Chris Bolton Fishing

1 month ago

Most of our followers are probably aware that we were in Princess Charlotte Bay through cyclone Narelle. Tied up securely in a small creek, off the Marrett River.
This morning I was inundated with calls and messages from the media, asking for interviews and videos etc. I did one or 2 with ABC, but I decided that was it. I'm not doing any more.

But I'm going to explain here, a bit about how and why we ended up being in Princess Charlotte Bay with a category 5 cyclone bearing down on us.

So, I always keep a very good eye on the weather. ALWAYS. Well before a low had even developed way out to the east, I was talking with people about a potential low/cyclone developing in a week or so. Most models showed that if it did form, it would likely end up going down into the cyclone graveyard without any impact to the qld coast. Ok, we'll keep an eye on it, but we'll go to work.....
A couple of days later, some forecasts were saying a possible coastal impact near Princess Charlotte Bay as a category 1, maybe even a cat 2 cyclone, Hmmmm, ok, nothing major but I'll start watching this even more closely..... My brain starts working overtime, what if this happens, or that happens etc etc. At worst a cat 2, nothing too serious, we'll plan on working and if we need to, we'll take cover up here. Let it pass over, then start fishing again.

A short time later, the forecast was cat 3. A short time after that, a cat 4.
Ok, look men, this is getting serious. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a cat 5 here. We have to make decisions, and make them fast.
My thoughts were-
Option 1, run to Lockhart as fast as possible. Bt there was issues with this option.... I don't really know the Lockhart river. We'd possibly be cutting ourselves short on fuel. And some forecasts were showing a crossing closer to Lockhart than PCB......
Option 2- steam as fast as we can back to Cooktown. Issues there as well, the main one being, it was already very rough, so it would be a slow trip. From my 30 odd yrs experience, rough weather is when most unexpected problems occur with boats. What would happen if we got halfway back to Cooktown and had a breakdown? We'd be stuck somewhere with very little protection, and have a category 5 cyclone bearing down on us.
Option 3- stay in PCB, find a little creek with good protection from all directions, and bunker down.
Next thing, the forecast was a cat 5, direct hit on Cape Melville, which was only a few miles from our position. Shit, this is serious!!!
I spoke with a very experienced, very smart retired fisherman (my uncle) about these options, and our thoughts on these options.
Obviously I decided option 3 was the best, for various reasons. I know PCB quite well, and a close family member knows it probably better than most. Between us we have a wealth of knowledge on PCB. I was confident in the boat, and my crew being able to handle anything mother nature could throw at us, as long as we were well prepared. I had more than enough ropes, spare equipment and communication on board for this very reason- being in a remote area in the path of a cyclone.

Anyway, as family and friends of myself and my crew started realising that we were directly in the path of a monstrous cyclone, we started getting inundated with calls and messages. Mostly messages of support, but several very unhelpful messages telling us how bad it was going to be, what was going to happen, how stupid I was for staying here, and what we should be doing etc etc. Screenshots from some bullshit they'd seen on Facebook. Lots of advice from people that, to put it bluntly, knew fuck all. They knew fuck all about PCB, and fuck all about the thought and discussion that went into the decisions I'd made.
Now, when you have one of supposedly the most powerful cyclones in history bearing down on you, you really don't need to hear that your going to die, you're going to get a massive storm surge, you're in the wrong place etc etc. I stopped opening messages and answering calls, except from those I trusted for positive advice. I blocked crew from using starlink, until all prep work was done. I can block out that white noise, but most people can't......

Anyway, sitting here now looking back on it all, if I could hit rewind, I'd probably do exactly the same thing again. We all came out of it safe, thats the main thing 💯

As far as what it was like last night, well, one of my crew was in bed almost all night. The others were up and down. If at any time I had serious concerns, I would have made sure everyone was wide awake. In all honesty, it was a walk in the park, and nowhere near as bad as expected, or what we'd prepared for.
But if, or more likely 'when' I'm next in the path of even a small cyclone, I'd prepare exactly the way we did for this one- prepare for the worst possible scenario, and hope for the best.

No, no photos or videos from throughout the night. I won't sensationalise what we experienced here. I'm sure we'll be telling stories about this for years, but I certainly won't be doing it on social media.

Cheers to anyone that sent us supportive messages or gave me genuine knowledgable advice. You know who you all are. It certainly helped ease the stress. Hopefully I won't have to do that again for a long time.

And by the way, there were 2 other boats in PCB. I kept in touch with both through the entire night, and all is well all around 👌
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