Around Australia Cruise 2025 - Perth to Port Headland
by The Wooden Boatshop 30 May 15:23 PDT
Around Australia Cruise 2025 - Perth to Port Headland © The Wooden Boatshop
Departing Fremantle in mid-April, the fleet headed north, tracing Western Australia's Coral Coast. A brief stop in Geraldton allowed the crews to take on fresh supplies and visit the town's moving tribute to the HMAS Sydney II before setting course for the offshore Abrolhos Islands.
At the Abrolhos, the fleet spent a week exploring in the company of local guide Mark Jackman. Known for their rich fishing grounds and the infamous Batavia shipwreck, these low-lying coral islands offered a mix of natural beauty and sobering maritime history.
North Island provided a peaceful anchorage, with sandy tracks and sea-eagles circling overhead, before the fleet made way for Shark Bay. Here, the crews visited Dirk Hartog Island—site of the first recorded European landing in Australia in 1616—before continuing on to Tantabiddi, where they swam alongside whale sharks off Ningaloo Reef.
In Exmouth, the crews paused to re-provision and enjoy a walk through the dry creek beds of Cape Range National Park, before heading back offshore to the Montebello Islands. Once the site of British nuclear tests, these islands now support fragile recovering ecosystems and offered excellent diving in clear, tropical waters.
Further north, the fleet visited Dampier and anchored off Depuch Island, where they came ashore to see ancient Indigenous rock carvings etched into the island's volcanic stone.
The leg concluded in Port Hedland—a major working harbour where the red earth of the Pilbara meets the sea. After four weeks and more than a thousand nautical miles, Leg Three came to a close.
Watch episode 6 here.