We're almost through the Torres Strait and hoping to reach the Arafura Sea this afternoon, as long as we don't have to struggle against more tide. We had a nice ride last night with a few extra knots of speed, but we're paying the price for that now.
Yesterday we had a couple of interesting encounters. First, we had some visitors who flew over and announced themselves as ABF (Australian Border Force). And we had to quickly check in with them and confirm our last port, next port and registration number. Interestingly we've been having issues with authorities not being able to see the name of the boat when they check our AIS as for some reason its not transmitted. ABF knew the name! Then, we had some other visitors who swam around but didn't announce themselves – they appeared to be false killer whales.
It's a little unnerving navigating through the Torres Strait. There are scattered reefs and islets for hundreds of miles, and we're essentially using a tablet and joystick to follow the safe path. We've barely even seen any of the obstacles! And of course, the ships coming through are using the exact same route we are. We stick right to the edge to give them as much room as possible, but the channel feels impossibly small as they come charging past.
It's not just that we can clearly see the bow wave on the ships, or even that we can hear the engines as they overtake us. It's that I noticed one of the crew on the bridge deck had the same watch as me...but it was a few minutes fast!
It's been flat calm for days, and when I got up for my watch this morning, I thought, "Oh, it's getting a bit breezy." Then I looked at the instruments, and they were only showing 7 knots! Guess we've gotten used to the calm!
