coastal Northwestern and Western Australia

[farotherside]

Hey all,

My name is Drew, and I'm on a grand sailing adventure that currently is taking me and my little 10m sailboat counter-clockwise around coastal Australia. I arrived in Coffs Harbour back in November, saw the fireworks in Sydney Harbour on New Years Eve, then headed north again. Just yesterday I arrived in Broome, WA after a fourteen-day nonstop singlehanded passage from Thursday Island.

I've been very fortunate to have had excellent guidance and advice as to the best places to stop to rest, reprovision and make repairs up until now - but now I'm out of the range of experience of my pilot books and advice-givers.

My goal from here is to make my way to Exmouth and then down the west coast (I know it's going to be a hard sail, or a long wait between weather windows). I'm very interested in hearing advice and recommendations on routes, hops, marinas, towns, anchorages, etc! Does anyone here have local advice for me on what upcoming marinas or anchorage are don't-miss spots, places that would be best for a younger cruising sailor, probably singlehanded, close to groceries/laundry/socialization? I'm not stuck on Exmouth, either - if there's a better option in the region I'm open to hearing about it!

Thanks very much in advance! Any tips and advice is helpful.

(I've been posting about my adventure on Instagram and TikTok under the handle '@farotherside', and the actual story of what I'm up to can be found at https://farotherside.com if you're interested)

[farotherside]

welp - so far Broome is a bust. there's no marinas and nowhere to land a dinghy that isn't a beach, and the tides here are ten meters (30'), so if you want to go to shore you have to time it carefully to two hours before high tide, then finish all your shore tasks and be back at the dinghy by two hours after high tide at the latest. fine if you want to get groceries, much more difficult if you have, say, a bunch of laundry to do or any interest in meeting people and being social.

any recommendations on better places, or advice on other places to avoid? had I known what I was getting into here I would probably have just kept sailing. :/

[farotherside]

for anyone finding this post because they're searching for similar information, a friend just sent me this and so far it is very helpful:

https://fsc.com.au/cruising-section/wa-cruising-guide/