After a week or so at Waroora to have some respite from sailing, we have headed to Coral Bay, and the plan is to get to Point Cloates or Norwegian Bay to wait out a bit of a northerly blow, and then slowly meander our way around the North West Cape to Exmouth.

A few days ago we sailed down to Gnaraloo Bay in the hope of catching up with some friends, and found ourselves in the bay at low tide, a setting sun, and less than 0.5m beneath us as we tried to find a safe anchorage. Oops. We found a patch of sand to drop the anchor for the night, but if the wind changed from forecast, we may have found ourselves sitting on a coral bommie. Probably some good shelter from a southerly there, but head in at high sun, on the high tide if possible… To be on the safe side, we left the anchorage on the early morning high tide (unfortunately not catching up with Simon, Kristy and the girls -sorry!!) and sailed back to Waroora for the night, ready to sail up to Coral Bay in the morning.

 

There was no wind in the morning for our passage to Coral Bay. So as we slowly motored up the coast, we amused ourselves with a bit of whale watching, on the whale superhighway that is the Ningaloo Coast.

 

We were surrounded.

Very cool.

We made it into the South Passage (Yalobia) on the high tide, with a swell of 1.5-2m, a cruisy entry.

We anchored just south of moorings at Monck Head – good sandy ground, a little lumpy from a touch of swell getting over the outer reef, but should provide a nice spot for an evening BBQ with friends tonight.