Seisia- Crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria. May 2021
We spent a week in Seisia/ Bamaga, soaking up the cultural
experience of this area and learning the history, that is very violent and
confronting. Four Tribes our now located in
this area after being extracted from their tribal lands by the mining
companies. Disagreements and fighting
between the Mainland tribes and Torres Straight Islanders a constantly
disruptive and impacts on community well being.
The Seisia Camp Ground Caravan park has an amazing outlook and great Café. Staff are friendly and helpful offering us lifts and helping with transporting fuel drums down to our Tender.
 |
| Getting Provisions and doing laundry is sometimes challenging |
We had use of the Laundry and showers which was a nice surprise. At the laundromat I met one of the maintenance groundsman. I was surprised that he was using the same pigeon English as the Solomon's Islanders and even more surprised that I could remember a few words. We chatted about the origins of the local language about 4 different indigenous languages are spoken but Pigeon English was mostly used.
Lunch of Pan fried Fresh Local Rainbow Cray Tails at the
Café………………..Yum
The local supermarket was well stocked as the Supply Barge
had arrived the day before, grabbed a few items to top up provisions until we
get to Gove.
I witness a turtle catch by the locals, bringing it to shore where they loaded the turtle still alive onto a trailer. I did not take any offense to this traditional activity of hunting and feeding their mobs with Turtle, they have been hunting these waters for thousands of years.
However, they all have very flash runabouts
with big new motors so hunting traditionally has transformed into modern
methods to a degree that is no longer as traditional or authentic in hunting Turtle. The
fisheries authorities and local police regulate this activity very closely to
insure no Profiteering and within limits.
A friendly interaction with the tribal elder who was the
owner of the boat, allowed me to take a few photos. Always curious about food,
I did ask how they were going to cook
the turtle unfortunately could only make out one word of the pigeon english language, it was fire.
There is a large resident Crocodile called “Mr Henderson” which sounded like a teachers name. I did not get the full story but I was
intrigued that the local children all swam on the shore line where Mr
Henderson regularly visits.
Lisa and I Hitch Hiked on Sunday to Bamaga.
The main town Bamaga about 15ks from Seisia.
At 61 years old, I had my thumb out hoping to get a friendly local and we did. However, I did say to Lisa that possibly we should have had some sort of protection weapon.
As
luck would have it, Lisa found a small
anchor that they needed at the Bamaga Store so we were armed for our return
hitch hike ride. We needed not to worry
as a Torres Straight Islander grandmother and her 3 year old grandson Kevin in the back seat picked us
up.
That Night at Seisia the sounds of islander style Acapella
singing, music of guitars and ukuleles drifted across the bay from the little
local church. It went on for almost 5
hours which is probably the only 5 hours in the week that the all the community comes together
harmoniously. Well in singing voice at least.
Matt and Lisa were keen to walk to the tip of Cape York,
they Hired a car from the Resort at Bamaga and graciously invited us to join
them. We were also expecting the plane
to arrive in the afternoon with our packages of a chart plotter and new depth
sounder.
Driving to the Cape was a special moment being able to take
the obligatory photos with the sign, but more importantly to view the sea and
passage we traversed only days before. The sea still wild and windy, we could see all
the shallows and sandbanks that negated a safe passage on to the western side of the cape to anchor and go ashore.
The road trip to the tip was also a surprise with creek
crossings and dense rainforest a stark contrast to the very red bauxite dirt road. It would be impossible to travel on this road
in the wet.
 |
| My sailing Buddy Lisa from SV Cool Change |
On our way back to Seisia, we dropped off Terry to pick up his parcel and went back to shore to our Tenders, except ours was not where we left it. A little heart flutter and a “WTF” moment but thankfully we sighted the tender some distance down the Beach.
Another Yachty saw the four local lads taking a spin in our tender and took after
them which was enough to stop them taking our tender away to goodness knows
where. Big thanks to Al from “Never Die Wondering” which is the title of his published Autobiography if you are interested
in looking this up. Interesting man that we an amazing life story and he s very knowledgeable on the social history in the top end area.
I think the theft of the tender for real, would have unraveled us somewhat as this is a significant asset of the boat for safety
but also to get us to and from shore. There are no Marinas until we get to
Darwin and the likely hood of a replacement would not have happened until
Darwin.
Since the joy ride incident our tender motor has not been
working as well as it should, keeps cutting out. We will overhaul it when we
get to Darwin.
We got our parcels and spent the rest of the evening till very
late installing. I had to download all
the charts onto the new Plotter which
took me till 2am to complete. Capt went
to bed as tomorrow we cross the Gulf of Carpentaria to Gove Harbour, Nhulunby.
Three full days and Two nights constant sailing taking turns on watch and the
Helm.
Crossing The Gulf
We knew the weather state was not the best conditions, and forecast was not going to change for at least another week. Forecasting we have found for the top end is not reliable, and on this occasion the conditions were way worse than predicted.
Our passage began well but by afternoon winds and sea became stronger and we were getting knocked about severely.
I pumped my head in a knock down in the cabin that put me out of action to assist on the helm for a few hours. I had been up late into early hours of the morning, I did not have the capacity to take on the big sea and howling wind. It was a Horrid First night, by morning it had not abated and we were both feeling the effects of lack of sleep kicking in.
