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!

Clyde River Batemans Bay

Just a quick update on the last few days. After my last entry the conditions got progressively worse. The storm coincided with an abnormally high tide and the resulting surge knocked us around pretty badly. Around 9pm as the tide reached its peak Michael went on deck and tossed some of our spare ropes to the marina security guard and a couple of other boat owners so they could secure some vessels that had broke their dock lines. It was way too dangerous for us to get off the boat - we were lurching and pitching so violently. Quite a rollercoaster ride! After 10pm the tide began to ebb and things settled down a bit, but we had a pretty sleepless night.

In the morning we inspected the damage. BV came through ok, although one of the stanchions on our starboard side was torn out of the deck. Other boats were not so lucky - because the tide was so high and the marina doesnt have floating pontoons one power boat with two large outboard engines on its transom was slamming up and down on the jetty doing a fair bit of damage, to itself and the dock.   The boat next to us broke one of its lines and had been scraping its transom against the dock too.

We went for a walk down the promenade where the waves had been crashing well over the walkway, tearing up paving and depositing it on the doorsteps of the riverside cafes. "It was the worse Ive ever seen it" was a phrase we heard a number of times that day.

Anyway, we were keen to move out of the marina as even in calm conditions it was very surgey and uncomfortable so two days later we are happily anchored out in the Clyde river enjoying the post-storm sunshine and calm waters and planning the next leg of our journey to Jervis Bay. We hope to leave on Sunday or Monday once the swell has settled. Bye for now!

Damage to the Batemans Bay promenade

 View from our anchorage in the Clyde River. Hard to believe we saw a big storm just two days ago!

Kitty

We are stuck on the boat today as the weather is APPALLING - heavy rain and 60 kts recorded nearby at Montague Island couple of hours ago. Michael is playing Diablo III and I am soooo bored! ;o) To amuse myself I'm looking back through our latest photos and videos. Here's a cute little one of our ships cat Kitty - she gets a mad look in her eyes when there's fresh fish around!

Eden - Bermagui - Batemans Bay

We've had a few "firsts" since arriving in NSW two weeks ago. We have explored a navy warship, seen migrating humpback wales, caught a bonito, and crossed our first river bar. We also weathered some pretty yucky conditions on the Eden wharf, and found ourselves seeking safe harbour again as a particularly weird low pressure system approaches us from the east...

We spent just over a week in Twofold Bay, mostly at the Eden wharf, plus two nights over at East Boyd Bay sheltering from some feisty southerly weather. Eden was a great place to stop. So pretty, and it only cost us $5 per night on the wharf which included shore power, water and shower facilities. (They are putting it up to $25 per night in July, which is still a bargain compared when compared to most marinas).

A local on the Eden wharf. I need to buy a bird ID book so I can tell you what she is! Anyway, she was a real poser. - Update: Beverly from Three Hummock Island tells me she is an Egret!

The day after we docked in Eden a navy warship the HMAS Broome (an Armidale Class patrol boat, apparently) also arrived in port, en route to Tasmania. Michael was having a sneaky close-up look when one of the crew said - "Hey - do you want a tour?" Michael said "Sure! Let me go get my wife!" We spent the next hour or so being shown all around the ship and meeting the crew. There was a really great vibe on board with lots of joking around, and they talked about how much they enjoyed their jobs travelling around Australia and beyond in this mean-looking warship. There was a lot of obvious pride - in a good way. What surprised me was how young the crew were! The boatswain that showed us around must have only just been 18 I reckon. All these young girls and guys living a pretty bizarre existence chasing illegal fisherman, drug traffickers, and not to mention those pesky asylum seekers (why is it that those three are somehow in the same category???) Anyway, it was an eye opening experience for us - and that's the best thing about travelling I reckon - those spontaneous, unplanned opportunities that just fall in your lap.

Unfortunately in any strong southerly weather the Eden wharf gets really uncomfortable, a lesson we learned the hard way. We got seriously knocked about one night, but it was our own fault as we were tied up stern to the swell - noobs! Oh well, even after 2000 miles we are still learning... I don't expect we'll ever stop - both learning and making mistakes!

The next day we headed over to East Boyd Bay along with four other boats to hide out behind the large Navy wharf. Unfortunately there was a warship loading ammunition, which meant we had to wait until after dark when they gave the all clear to enter. We had a really nice time relaxing and fishing over the next few days before returning to Eden to do some final jobs (including a day trip by bus to Bega) before once again heading North.

Anchorage at East Boyd Bay

We left Eden on 1 June and sailed in excellent conditions to Bermagui. On the way I was gazing out over the calm seas when I saw a puff of spray a few hundred metres away. At first I thought it was a rock with waves crashing over it but there was nothing on the chart ... and then suddenly there was another puff, and another! Whales! We knew there was a chance we'd see them as they are heading north at the moment (like us!) but they are not expected in this close to the coast. They didn't come very close to us (a good and a bad thing I guess!) but I did manage to get a few long distance photos.

I promise there is a tail in this shot if you zoom in!

