Serrurier Island

Hi everyone,
Last night we had little wind and so motored nearly all night. This was followed today by a little more wind but it only held in for a few hours. On top of that we weren't getting the boat speed we normally expect from the engine. We suspected that was due to weed, which proved to be the case. After lunch we decided to stop overnight (tonight) at Serrurier Island. We arrived here at 1600 and are anchored in 6 metres over sand at 21 37.3S 114 41.7E.  Here's our track...

Zen Again track

Apart from the lack of wind it was a nice day. We saw several sea snakes and lots of sea birds. Commercial traffic was quite light. Our route took us along a meandering path through the islands and reefs between the mainland and Barrow Island. So the navigation was interesting. The engine ran well but we weren't getting our target boat speed. We had to stop and "back up" a couple of times to get rid of weed on the keel and rudder which slowed us further still. Frustrating.

Approaching Serrurier Island we saw dolphins and (I think) a dugong. After anchoring we went for a swim and found a ball of weed around the propellor, which was clearly the culprit. With that sorted we had a quick scrub around the waterline, removing some slime and growth. The water is very clear here with the sand bottom very clear 6 metres below. The beaches look very nice but we won't have time to go ashore.

At anchor at Serrurier Island

Anchorage location at Serrurier Island

For the 32 hour passage we covered 116nm by the log, for an average of 3.6 knots - quite slow. Over the ground we covered 140nm for an average of 4.3 knots, so had considerable help from the tides. We have a little under 40nm to run to Exmouth which we'll do tomorrow. We're going to wait in Exmouth for better weather on the west coast - at present southerlies are predicted until the weekend.

Trust all's well where you are.