Matt and Lisa from Cool Change were now in front of us some distance, as we had de-powered the boat with a smaller sail area to put less strain on Sens de La Vie in the plus 30 Knot Winds.
This grand old lady Sens de la Vie can handle big seas but our wisdom tells us
not to strain the rigging and lessen the sail. If something breaks we are a long way from
getting assistance.
We always have in reserve fuel to get us to where we need to go but we have been sailing most of this journey, honing our skills on setting the sails to get best performance.
Capt Teza has been enjoying the sailing and getting great results on his trimming of the sails.
The sea state and
wind settled down slightly, and on the second evening I woke the Capt for his
shift at 9 pm to witness a beautiful night sky with the full moon and red moon.
We had a romantic evening watching the Full Moon turn to red revealing the
stunning night sky full of stars.
It is a comfort having sailing company on long passages and
many thanks to Lisa and Matt for waiting for us in Seisia to do this passage together.
We called each other regularly via radio and the border force were also
in contact from the patrol plane overhead somewhere in the dark and under cloud. Border Force wished us a good night at sea with this spectacular Eclipse.
On the early morning shift I get to witness a new day
dawning with a promise of beautiful sailing conditions. Not on this occasion, whilst spectacular to
see both a sunrise and rainbows at the same time with the squalls circling, I could also feel the sea
and wind starting to build…………..by 9 am it was time to get the Captain up as
this was starting to be more meancing . All wet weather gear on bracing for
perhaps to be a very uncomfortable day.
 |
| Early Morning shift feeling tired |
 |
| The moment I relised a squall was about to hit |
We got hammered with Huge seas 4 to 5 meters, sideways rain
and Gale Force Winds at 35 knots in our last leg of the 3 day passage before
reaching
By 5pm we were exhausted and although Gove was only another 2 hours away we did not have the energy or mindset to keep going into Gove Harbour in the Dark , we opted to anchor at Bremer Island Near the Entrance to Gove Harbour.
Cool Change anchored in Gove Safely at
5pm. They had taken a lower tack direction and seemed to have missed the big seas and rain.
We had a peaceful night no swell and winds dropped late in
the evening. We both declared we
don’t want to do the Gulf again but we know we have to at some stage so as to return to Queensland, maybe just take a different passage further down the Gulf at Groote Eylandt.
I am not doing The Arafura Sea Across the Gulf again unless
the winds say 10 to 15 knots or less and
we gain some more local knowledge for a West
to East passage with best times of the year to do so.
The chart Plotter all worked well which was a miracle as it
was installed at the eleventh hour before embarking on this huge passage and
was untested. Capt Teza was pleased all
his cabling worked, he is getting used to the new plotter, although he misses
his Lowrance as it had additional features that he utilized.
The question “Does Capt Teza had the Stamina to complete this crossing?”, was answered. The conditions very testing on him physically.
Sheer will and determination mixed with adrenaline he achieved a
safe passage in difficult conditions.
My anxiety in those very tough moments of being tossed around, is partly borne from the very bad storms I encountered on my sail across the Pacific to New Caladonia, many years ago without Terry.
I have said for many years that I never want to experience storms again at sea, that I went though on that international waters passage.
Although the seas of the Arafura Sea were not
as big as the 10 meter swells encountered in that storm in the Pacific which
pounded the boat mercilessly, losing radio communications and navigation equipment, in my mind despite knowing we were
not in danger those fearful memories of that Pacific crossing came
flooding back to unsettle me. Unlike a
crossing over the Pacific far from Land,
we would have assistance if required.
You force yourself to rationalize everything happening and the danger, but it does not stop the fear and anxiety that one can experience when in difficult seas
In the morning we arrived at Gove welcomed by Sea Leaf and
Cool Change and enjoyed celebrations at the Gove Boating Club, which has amazing
Food and great atmosphere.
Wow what an amazing day
Ivor took us on a tour complete with colorful stories of life in this community both modern and ancient history of local tribes, the Govt and the mining companies.
Loving NT
it’s wild, spiritual and ancient
We farewell Brian and
Sandra on Board “Sea Leaf” with Sundowners. Sea Leaf is a cruiser which is very
comfortable with a large deck, perfect to sit and enjoy good fellowship and
lively conversations. They are both great hosts.
Attack of the Jelly Fish
On return to our boat I mentioned to Capt Teza that the fridge sea water pump was sounding different. Indeed, something was amiss. On inspection Capt Teza pulled out tentacles of a jelly fish out of the inline filter and further attempts to remove more jelly fish from the hose fittings were not possible.
Several hours latter after replumbing the
fridge with the sea water inlet for the water maker this resulted in the boat
being pulled apart Capt Teza got the
fridge and freezer up and working and we resigned to the fact the Jellyfish was
well and truly stuck and a dive maybe necessary to remove.
Diving in these waters comes with risks, visibility makes it
hard to see and look out for sharks and Crocks. We opted to make passage to the
Wessel Islands through the Gulnari Rip and hopefully the sea motion will
dislodge the rest and we can find clearer waters at the islands.
Much unrest between the tribes here at the moment so interaction was limited this was due to a stabbing death of a young indigenous boy age 16.
