Marchinbar Island to Cape Stewart

 The sun came out and we had a great sail to Nip Point on Marchinbar Island.  Not another boat in sight for 2 days!  We then checked out Two Islands Bay near Cape Wessel, a lovely calm anchorage. 

Early next morning we sailed back down to Guruliya Bay on Raragala Island, but the storms hit us again, gusting up to 33 knots.  With everything reefed in it was just a case of hanging on until the storms passed.  As we reached the next anchorage the wind gusted up to 30 knots again, but as we tucked into the bay it was relatively calm, a few escarpments protecting us from the wind.

As we neared Stevens Island the eddies were so strong that we had 5 knots against us and struggled to make 3 knots.  It took an hour to pass the lighthouse and headland!

Further south we anchored at Ganawa Point on Elcho Island, a bit rolly as we couldn’t venture too far in with the bigger tides.  There are very few hills on Elcho so the anchorages are not as well protected.

Huge mats of seaweed, churned up by the big tides, drifted past as we sailed the channel between Mooroongga (yes, that’s the Yolgnu name) and Yabooma Islands, where there are numerous reefs and shallows. 

On the charts large areas are unsurveyed so we kept a good watch on the depth gauge.  The sea here is yellow-green from all the sand stirred up in the water.

The biggest excitement of the day was passing the Darwin to Gove barge "Territorian".