South West Rocks

We are still in Port Macquarie, waiting for the weather to change so we can head north again.

Yesterday we hired a car and drove up to South West Rocks - a town about 1 hour north of here. We had hooked up the South West Rocks Dive Centre to take us out to the famous Fish Rock Cave where we could dive with Grey Nurse Sharks. After launching at the boat ramp in the Macleay river we sped over the river bar and around the headland towards Fish Rock. What would usually be about a 30minute trip took much longer because we had a few visitors along the way! Three humpback whales, including a baby, approached us about half way across from the mainland. Not content to just check us out and leave, they began to put on an amazing show, broaching, slapping their tails, and rolling onto their backs and slapping the water with their fins. It was an AMAZING sight. The captain cut the engine into neutral and we drifted in the current for about half an hour as they stayed right alongside and playing around. They were completely uninterested in leaving us alone - they just follwed the boat as it drifted towards Fish Rock, popping up on one side of the boat, and then the other. It really felt as if they were showing off - to us or each other, Im not sure! Both the crew on the dive boat commented that they had never experienced such an long and active display. It was something I will never forget - everyone on board agreed it was a pretty special experience.

Amazingly, our day had only just started! Once moored at Fish Rock we kitted up and a group of us, led by dive guide Mike, descended into the rocky gutters beneath the boat. The visibility was fairly poor, but it didn't matter as we immediately spotted Grey Nurse Sharks, patrolling sleepily along the gutters. These fierce looking critters are actually harmless, but their ferocious look has meant they were mistaken for man-eaters and are now endangered.

After a surface interval we descended a second time to conquer the famous Fish Rock Cave. The cave is about 125 metres long and runs right through the small rocky island. Its entrance is a triangular hole at the end of a gravelly gutter at about 25 metres deep. The entrance is guarded by schooling bulls-eye fish, and it is quite a bizarre feeling to enter the darkness, pushing through a curtain of hundreds of these pretty sentinels!

With the dive guide in the lead, we switched on our torches and filed into the cave one by one, following a narrow passageway into complete darkness. The inside was rocky, and quite bare except covered with pink and brown algae. The cave roof opened up above us, but remained quite narrow for about 20 metres until we reached a "chimney" leading up to the next level. there was a large crack extending from the floor, up the chimney. Inside were at least 10 huge painted crayfish. We slowly ascended the chimney, controlling our buoyancy as we went. Large blue gropers and hundreds of other fish call the cave home. Soon a blue glow appeared ahead and the magnificent silhouette of two grey nurse sharks and hundreds of fish appeared at the exit of the cave. On the swim back to the boat we saw Eagle Rays, and more sharks.

A great day, and we can definitely recommend South West Rocks Dive Centre - they were very professional and fun.

PS I asked a local guy why the town is called South West Rocks when it is neither in the south, or the west. Apparently when James Cook spotted it, it was SW - from his position in the  north east. So there you go. Its all relative.

Michael's video of our amazing whale encounter

A few still images

Video with the Grey Nurse Sharks (and friends) at Fish Rock

Map of Fish Rock Cave - courtesy of SWRDC

Cave exit

Port Macquarie NSW

Another overnight sail saw us arrive at Port Macquarie on the 16th at about the right time recommended for a safe bar crossing. After speaking to Marine Rescue and getting some advice we were quietly confident. The winds were light, swell was low and the Marine Rescue operator said the bar looked pretty good. We watched a few motor boats pass through with ease. We had asked the Marine Rescue operator if we should follow the leads and were told "I can't tell you not to follow the leads" - not exactly what you want to hear at this point. We looked and looked and looked for the leads but could only find one of them? Consulting the charts showed the approach that the leads would have suggested but looking at the surf it was not going to happen. We waited until we thought the last of a larger set of swell had finished passing and made a run for it. We got it a bit wrong.

The boat was grabbed by some breaking waves and shoved from about the centre of the channel to the northern side and way too close to the breakwall. Luckily Bass Voyager has a great sense of self preservation and didn't allow herself to be over powered. Caitlin steered her hard left as I shouted  directions from the deck - I had a much better appreciation of the conditions from there. (Caitlin here - what he means is I was freaking out inside the cockpit! I don't get scared often when sailing. This time I was scared.)  It was all over in a matter of a minute and we were safe and sound inside the channel. On reflection we should have waited and studied the wave patterns longer before making our run. We caught the last wave of the larger set rather than coming in just after it. At least we know how well our boat can cope with some serious surf on the stern.

