Exmouth
Tuesday May 25 - Tuesday June 1 110nm, 24hrs
Though we had amended our plans to leave Tuesday, Colin thought things looked good for Monday evening. His thinking was that if we left at 1600 hours and sailed slowly up the coast we would hit the treacherous NW Cape at slack tide when there were light winds predicted. He warned it might be a ‘bit blowy’, but we would sail comfortably and slowly with a very small jib out. GREAT PLAN! And in fact this is what happened…up to a certain point.
The night was pretty comfortable, even for me, though the winds were stronger than predicted and we were covering ground at 8-10 knots in 30 knot winds. However, according to Colin the wind didn’t read the forecast and kept on blowing as we approached NW Cape, so instead of being able to sneak quickly around the Cape under motor as Colin had hoped, it meant trying to tack into a strong SE wind. This proved impossible, as having missed the slack tide window the tide started coming out of Exmouth Gulf at an alarming rate and we started going sideways. The captain was frustrated that his gamble had not come off, and came to me with the good news that we only had 10nm to go, but the bad news it was going to take us a few hours as we were only making 1 – 2 knots. Reluctantly we accepted it was going to be yet another slow and bumpy slog against wind and tide up into Exmouth.
Tuesday at 1600 hours, exactly 24hrs after we left Coral Bay, we finally arrived into the Exmouth Boat Harbour. Another joyous night passage behind us! After all that excitement the poor captain was exhausted. He had taken some of my night shifts, bless him, and had let me get some sleep. I made dinner (a shock, I know) and Colin was in bed practically straight afterwards.
Wednesday. I had started getting nervous Tuesday afternoon when looking online for a car and finding nothing. Now I don’t like to say “I told you so” but I had suggested to Colin that we book a car when we first got confirmation of having a pen in Exmouth. He calmly told me not to worry, that we’d get something, but I panicked (as is my wont) and enlisted the help of my friend Arnhem. He has a cousin in Exmouth who was able to lend us his car Wednesday afternoon, but we were jammy and got a car from the third company we called in the morning. Well guess who was then in the position to say “I told you so”?
The car not being available until tomorrow, we walked into town, stopping for iced coffees on the way. In town we checked supplies at IGA, having heard from my sister, who was here a few weeks ago, that food was running out! The influx of visitors because of COVID has been so huge the shops are struggling with supply. We were there the day after the delivery truck though, and the place was well stocked.
Not to break with tradition, Colin suggested lunch at the Potshot Hotel. Same as last time we got a decent lunch and were the only customers in the dining room. Perhaps it’s more of an evening place.
We discovered a fabulous bakery with sourdough bread, and found a Sea Shepherd dive bag, made of an environmentally-friendly fibre called RecoTex, to replace Colin’s current one which is shredding.
Click images to enlarge
The night was pretty comfortable, even for me, though the winds were stronger than predicted and we were covering ground at 8-10 knots in 30 knot winds. However, according to Colin the wind didn’t read the forecast and kept on blowing as we approached NW Cape, so instead of being able to sneak quickly around the Cape under motor as Colin had hoped, it meant trying to tack into a strong SE wind. This proved impossible, as having missed the slack tide window the tide started coming out of Exmouth Gulf at an alarming rate and we started going sideways. The captain was frustrated that his gamble had not come off, and came to me with the good news that we only had 10nm to go, but the bad news it was going to take us a few hours as we were only making 1 – 2 knots. Reluctantly we accepted it was going to be yet another slow and bumpy slog against wind and tide up into Exmouth.
Tuesday at 1600 hours, exactly 24hrs after we left Coral Bay, we finally arrived into the Exmouth Boat Harbour. Another joyous night passage behind us! After all that excitement the poor captain was exhausted. He had taken some of my night shifts, bless him, and had let me get some sleep. I made dinner (a shock, I know) and Colin was in bed practically straight afterwards.
Wednesday. I had started getting nervous Tuesday afternoon when looking online for a car and finding nothing. Now I don’t like to say “I told you so” but I had suggested to Colin that we book a car when we first got confirmation of having a pen in Exmouth. He calmly told me not to worry, that we’d get something, but I panicked (as is my wont) and enlisted the help of my friend Arnhem. He has a cousin in Exmouth who was able to lend us his car Wednesday afternoon, but we were jammy and got a car from the third company we called in the morning. Well guess who was then in the position to say “I told you so”?
