Slow progress in the Arafura Sea

Since my last post I have been day-sailing eastward along the coast. The weather has been OK with 10knots of South East of a morning then a short calm and then the North East sea breeze comes in and varies in strength up to 20 knots.

All the wind directions has the word "east" in them, so I am tacking to gain the maximum direction east each day. The day before yesterday a catamaran called 'Playground' came up and overtook me in a the strait between the mainland and let me know where they would anchor that night. I was making for the same bay and found another cat, TwoJ's there as well. We all met up that evening and had a nice chat we I really enjoyed, not having seen another person for a week. They are both from WA and bound
for Brisbane.

With different speed capabilities and itineraries we won't sail together but have kept in touch on the radio and will no doubt meet up again.

With no convenient anchorages I am now sailing straight to the Wessel Islands about 200 miles away. From there the jump across the Gulf of Carpentaria starts to Cape York.

Now for a short winge. It's just not real safe up here! So far I have hauled in four fish and all of them were sharks! The only thing I've seen in the water was a snake which I assume was a sea snake, but had a real adder look to it. When I anchored with the catamarans I would've paddled over on on the ski to visit but the threat of crocodiles is very real.

No toes in the water for Col!

PS: I post position reports more often than blog entries.