A few days later we met Caitlin's Mum at the airport and checked into a hotel called Macquarie Waters where we made the most of free wireless internet and free washer and drier (a novelty when you live on a boat!). We hired a car and explored the local region including the Ellenborough Falls and the Camden Haven area.

We saw Bev off at the airport this morning and now we are back home on Bass Voyager. We are waiting for the weather so that we can make our next passage up to the Clarence River and Yamba. In the meantime we're going to go scuba diving on Tuesday at the famous Fish Rock Cave which is just north of here.

Kookaburra at Kooloobung Creek Nature Park, Port Macquarie
  

Fruit Bat colony at Kooloobung Creek Nature Park, Port Macquarie

 

 

 Michael and Bev on the roof of the Macquarie Waters hotel. The weather has been spectacular

Checking the conditions of the Port Macquarie Bar - reconnaissance for our departure

Bev and Caitlin on the foreshore at Pt Mac.

 Visitors and locals have painted all the breakwall rocks. There's a lotta love out there for Port Macquarie.

Ellenborough Falls - one of the highest single drop falls in the southern hemisphere.

Spectacular view of Camden Haven from the top of North Brother Mountain. This is also a sky diving launchpad.

 

Nelson Bay, Port Stephens, NSW

Today we went diving for the first time in many months. Fly Point at Nelson Bay is apparently one of the best shore dives in Australia. Well, as South Australians we have Rapid Bay to compare to, sooooo...... OMG it was fantastic. a) we haven't been diving for AGES. b) the water is WARM !!! What a difference 100 nautical miles makes! 4 degrees Celsius apparently. c) beautiful soft corals and colorful sponges, big blue gropers, free-swimming rays, nudibranches, crayfish... d) today we saw the largest flathead THAT EVER LIVED. Bom-Bom-BOM! Seriously. Photo evidence below.

The amazing thing about this part of Oz is it is the temperate waters start to integrate with the tropical waters. We have hundreds of dives under our weight-belts and today we saw fish we've never seen before. Soooooo great to be back in the water!

PS  Michael to our cat: "Kitty, the world is good, you just need to know where to find the good."

Here's a few photos from today. As it was our first dive in a while I didn't bother with strobes or anything. It was a point-and-shoot kinda dive, so be kind!

World's biggest pufferfish - 50cm-ish!

These guys were everywhere, chillin' in the basket sponges.

Slightly blurry photo of a big Eastern cray. 

1 metre Wobbygong.

Michael and the biggest flathead we have ever seen. We mistook it for a wobbygong shark to begin with! Well over 1 metre length. What a beauty. Tell Tony Abbott: marine parks clearly don't work... ;o)

Pretty fishies.

Hawkesbury River - Pt Stephens

We've just arrived at Nelson Bay in Port Stephens after a pleasant moonlit overnighter from the mouth of the Hawkesbury River. We had such an awesome time in the Hawkesbury/Cowan Creek/Broken Bay area, and felt really lucky to explore it during Winter while it is relatively quiet. Best of all we got to spend lots of time with our new friends from the other side of the world Kathy and Jeff from SV Beatrix. Beatrix has sailed all through the South Pacific on its way from the US - really inspiring. Oh, and we saw Southern Right Whales near Dangar Island - that was a thrill!

On Friday we all hopped on a train back into Sydney to go to the Sydney Boat show - WOW. It made the Adelaide boat show seem like a few tinnies and three guys selling cheap fibreglass polish! We spent the day climbing all over incredible luxury yachts and trying not to feel like we were "cheating" on Bass Voyager. After resisting spending money in the football field-sized trade halls we celebrated by going out for dinner at Darling Harbour with Beatrix and our friends from Adelaide on Wind Warrior (we've discovered that yachties often get called by their boat's name, not their real names, which not for the first time makes me want to change "BV" to something prettier! Sorry BV. We love you just the way you are.)

It was a great way to end a really fun day - watching the sun set over the superyachts and men in striped shirts and boat shoes.

We'll probably hang around Pt Stephens for a week while I finish off my work project, then north to meet my Mum who's flying in to Pt Macquarie.

Here are a few photos from the last week.

Cowan Creek is full of these really beautiful and unusual trees which look like they are growing right out of the rocks. They are called Angophora and grow out of the soil, then spread out onto the rocks before shooting straight up. The next four photos are from our favourite spot in Cowan Creek - Jerusalem Bay. We returned there three times.

  Our friends on SV Beatrix. Not a great shot of Jeff and Kathy, but a good one of Beatrix!

Perving on yachts at the Sydney International Boat Show.

Taken thirty minutes ago, tied to the public berths at Nelson Bay Port Stephens. We're allowed to stay here for free for three days for free. Bargain!