Wessel Islands

[Kyle]Our passage from Cape York to Darwin looked like it would only have wind for about the first two-thirds of the journey. Then we would have to bob around for a few days before it came back. Rather than do that, we decided to make an intermediate stop in the Wessel Islands, the narrow string that runs north on the west side of the Gulf of Carpenteria (and that we had enjoyed so much the last time we were here back in August of 2020).

We left Cape York late in the afternoon. The flood flushed us past Thursday Island into the gulf. There, all of the protection of land fell away and we were soon rolling around in short chop. Since we were timing our arrival at the Gugari Rip to also be on the daylight ebb tide, we had no need to go terribly fast. I was aiming for about five and a half knots. The wind was just under twenty knots, so we reefed as if it were thirty. That eliminated any worry about being over canvassed in gusts, but we were still going too fast. On the last night, I rolled the jib up completely and then gradually rounded up into the wind a few degrees at a time. Once the sail started to luff and Begonia was down to a knot or so, I dropped the main, unrolled a scrap of jib, and then slowly started bearing off towards the rip. We arrived with the sunrise.

The Gugari Rip (also known as 'the hole in the wall') is a long narrow passage (barely a crevice) between two of the islands of the Wessel Group, specifically Raragala Island and Guluwuru Island. Currents can run through at up to twelve knots, so it is important to get the timing right for a mild transit with current in your favor. Last time we were here we passed through an alternative gap (the Cumberland Strait) a bit further to the north.

Up close through the Rip (satellite imagery from Zulu Waterways)

We entered an hour and a half before low tide and still shot through with a six-knot boost. The whole mile-long transit was over in five minutes. Once we were through, we turned left and followed the Raragala coast to Guruliya Bay, where we dropped anchor as the only boat.

The last time we were in the Wessels in 2020, which are Aboriginal land (part of the lands of the Yolngu people), it was permissible to go ashore, provided one stays below the high tide line. That agreement has since expired, so we were not permitted to touch the land without permission. It rained heavily the day we arrived, but the next day we took a tour of the bay with the dinghy. Guruliya Bay is fed by a few creeks through rock canyons and mangroves, so it was a surprisingly interesting place to explore from the water. The small creeks are loaded with Barramundi, who have the habit of startling en masse at our approach by jumping out of the water all at once. The sound and subsequent ripples frequently tricked us into thinking it was not a school of fish but a hungry crocodile coming to investigate the big orange serving bowl full of meat. {Maryanne: It turned out that through our amazing sailor friend Justine and her contacts we had indeed been granted permission to go ashore, but our own incompetence meant that we didn't get the news in time to explore at Guruliya}

Exploring Guruliya Bay, Raragala Island by dinghy

We kept an eye out but never did find any crocs or evidence of them, even though they have been seen here. I remember from our Daintree River tour that our guide, Sauce, said crocs don’t like cloudy, rainy weather and so tend to 'hibernate' by holding their breaths for hours at a time and resting on the bottom. We did disturb plenty of fish though which gave us a scare everytime they jumped out of our way with a big splash!

The next morning, we upped anchor just before sunrise and headed up to Two Island Bay on Marchinbar Island at the northern end of the chain. The wind was slightly ahead of the beam, which increased the cooling breezes somewhat. The Wessels acted like a giant breakwater, so the seas were nice and flat. Oh, if all of our sailing could be like this.

At Two Island Bay we discovered the message from our friend saying that she had contacted the Aboriginal owners of the land on our behalf and we now had permission to go ashore. We had been here before, limited to the intertidal zone. Now we could even walk inland a bit if we wished. {Maryanne: this access was a huge privilege, and we remain forever grateful.}

We arrived in Two Island Bay just before sunset, and got a brief glimps of this large Black-necked Stork (they stand over 1m tall and with a 2m wing span

Marchinbar is not permanently populated. There are no trails into the interior, per se, but there were a few bare patches of rock or sand where we were able to go inland a bit to get a view of the place from a little altitude. That was nice. This place really is amazing and remote and beautiful and harsh all at the same time. We saw the backsides of a few skittish wallabies fleeing from us in the distance. We also saw three slides made by small to medium-sized crocs, but none of the animals themselves. There were sure a lot of funny splashing noises going on around the boat all night, though.

We spent a couple of days exploring ashore at Two Island Bay, Marchinbar Island. It's all so beautiful, and we are so lucky to be here!