonerry.
6/9/2015: Middle Rocks
At anchor in the Mitchell River north of Middle Rocks.
6/9/2015: Surveyors Creek
With about 9ft of tide at Port Warrender, we had a tough time finding a route across the sandbars to take the dinghy upriver. We eventually found sufficiently deep water by running close to the east shore. Looking at the satellite imagery later, it's clear that this was the right path. Mirrool had an appealing anchorage by the mangroves off Surveyors Creek.
6/9/2015: Black-necked stork
This striking black-necked stork was fishing in the shallows off the sandbars.
6/9/2015: Rapids
We arrived at the rock bar about 2.5 hours after a 7.25ft (2.21m) low tide at Port Warrender that was rising to 19.5ft (5.93m) over 6 hours. The inflowing rapids at the rock bar were slight and easily navigable.
6/9/2015: Slabs
We had just enough water to work through the rocks and continue upstream. These massive slabs along the way had at one point tumbled from the wall behind.
6/9/2015: Landing
Jennifer tying the dingy off to a log above the high tide line.
6/9/2015: First falls
In just under a half-hour of walking upstream, we arrived at the first set of falls where we stopped for lunch.
6/9/2015: Second falls
Another ten minutes of walking brought us to the equally impressive second set of falls.
6/9/2015: Third falls
And just beyond these were the third falls. What a beautiful place this is.
6/9/2015: Circular waterfall
In several places at each of the falls, the water flow had carved huge circles into the rocky river bed. Cylindrical holes are all over the place, but what makes these unusual is they've cut a hole down to a fissure and water flows in the top and out the bottom.
6/9/2015: Plateau
Looking back to the second falls across the plateau.
6/9/2015: Both falls
From some vantages, you can see the second and the third falls at the same time.
6/9/2015: Crocodile
The dinghy had risen 15+ feet when we arrived back, and was now tied off just above the water surface with lots of slack. It turns out that platform that was 15 feet above us when we tied off is actually a comfortable place for a crocodile to sun at high water and a particularly large specimen was waiting for us. (Click image to enlarge.) It moved off the rock when we approached, but was clearly interested and kept surfacing and watching about 20 feet away from the dinghy. We were able to get into the dinghy safely, but untying the line was going to be a challenge. Jennifer asked James to untie the line, but he distinctly remembered it was her turn. :) We considered cutting the line, but ended up recovering it by using the dinghy as a shield against the shore while we untied the line from inside the dingy. It reminds us of our Alaskan experiences with bears, except that the threat is invisible under the water. When bears swim, they stay at the surface: Bears Really Can Swim.
6/9/2015: Mirrool
When we returned back out, Mirrool had moved upriver from Surveyors Creek to the rock bar. We chatted with owner Troy Lechner and his friend Pascal, who were on their way for a swim upriver. Troy's article Sailing – Not Just For The Rich And Privileged describing his independent and economical lifestyle is an interesting read. "The diesel consumption for the trip along the Queensland coast from Cairns to the Whitsundays added up to 18 litres," Troy wrote. "This can be attributed to Mirrool’s nice manners and my pig headed insistence on sailing even when I got tides and wind wrong and was making 2 knots."
6/10/2015: Voltaire Passage
We passed through Voltaire Passage shortly before a 8.3ft (2.5m) low water at Cape Voltaire on a 5:50 9.5 ft (2.89m) exchange. The minimum depth we saw going through was 70', with little current.
6/10/2015: Rainforest Ravine
We arrived at scenic Rainforest Ravine at sunset and left shortly after sunrise. We would have happily spent more time there if the Hunter River wasn't calling.
6/11/2015: Bluffs
Dramatic twin bluffs at the Hunter River mouth.
6/11/2015: Charter boats
The charter boats Odyssey and Reef Prince at anchor off the beach on Naturalists Island. We're told they transfer guests via plane from there.
6/11/2015: Worndoom
The Department of Parks and Wildlifes patrol vessel Worndoom was exiting the Hunter River as we approached. We'd earlier heard them on the radio arranging to board the charter boats at Naturalists Island, possibly to brief passengers arriving in the area. We're starting to see a lot more boats in this area. Most have been commercial though. We've only seen four or five pleasure craft since leaving Darwin.
6/11/2015: Croc tracks
Once anchored, we set off on a dinghy tour of the Hunter River. We soon so first evidence of crocodiles, and then lots of actual crocodiles. These tracks in the mud are where a crocodile has come ashore.
6/11/2015: Croc slide
Slide pattern in the mud where a crocodile has slide into the water. Its tail is still visible at the bottom left of the photo (click image for a larger view).
6/11/2015: 2nd croc
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6/11/2015: 3rd croc
The crocs sure look fierce, and prehistoric.
6/11/2015: Shallows
We'd reached this point about a half-hour after a 9.1ft (2.78m) low tide at Maret Island on an 8:13 7.6ft (2.31m) exchange. We were were hoping to reach the rock bar and make the hour-long walk to Donkin Falls on a rising tide. But the water levels in the river here below 2ft and we couldn't get any farther.
6/11/2015: Eagle
Crocodiles aren't the only wildlife in the Hunter River. The area also is full of birds and fish. Several beautiful rust-colored eagles were soaring above us.
6/11/2015: 4th croc
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6/11/2015: 5th croc
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6/11/2015: More shallows
We tried our luck at the southern arm of the Hunter River to see if we could make the one-hour walk to the Hunter Falls. But again 90 minutes after low water at Maret Island, depths dropped below 2ft well before the rock bar. And as with the northern arm, we saw plenty of crocs.
6/11/2015: 7th croc
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6/11/2015: Croc or rock?
We started playing a guessing game of "Croc or Rock?" whenever we saw something in the water. This was another croc.
6/11/2015: Still shallow
We returned back up the north arm of the Hunter River, this time now just over three hours after low water at Maret Island. We got farther, but still couldn't reach the rock bar. The tide was rising quickly and we might be able to reach the bar in another hour or two, but at that point it would be close to 3pm and getting too late for a 2-hour return hike. And we weren't even sure if the falls would be running anymore, so gave up on that idea.
6/11/2015: Cliffs
We enjoyed our trips upriver, despite not being able to reach the falls. The crocs were exciting and the scenery was impressive.
6/11/2015: Lunch
As we returned downstream, a large crocodile was rearing out of the water and smashing its catch against the shore. The video https://youtu.be/uUiHBXAEO_s (0:39) shows it downing a large fish. The sound didn't come through so well in the video, but we could hear loud crunching noises as bones broke in its prey. If we didn't already respect how dangerous these animals are, this certainly reinforced it.
6/11/2015: Trees
We next toured the Purulba Creek off the north shore of the Hunter River. We're getting close to high tide now and these trees are partway underwater. It looks more like a small flood than normal tidal action.
6/11/2015: Purulba Creek
The scenery along the Purulba Creek was beautiful, with striking red bluffs along shore.
6/11/2015: At anchor
Looking upriver to our anchorage, with soaring red cliffs on both sides.
6/11/2015: Anchorage view
A panorama from Dirona of the cliffs to the south of our anchorage.
6/11/2015: Crane bushing
We park the crane by clipping the hook into deck and tightening the rope. Due to a leak in the boom cylinder, over the course of a half-day the boom will fall and the crane comes loose. The right answer long-term is to replace the boom cylinder, but it's both expensive and we don't have a spare on board. So James built a bushing to prevent the crane boom from falling below a certain point.
6/11/2015: Finished product
The fabricated bushing in place. to prevent the crane boom from falling.