Dampier Departure

Hi everyone,
We departed Hampton Harbour, Dampier at 0900 today. We motor-sailed until midday when a sailng breeze arrived - a nice 10-12 knot easterly. We've been sailing since and are now in position 20 41.1S 116 07.1E, on a course of 250 at about 3 knots. The breeze is slowly easing and has been backing around towards the north all afternoon. Bright sunny sky with only a few clouds to the south over the land.

Our destination is uncertain at the moment. There's a chance we'll bypass Exmouth and head down the west coast towards Geraldton, but that depends on the weather forecasts over the next 24 hours or so. Most likely we'll stop at Exmouth since the outlook seems to be for S-SE winds for some days to come.

Today we've seen large flocks of sea-birds hunting fish, diving into the water while bigger fish were herding the smaller fish for themselves. We've seen one large (about 1.0m) sea snake and several fairly large (over 0.5m) fish jumping from the water. We've sailed past one oil/gas installation and will see quite a few more as we sail between the mainland and Barrow Island. Not much commercial traffic, just a couple of supply ships which appear to be going between Dampier and Barrow Island.

We had a great time in Dampier. Hope it isn't another 10+ years before we visit again!