SV True North

 On our third day, we headed south headed for an anchorage in Brandy Bay by Hermite Island.  Unfortunately we ran into problems with shallow water at the entrance to Stephenson Channel and spent considerable time creeping along trying to find passage through the sand bars.  Soon after we entered the channel, we were called on the vhf radio by another yacht anchored just ahead.  They guided us to their vicinity and advised us that the remaining passage to Brandy Bay was shallow.  We anchored near the other boat “La Vie Nouvelle” and decided we would explore the area by dinghy the next day. It was still intermittently raining the next day but we set out to take the dinghy down Stephenson Channel to the top of Willy Nilly Lagoon to a spot where we could hike over to Turtle Bay.  The hike was relatively easy but it was quite windy and rough in Turtle Bay so we did not see the Dugongs which are supposed to be resident there.  We did however see many stingra...

 On the morning of our second day in the Montebello Islands, we made a short passage from Trimouille Island over to Alpha Island.  This was the site of the third and largest British atomic bomb test in the Montebellos.  After navigating some narrow channels we anchored in Chartreuse Bay off of Alpha Island.  The weather was cloudy with occasional showers but we took the dinghy ashore to explore. Our dinghy landing spot on Alpha  The radiation risk sign on Alpha Island We had a quick hike on the island and departed within our 1 hour safety limit.  Since the day was still young and it was not raining hard, we decided to take the dinghy for a long exploration/fishing trip around the many islands and out to the fringing reef.  We caught a two fish, a mackerel and a small grouper but let them go because they were small. Off to explore and fish A Sea Eagle nest - it’s huge!

 We arrived in the Montebello Islands early in the morning after a good overnight passage.  Our first anchorage was in Main Bay, the site of two British atomic bomb tests in the 1950s.  One test was on the island with the bomb on the top of a tower and the second test had the bomb on the HMS Plym warship anchored in Main Bay. A British video of one of the tests can be watched here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n9XnoexPXI   After tidying up True North from the passage, we took the dinghy ashore at Main Beach on Trimouille Island where we could see a sign. Radiation Risk sign at Main Beach The sign told us that we should only stay in the radiation risk area on the island for 1 hour so we immediately set off to explore the area. Hiking was a bit rough because of all the fractured coral rock under our feet The “ground zero” site of the bomb blast While hiking the island, we found a large number of steel chunks partially buried in the beach and all over the islan...

 We had a sumwhat uncomfortable night with waves bouncing the boat around quite a bit.  Luckily the wind direction changed overnight and by morning the waves had almost disappeared. It was a beautiful day so we decided to go for a walk on the island.  Bernier Island is mostly sandstone and loose sand dunes.  We took the dinghy into the beach and hiked up through the sparse vegetation to the to- of the cliff.  Our goal was to hike across the island to the west ocean side but we ended up following the lines of dunes south down the island, eventually coming back to the east shore at a lovely beach with crystal clear water.  I flew my drone for a while but unfortunately had forgotten to turn on the camera so I don’t have video of the island 🥺.  After flying the drone, we had a lovely swim before hiking back along the coastline to the dinghy and returning to True North. Glen hiking up the first dune at the beginning of our hike.   True North is t...