The Torres Channel

The Torres Channel

The channel (known also as the Great North Eastern Passage) is 120 miles long and runs roughly in a NE/SW direction. There were some pretty strong currents in places. We experienced over three knot currents as we passed through the Prince of Wales Passage at the Western end. It threads its way between numerous islands and submerged reefs. It feels quite open, like you are in the open sea, as most of the reefs are submerged.  It’s fairly narrow in places and shallow. There were places where the full depth was 13m, very narrow and we had large tankers passing through these narrow spots. It seems that they follow the current and as were going with it, in the narrows of the western end of the passage we did not meet any other vessels as they were all going our way. That was lucky.

We passed through the Blyth Entrance by the Bramble Cay at 0730 on Thursday 30 June and sailed all day in a good trade wind averaging about 10 knots. As got dark things became a bit more interesting as passed all these reefs and a few islands without being able to see them or check the accuracy of the navigation equipment. But surprise, surprise, all went well and we didn’t hit anything! An interesting aspect was observing all the activity and light ashore on the islands as we got closer to the Australian mainland. We didn’t see Thursday Island, but we passed pretty close to Wednesday Island and Hammond Island.  That all looked pretty busy as we passed by in the night.  We came within 15 miles of cape York as we passed down the Prince of Wales Passage about 2200 hours..and that looked a pretty busy little town or settlement. We passed through the narrows of the passage with over 3 knots of current under us and followed four or five big ships out into the Arafura Sea at midnight. It was a good experience and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. It was quite challenging navigationally with all the different lights and intersecting channels, the strong currents and small distances between various hazards! But we managed to come through unscathed! Talking of ships, we did not actually sight many ships..some we saw their lights, but we followed them all with the utmost interest as they approached us on our new AIS device which was fantastic. Radar did it as well, but the AIS was great. A very worthwhile investment!

Now out of the Torres, north of Booby Island and we are on our way across the Gulf of Carpentaria to Darwin, 720 miles away.  The wind is good trade SE breezes of 20 to 25 knots and we are eased sheets doing 10/11 knots. Great sailing.  Our expected time of arrival in Darwin is Monday morning the 4^th July. What a great leg of the trip this has been....loved it.