The car not being available until tomorrow, we walked into town, stopping for iced coffees on the way. In town we checked supplies at IGA, having heard from my sister, who was here a few weeks ago, that food was running out! The influx of visitors because of COVID has been so huge the shops are struggling with supply. We were there the day after the delivery truck though, and the place was well stocked.
Not to break with tradition, Colin suggested lunch at the Potshot Hotel. Same as last time we got a decent lunch and were the only customers in the dining room. Perhaps it’s more of an evening place.
We discovered a fabulous bakery with sourdough bread, and found a Sea Shepherd dive bag, made of an environmentally-friendly fibre called RecoTex, to replace Colin’s current one which is shredding.
Click images to enlarge
Thursday Peta from Budget Car Rental picked us up at the marina, as she lives close by, and took us to collect our fancy pants car. No compact number for us, but a four wheelin’, hard drivin’ SUV. It came at a cost, but we considered ourselves extremely lucky to get anything, so we were not about to complain. Peta gave us an unexpected education about the car rental business, and the nefarious activities of some renters. We must have looked trustworthy as she spared us the long and extremely intrusive questionnaire they normally complete when deciding whether to rent to someone. I suppose if you’re dealing drugs you don’t really want to be using your own car.
Have car, will travel…to the laundromat. Four loads of washing later, and while our laundry was in the dryer, we went to a café and had the most expensive iced coffees available to humanity at $9 each. Just coffee and milk, my friends. Still, it’s nice to support the local community, right? At least once. Meanwhile, our washing dried and we returned to the boat with clean bedding and clothes, and only a couple of tops smaller than when they went in. I suppose after the clothes are dry is not the time to be asking the difference between the temperature settings of ‘Whites and Colours’ and ‘Permanent Press’.
Friday, snorkelling day! Destination Turquoise Bay, but first we chatted to Gary Shea from Ocean West Charters, who had just arrived in Exmouth. Colin and I did our sailing qualifications with Gary a few years ago. He normally operates out of Busselton but is running his business from Exmouth for the winter. His boat, a 40' Beneteau named Samsara, was due to arrive with crew in the afternoon.
Turquoise Bay was like an aquarium with friendly fish, and some rather over-friendly jellyfish. Colin and I both made contact, and the stings were not without pain. I poured cold water over mine which felt sooooo good I convinced Colin to do it too. Unfortunately, as we found out at the visitor centre later, it is the wrong thing to do as it reactivates the stings which release more poison. Oops. Luckily at the Visitors Centre they offered us vinegar (known as the best way to treat fresh stings), and were able to convince Colin that weeing on my leg would not help.
Our treat Friday night was dinner at the Exmouth Game Fishing Club. Bookings essential as they only have a small kitchen. We bumped into another yachting couple we had met, Betty and Barry, who along with a man who went by the name "Bushy" had helped us into the pen the day we arrived. Betty and Barry had raced their yacht Twitch in the Fremantle to Exmouth Race/Rally, and decided to stay the whole of winter. They joined us for dinner.
Saturday seemed calm enough for more snorkelling, but outside the reef the waves were crashing and creating swell inside the reef. We’d been told yesterday about a great spot further south than Turquoise Bay, but when we arrived the parking area was under water on a spring tide. We tried Oyster Stacks a bit further north, but Colin didn’t feel like risking his life getting in over the reef close to shore that was awash with waves. No sense of adventure that man. We ended up back at Turquoise Bay, but it was so stirred up we walked instead of snorkelling. The beach that was there yesterday was today submerged, and we watched as the waves smashed the reef and swelled up past the fence and into the dunes. Love that Mother Nature. She sure puts on a great show.
Sunday there would be no snorkelling as that “weather” we were waiting for finally arrived at 0100 hours. One minute I’m drifting off to sleep with the waves lapping gently on the stern, and the next minute it’s gusting 50 knots and bucketing down rain! Colin donned his wet-weather gear in a hurry and put an extra line on the port stern cleat. Naomi and Stewart were smart enough to stay put in Coral Bay and not venture north in these conditions, so we unfortunately would not get to see them in Exmouth.
As the car was due back Monday morning we got our provisioning done, then watched the Dockers lose another game of football. They reckon Nat Fyfe has got the “yips” because he’s been so inefficient at goal this year. For me it was worth suffering through the game just to hear a commentator say “yips”.
