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August 5, 2000
Solomons to Australia voyage - Update #18
Lat/Long as of 12.46 hrs local time
12 degs 42. 29’ S
151 degs 01. 07’E
Day 19. Wind SE 10 knots. Heading 210M
As I mentioned in the update of two days ago, with the wind and current driving us to the northwest as strongly and persistently as it has for the past week, we’ve started to formulate an alternative plan to make landfall somewhere other than Cairns. Plan B, the feasibility of which we are still waiting to get feedback on from various parties - not least the local authorities concerned – before deciding whether or not to put into effect, will still see the expedition hit mainland Australia (our long-term target since October 1996), but only just.
I’m now thanking my lucky stars for all the extra stuff Annie hauled from San Francisco to Tarawa this spring. Amongst the 13 excess bags were the hefty cruising guides and Lonely Planet guides of Queensland and Outback Australia that I’ve been using to formulate our alternative plan. After trawling through the cruising guide for the Queensland coast I was surprised to learn of one other place to clear customs and immigration north of Cairns: the lone star Thursday Island stuck out in the middle of the Torres Straits. So the plan involves making it to Thursday Island, which should be easy enough from our current latitude, clearing ourselves and Moksha officially into Australia, then continuing on about 120 nms around the west side of Cape York to finish the voyage at the mining town of Weipa.
There are a few problems associated with this idea, the biggest being that we don’t have any charts of the Torres Straits. At this time of year the trade winds can reach up to 30-35 knots in the straits and the current a staggering 7-8 knots from east to west due to the constricting effect of the Pacific Ocean being funneled between the two great land masses of Papua New Guinea to the north and Australia to the south. Added to which there are literally thousands of reefs, cays and islands littering the way for hundreds of miles in either direction. We would have to make it in through a narrow cut in the Great Barrier Reef – possibly the Olinda Passage – before picking our way carefully through 120 nms of these waters before making it to Thursday Island. And it that’s not enough to get us busy there is always the tidal range – often north/south – that is notorious for taking boats (much bigger than ours) wildly off course. So, it looks like fun. And all dependent (at least at this stage) on ‘Our Man Kenny’ – the expedition’s illustrious cameraman cum all round fixer – making it out to us in some sort of winged machine to drop the vital charts before we hit the Great Barrier Reef.
Plan C is to make it into Port Moresby. However, if even a fifth of what I’ve heard about Port Moresby were true, I’d fancy our chances with the Torres Straits.
Thanks to all those ‘mothers’ out there who have written to April urging her to eat more. You’ll be pleased to hear we managed to thrash out a deal today in which she gets enough fresh water from the desalinator – about 3 litres every other day in the purple camp shower bag - to wash her hair with in return for downing three square meals a day.
Jason
Posted on August 5, 2000 2:40 PM