We left Thurday Island and decided to sail to Gove for a look instead of straight through to Darwin. First night the wind was strong with 4 metre swells so we reefed the sails and carried on. About midnight (of course!) I noticed a clang clang noise after a particularly big slide down a swell and found the satellite pole support had come free. Woke everyone up and we hove to and tied it up temporarily. we then took the main sail down altogether and fully reefed the genoa so as to continue at a slower rate. After all that everything was fine. In the morning all had calmed down and we had a few slow days and night to Gove. A fabulous golden syrup coloured moon made the night watches very easy and beautiful. Got in at 10.20 and went ashore for a look around. First thing we saw was a large crocodile trap on the beach just between the mangroves and the Boat Club! We checked out the facilities"" and came back for the boat to get the laundry. Pete and I had a lost afternoon in the bar waiting for the washing to wash and dry! We had to pay $100 deposit for the laundry key! Obviously people sail off with them regularly....There seemed to be a number of just abandoned, sunken or nearly wrecked boats in the harbour,,,,I noticed a sign at the boat club saying that they were intending to tidy up the foreshore. the red dust everywhere is bauxite, apparently this is the largest bauxite deposit in the world but unfortunately the smelter closed last year and lost the town 1000 jobs. Probably labour costs - the cooks and cleaners in these sorts of places get paid hundreds of thousands a year!! Today as soon as I have finished this we sail for Darwin. About 3 days we are planning it will take. I'll label the pictures then as the website is paying up again and won't let me.....
