Scorpiosail Blog

We arrived in Darwin on Sunday, May 17, 2009 with the plan to haul out Scorpio as soon as possible and then fly to Finland on our traditional vacation. Because it was a Sunday I could not reach anybody at Spot On Marine, the only place for dry storage in the area. Instead I went on the internet and booked our flight tickets for the following Saturday – thinking that almost 6 days must be enough to arrange the haul out, scrub the bottom and clean the topsides. Then we would apply the anti fouling bottom paint after our return on July 13 before splashing the yacht again in time for the start of the Sailindonesia Rally on July 18.
To my horror, when I reached Spot On by phone early Monday morning, I learned that there wouldn’t be a suitable tide (too shallow) to get in to the yard until Friday afternoon! Also, after our scheduled return in July, there would not be deep water enough after July 15 so we would have to launch the yacht immediately on arrival. This meant, in addition to doing everything at the last minute or in a hurry, that I wouldn’t have the time to do the bottom and top sides work myself, adding probably at least 1 500 dollars to the bill.
I find it strange, that in a city of Darwin’s size, there are no all-tide haul out facilities. Also the fact that Spot On Marine has a monopoly is evident when you look at the prices.
Cullen Bay Marina has a slipway that can be used for doing the maintenance of the bottom, but only if you book a berth in the marina, and they did not have any vacancy for us. The other marinas in the area have no lifting facilities.

Australia is an interesting country, with a lot to see and very friendly people. Unfortunately the sailing was not great. We motor sailed probably 80% of the time we spent on the east coast between Cape York and Sydney. We spent many days waiting for weather to move on – it was either calm or blowing Force 8 with big swells. There’s practically no cruising ground south of Bundaberg, with the exception of Sydney Harbour and Broken Bay and possibly a couple more (depending on the definition). There’s a long distance (50 nm) between safe anchorages, but they are usually inside barred rivers, which can only be entered at certain tidal moments – provided that the weather isn’t foul, when they may not be entered at all!

The much advertised Barrier Reef was also a disappointment, at least if you have been to the Caribbean. The water was not clear (no eye ball navigation) and the anchorages rolly. And then there was the constant risk of encountering hazardous marine creatures, like deadly Box jelly Fish, Irkundji and Crocodiles.