Jervis Bay - Greenwell Point

We are currently at Greenwell Point in the Crookhaven River - a nice place, and very comfortable.

We left Batemans Bay eager to push on after a pretty uncomfortable week, complete with storms and surgey anchorages. Next stop was Jervis Bay. We had a good trip despite some big seas and couldn't believe our luck when we arrived at an anchorage called "Hole in the Wall" on the south east side of Jervis Bay - it was like a millpond and so pretty, surrounded by national park. Plus,we had it pretty much all to ourselves - perhaps the only benefit of cruising in winter? ;o) Finally we got a few nights of good sleep! Kitty loved this spot too, as there were hundreds of greedy, kitty-sized leatherjackets under the boat.

The rest of the week we explored a few other anchorages around the bay, none of which were very comfortable as the swell had gone easterly and the wind northerly. The town of Vincentia was very pretty though, and had excellent facilities. We also spent a couple of days at Callala Point (not "Koala Point" as we misheard!). The storm we weathered in Batemans Bay had hit Callala really hard. Eleven boats broke their moorings and three were complete write-offs, ending up on the rocks on the northern beach. There was a lot of damage to the foreshore and evidence of huge seas all along the beach and creek entrance.

JB was quite interesting as a lot of it is Commonealth territory and falls under the laws of the ACT. So I guess you could kinda say we have sailed to the ACT! Our 5th state/territory so far. (SA, Vic, Tas, NSW and (sort of) ACT). There was quite a lot of naval training activity going on, which was fascinating to listen to on the VHF radio - for about 2 minutes! zzzzzz.... Michael says there is a saying that being in the defence force is 90% waiting around, 10% digging latrines - I can believe its that boring after listening to them training on the radio!

Yesterday we decided to move back to Hole in the Wall in preparation to leave in a few days. As we passed the entrance to the bay the conditions looked so good, Michael looked at me and said "do you want to just go?" I said "hell yes!" so we quickly packed the boat up for sea and pointed BV north once again!

We rarely make spontaneous decisions like that, and although we made it to the Crookhaven River safely we did face some 30+ knot winds which made things a bit... interesting!! We knew the westerly winds wouldn't affect the sea state too much and we were right, but we won't be making a habit of unplanned passages! Still, it is a pretty cool aspect of sailing that you have the freedom to make a split decision like that. Bored? Want a change of scenery? No need to pack a suitcase, just go! (well, its more like "check the weather and go" really) It definitely suits our restless personalities.

Anyway, with some advice from the Shoalhaven marine rescue we rounded up and entered the Crookhaven river a few hours later, picking up a courtesy mooring near Greenwell Point.

Tomorrow we head to Woolongong, then Port Hacking, then Sydney by the weekend! Wooop!

Anchorage at "Hole in the Wall". No one knows why they call it that..........

Warship HMAS Anzac

 

Anchorage at Callala Bay. 11 of these boats broke their moorings. Club Marine insurance is refusing to insure any new boats permanently moored at this anchorage now.

Beautiful cliffs along the coast between Jervis Bay and the Crookhaven River

Taken earlier today at our anchorage at Greenwell Point, BV on the right.

Finally we have some gorgeous sunny weather to enjoy!