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Planning for our trip Darwin to Derby next year and would like some tips on 2 parts of the passage that don’t have much clarity in the cruising guides. I would appreciate advice from anyone experienced in the areas.
We will round Cape Voltaire coming from the east probably departing from Mitchell River. As the tide ebbs west around the cape it would seem sensible to hit the voltaire passage around high tide to use the ebb. But this would involve fighting an incoming tide from the Mitchell River to the Cape. Any tips or advice??
The second one is how to judge slack water for travelling through the Canal south of Koolan Island. Again any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have a collection of all available tidal predictions for the whole Kimberley coast.
Cheers Mark
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Hi Mark, I would leave the Mitchell River on an ebb tide, which runs north and northwest out of Walmesly Bay, to reach Voltaire Passage about full water slack, then run south with the flood tide down towards Swift Bay. An alternative is wait for the tides at anchor in Krait Bay just west of Voltaire Passage, or the bay just to the east of VP, but beware of rocks in the east side bay – I stuck my nose in there for a look earlier this year, and recall that much of the bottom looked hard.
I’ve been through The Canal several times and didn’t wait for slack water. It looks scarier that it actually is. Just went with the flow straight through the middle of the gap. I’v also been through powering against the flow. But if you are in a yacht or displacement vessel, going against it may not be possible, particularly in springs.
Its a guess, but I would use the Koolan Island Yampi Sound tide chart as the closest to the Canal for judging slack water.
Cheers, Ross
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