Year 2 -5 July 2025–Hinchinbrook Channel – Scraggy Point-Caldwell- Medical Emergency
I need two extra crew members from Cairns to Indonesia leaving about the 14/15 July 2025. If anyone is interested please contact me as soon as possible.
We woke to a very quiet day with little wind and the water was like a millpond. It was quite grey and cloudy. I checked the weather and it was clear there would be little wind today. We had a good leisurely breakfast and relaxed with a coffee. We decided to move on to Scraggy Point about 13nm away North which is opposite a beach and about the only point you can go ashore in the Hinchinbrook Channel.
We upped the anchor and then headed off to navigate to Scraggy Point with Mark at the helm and all appeared good. Darrel said he felt a little tired and he went for a rest. We motored on and it was a quiet day with very little traffic and the scenery was stunning with mountains and clouds occasionally obscuring them. The sun shone his hat from time to time and it felt quite warm and there were trees and mangroves either side of the channel and no sign of habitation.
We meandered from port to starboard as we went up the channel with the odd fishing boat passing occasionally and it seemed we had the channel to ourselves. There were white Egrets on the side of the channel amongst the mangroves bushes which lined the side of the channel. I looked through the binoculars and tried to find a crocodile on the shore basking in the sun. However, I did not see any but we know they are there.
We approached Scraggy Point and there was a nice beach which is the only place you can go ashore off in the Hinchinbrook Channel where we were going to anchor. We saw the beach and the wooden sign at the back of the beach which is probably where the camp site is etc. We anchored in about 7m of water and settled down. Darrel asked to see me. He had helped put up the anchor off Haycock Island but said he was feeling tired and went to his cabin. By the time we arrived at Scraggy Point he had been in bed a couple of hours. He said he was not feeling good and we made him comfortable thinking it was a temporary issue. We had lunch and began to relax but Darrel had not improved. I decided to contact VTS – the volunteer RNLB service but they did not answer. I told the crew the flag down local fishing boats and contacted the police in Townsville. I knew from my time in Australia that the police coordinate maritime rescues. I was advised to ring 000 which is the emergency services in Australia and reported it to them and by this time we had stopped some local fishing boats and explained the problem and they had stopped to try and help. To cut a long story short a local boat took Darrel to Cardwell a local town where there apparently was a jetty and I arranged with the emergency services for an ambulance to meet them there. Whilst on route the tide was low and the jetty did not have easy steps. They therefore went into the Cardwell Marina and I contacted the ambulance service to divert them there. William had gone with Darrel and helped him get to the ambulance and into the right care.
Whilst this was going on Nicola, Mark and I got the dinghy down and tied it to the side and we upped anchor and motored across to the channel outside the Cardwell Marina. By this time Darrel had been met by the ambulance service and taken to hospital. We anchored off the Cardwell Marina and secured ourselves. Nicola and I went on by dinghy and found William and brought him back to Stormbird. It had been quite a day.
We had a drink in the cockpit and toasted Darrel to good health. We then had the second half of the spaghetti bolognaise which Darrel had made. It still tasted very good. We chatted and discussed the situation and wished Darrel a speedy recovery.
We hope to hear more about Darrel tomorrow. The picture of the day is Stormbird anchored off the Cardwell Marina waiting patiently.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com