turtle slide and nest
I was looking at the a bit higher tide this morning as last night on landing, but it was still not really inviting.
There was another option…I could drag the kayak over the sand dune in the middle of the land spit to the other, more sheltered side and launch from there…which I eventually did.
The dragging job was not too bad, as my boat was almost sitting high up the sand dune for the night, and downhill is an easy piece of cake. The beaches were quite steep to both sides.
The other more sheltered side still had the same side wash, but was not as rough being out of the wind. I simply dragged my boat into the water on a brief lull and jumped on it and quickly paddled off. Good job…
Around the next corner I saw a “very” sheltered and protected bay, but it had “black” sand…unusual for the area…what scary, uninviting island this Ena Island was!
At Cape Brewster I saw another yacht anchoring from the distance, one more water option…but again, I didn’t need anything but undisturbed progress.
The plan was to make it at least to High Bluff, 50 km of distance. But it was a quiet day, flat water, few tidal action, so progress was boring, but all right in speed.
High Bluff was a really spectacular corner…as the name says, it is *very* high, bright orange in the setting sunlight and I reckon the highest spot I saw for days!
Around the corner was already a perfect inviting beach…but I pushed on for another 10 km across the next bay to minimize the km left for next day heading to Kuri Bay pearl farm.
The sun was setting bright red, and was illuminating the cliffs around in a perfect mix of red/ orange shiny colours…the “real” Australia…who needs to go to Ayer’s Rock! Plenty of red shiny cliffs around here in last sunlight…
The beach I was pulling up had plenty of footprints…obviously a popular spot for either tourist cruises or a lunch break for the pearl farm workers. The pearl farm floats and sign were already visible in most bays, it was obvious I was approaching Kuri Bay!
Text message from Freya via satellite phone:
15.20 124.39 Port George IV. 60km, 6:00 am to 5:00 pm. I’m already in the pearl farm area. I’ll hit Kuri Bay tomorrow for a half day rest. Hope to get online there.