Colin and I decided to change our booking for Mantaray to tonight, since Naomi and Stewart wouldn’t be here to join us tomorrow night. I was agonising over what to wear as it was cold, and I had decided at the last minute not to pack jeans. I had some long zebra print pants, and asked Colin several times if they looked okay as I hadn’t really planned to wear them off the boat, and he assured me they did. Unfortunately I only had sneakers or sandals to wear with them, and it was too cold for sandals. Mantaray is a fancy restaurant, and after the meal we had to pay at the counter in the middle of the room. I told Colin I was too embarrassed to walk over there because of my sneakers, and he said, “It’s not the sneakers you need to worry about, it’s those pants!”
Click images to enlarge
Have car, will travel…to the laundromat. Four loads of washing later, and while our laundry was in the dryer, we went to a café and had the most expensive iced coffees available to humanity at $9 each. Just coffee and milk, my friends. Still, it’s nice to support the local community, right? At least once. Meanwhile, our washing dried and we returned to the boat with clean bedding and clothes, and only a couple of tops smaller than when they went in. I suppose after the clothes are dry is not the time to be asking the difference between the temperature settings of ‘Whites and Colours’ and ‘Permanent Press’.
Friday, snorkelling day! Destination Turquoise Bay, but first we chatted to Gary Shea from Ocean West Charters, who had just arrived in Exmouth. Colin and I did our sailing qualifications with Gary a few years ago. He normally operates out of Busselton but is running his business from Exmouth for the winter. His boat, a 40' Beneteau named Samsara, was due to arrive with crew in the afternoon.
Turquoise Bay was like an aquarium with friendly fish, and some rather over-friendly jellyfish. Colin and I both made contact, and the stings were not without pain. I poured cold water over mine which felt sooooo good I convinced Colin to do it too. Unfortunately, as we found out at the visitor centre later, it is the wrong thing to do as it reactivates the stings which release more poison. Oops. Luckily at the Visitors Centre they offered us vinegar (known as the best way to treat fresh stings), and were able to convince Colin that weeing on my leg would not help.
Our treat Friday night was dinner at the Exmouth Game Fishing Club. Bookings essential as they only have a small kitchen. We bumped into another yachting couple we had met, Betty and Barry, who along with a man who went by the name "Bushy" had helped us into the pen the day we arrived. Betty and Barry had raced their yacht Twitch in the Fremantle to Exmouth Race/Rally, and decided to stay the whole of winter. They joined us for dinner.
Saturday seemed calm enough for more snorkelling, but outside the reef the waves were crashing and creating swell inside the reef. We’d been told yesterday about a great spot further south than Turquoise Bay, but when we arrived the parking area was under water on a spring tide. We tried Oyster Stacks a bit further north, but Colin didn’t feel like risking his life getting in over the reef close to shore that was awash with waves. No sense of adventure that man. We ended up back at Turquoise Bay, but it was so stirred up we walked instead of snorkelling. The beach that was there yesterday was today submerged, and we watched as the waves smashed the reef and swelled up past the fence and into the dunes. Love that Mother Nature. She sure puts on a great show.
Sunday there would be no snorkelling as that “weather” we were waiting for finally arrived at 0100 hours. One minute I’m drifting off to sleep with the waves lapping gently on the stern, and the next minute it’s gusting 50 knots and bucketing down rain! Colin donned his wet-weather gear in a hurry and put an extra line on the port stern cleat. Naomi and Stewart were smart enough to stay put in Coral Bay and not venture north in these conditions, so we unfortunately would not get to see them in Exmouth.
As the car was due back Monday morning we got our provisioning done, then watched the Dockers lose another game of football. They reckon Nat Fyfe has got the “yips” because he’s been so inefficient at goal this year. For me it was worth suffering through the game just to hear a commentator say “yips”.
Colin and I decided to change our booking for Mantaray to tonight, since Naomi and Stewart wouldn’t be here to join us tomorrow night. I was agonising over what to wear as it was cold, and I had decided at the last minute not to pack jeans. I had some long zebra print pants, and asked Colin several times if they looked okay as I hadn’t really planned to wear them off the boat, and he assured me they did. Unfortunately I only had sneakers or sandals to wear with them, and it was too cold for sandals. Mantaray is a fancy restaurant, and after the meal we had to pay at the counter in the middle of the room. I told Colin I was too embarrassed to walk over there because of my sneakers, and he said, “It’s not the sneakers you need to worry about, it’s those pants!”
Click images to enlarge