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May 13, 2005
Day 2 - Into Explorer Territory
1600 hrs local
11 degs 37. 684'S
130 degs 28. 556'
Well we missed the renezvous with Kenny, or rather he missed it with us, thanks to what can only be described as night from hell with Captain Crazy Trousers. Apparently half way into the trip they were well off course, having both fallen asleep. Equipment was starting to fail and the wind dropped, so they decided to make their way back to Darwin which took until 1am. At this point they rammed into a sand bar at 4 knots and Captain Crazy was forced to swim to shore with the dinghy leash in his mouth towing Kenny and all his camera gear (the outboard motor broken). I then managed to catch Kenny at 7.30 am on his mobile phone and plan B was launched - Kenny taking the ferry out to meet us in the Apsley Strait, which he duly did. By 10.00am we all three aboard Moksha northbound up the strait.
Good day for us in Moksha - we made the tricky crossing of Beagle Gulf OK, and at the time of writing have made 17 odd miles good up the channel. We're heading into explorer territory now, with the sides of the channel lined with mangroves and sandy beaches habitated by dozing crocs. At 4pm the tide reversed against us, so instead of fighting it we've decided to make camp ashore; cook a meal and get some much needed rest. This is a photo of Kenny and Lourdes acting as croc-decoys ('back a bit - that's it, a little more!') before the author gets out of boat. The insects in the mangroves are killing me as I write this so that's it for now...
Posted on May 13, 2005 10:32 AM