Across the Arafura Sea to Uncle Toby Island

We entered the reef strewn waters of the Torres Straits at night, rounding Eastern Cay in big following seas, and then welcoming the flatter water in the shelter of the Great Barrier Reef. I wasn't sure what level of shipping we would encounter, but in the event there were relatively few, and we sailed just outside the channel to keep clear.

As dawn broke we could see many islets around us, and passed Stephens Islet and wondered whether one of our seafaring relatives had been here before us. About midday Toby caught a large Wahoo on the line, and I decided to anchor at nearby Layoak islet for lunch, where we found a sandy bit through a gap in the coral. Calculating our remaining 75 miles I decided to stay there till sunset, so that we would arrive in Thursday Island at dawn.

Uncle Toby's Island, Torres Straits, Australia

Mark and Toby swam ashore, but I thought better of entering the water with my bleeding leg wounds in case I attracted sharks. In the last weeks two mosquito bites and two knocks to my shins have gone septic and horrible.....not something that has happened before on the trip.

Ashore Toby found a packet of oat and raisin biscuit washed up called "Uncle Toby" and so the island has been renamed in his honour! The bird life was interesting, with a hundred frigate birds motionless above the islet in the gale, whilst at sea level a similar number of noddys flocked low searching for food. Mark flew his drone and it was attacked by a white bellied sea eagle, getting some spectacular video of the bird. I watched the pair of Eagles fishing, and being mobbed by a cheeky frigate bird trying to steal some food.

We had a moonlit night sail and arrived at dawn as planned, sailing between Tuesday and Wednesday islands, and through a convoluted channel to reach Thursday. Here we anchored in strong wind and tide to await the officials and clear in. This all was very straightforward, but in anticipation of our fruit and veg being taken, suggested that Toby put a big pot of vegetables on to boil.

Once our quarantine flag was down we motored over to a more sheltered spot off Horn Island, and from there we caught a ferry back to TI. The town had a few shops and cafes, a new and high quality local arts and crafts exhibition centre, and a rather drab hotel overlooking the bay. Once we had replenished the fruit and veg stock, and had a few beers at the hotel we caught the last ferry back to the boat at 6pm. We were surprised to see a man sitting in a dinghy tied to Tin Tin and it turned out that he was a single handed sailor with a dodgy outboard motor. When it stopped he was lucky to float past us and grab on before being washed out to sea. He didn't have any oars...... and after two hours waiting was very grateful for a lift back to his boat.

Horn Island from Thursday Island

The following day we had a morning excursion to TI and enjoyed the exhibition of art, where I bought a print depicting the winds of the Torres Strait and a CD of local music by Seaman Dan. Then a quick dash to catch the 11:00 ferry before we set off towards Gove and Darwin. Looking around we saw such a diversity of bird life with Australian pelican, ibis, herons, darters, cormorants, plovers, terns in profusion. As we motored out I saw a long light brown body curve through the water and thought of a seal, but then realised it must be a Dugong! Toby spotted another a few minutes later.

The tides run fiercely here between the islands and we made 11.5 knots out into the shallow aquamarine Arafura Sea. I set course for Gove, assuming that the strong trades would keep our speed up, but the wind was too light to get to Gove at a sensible time and the following day I decided to alter course direct for Darwin as I can't afford any further days of delay. There are repairs and maintenance to be done before we head off on the 6,000 mile trip to South Africa.