We entered the Bermagui river in the mid afternoon and were directed by the fishing co-op to raft up to a fishing boat which wasn't going anywhere fast as it had just had an engine room fire. I make no apologies for the name of the fishing boat - it takes a certain type of courage to name your boat that - although the easily offended may wish to skip over the next photo! We really liked Bermagui - not sure what we were expecting but it was a really pretty town, although quiet now the summer crowds have departed.

Rafted up in Bermagui. Poor BV needs a really good wash! We'll give her some TLC before we hit ritzy Sydney harbour.
 

We stayed at Bermagui for two nights as the winds were going to be non-existent the next day, and there was a nice SW forecast for the following day. Michael caught a beautiful bonito along the way on a $6 lure that had been recommended to us in Eden. You can't get these fish in SA, so it was a first for us, and highly underrated in our opinion. Kitty agreed!

We approached Batemans Bay with a certain amount of trepidation as it would be our first proper river bar crossing - a common challenge in NSW but not something we'd encountered before. With some guidance from the local marine rescue guys we crossed the bar at high tide, holding our breath as we slipped over with only 1/2 metre of water under our keel.

We had chosen the Clyde River to see out the nasty storm that is forecast for this week as there is a good anchorage upriver beyond the opening bridge. Wouldn't you know it though? The bridge is closed for maintenance for the next month! A huge pain in the butt. This left us with only a few options: make a run north to Jervis Bay (not our preference given the weather on the way), anchor in the river on the ocean side of the bridge (we did this on the first night and it felt very exposed behind the sand bar, and 6 metre swell is forecast), or beg and plead with the chock-a-block local marina to squeeze us in for a few nights. Although its costing us quite a lot of money we decided for peace of mind we'd take the marina option. Not something we can afford to do often, but totally justifiable when there are 45 knot winds and big seas on the horizon!

So that's where we are - spider-webbed to a pen in the Batemans Bay marina where will stay until we see the back of this storm. 

Wow, this turned into a really long post - apologies for that!

Bass Strait crossing

With a favourable four day forecast we decided to leave Wineglass Bay early Friday morning and get a head start on the trip. As I retrieved the anchor I notice a large clump of what I though was the usual seaweed attached but was very surprised when it got closer. It was in fact a large reddish brown Octopus which was comfortably wrapped around our anchor. He didn't really want to budge but eventually woke and shot off. The rest of the day went down hill from there. Instead of the 15-20 knots NW-W we were expecting we got 20 - 25 knots of North - dead on the nose, unsailable and with a head on 2-3m steep wave pattern. It was very uncomfortable and slow. We had to bail out and found shelter at a small bay called Long Point where we anchored for the night and got some much needed rest from a tiring effort.

The forecast for Saturday was better but we were a little cautious as to how accurate it would be but unfortunately there is only one way to test the accuracy of the forecast. We were in luck this time and had 15-20 knots Westerly on the beam which BV loves. With a gentle following swell we managed to keep up 6-7 knots for much of the day. At night the wind died right off so we had to motor sail for a few hours but it finally came back early in the morning. Again we were able sail quite fast as the wind built up to 25 knots at times. Later we decided to pull in the Genoa and run with a reefed main and inner stay sail as she was getting a bit hard to handle and we needed some rest. Soon after the wind died off and we were forced motorsail once again. The weather had been upgraded and we were expecting 30-35 knots and 3m plus seas right behind us so the decision was made to motorsail through the night and keep the speed up  - we needed to get as far from the bad weather as possible.

It worked, perhaps a little too well. By the next morning there was no wind and very little swell - amazing conditions really considering where we were. At this point we figured we would make Eden by about 8:00PM and it would be dark - not good. We talked to Marine Rescue Eden and consulted our guides, charts and Google Earth. Although we avoid night anchorages as much as possible - especially ones we have never visited - we decided that this one should be safe enough to attempt with a couple backup options. We were pleasantly surprised upon arriving to find the pier well lit and a berth right at the end perfect for an easy berthing. You have to get lucky some times.

More on Eden Later.

A quick video of the Octopus on our anchor chain at Wineglass Bay

Video from our second day offshore when we were pushing ourselves and the boat pretty hard under full sail to stay ahead of the weather. Sea state was pretty comfortable at this point and we are doing 6 or 7 knots on a beam reach.

Wineglass Bay

I wrote this last night but the internet was flakey, so Im posting it now... 

Well, here we are at the end of our Tasmanian odyssey! We are currently anchored in the incredibly pretty Wineglass Bay, the boat is locked down, the weather is looking good (touch wood!) and tomorrow we will start our passage across Bass Strait to Eden. 320 nautical miles which should take us at least 3 days - more if the winds are light like they are predicting. I'm pretty excited at the prospect of the trip. Michael, ever cautious, is less so, but he's keen to get moving too. Kitty however has disowned us.

We've both been reflecting a lot on the last 6 months since we left Adelaide, and our time in Tassie. We've met some really great people that have so selflessly helped and advised us along the way. Its been a massive learning curve for us both. We're better sailors than we were (although that's not hard!), and certainly better at living aboard and taking each day and challenge as it comes. Ive taught myself how to make shortcrust pastry and perfected my bread baking skills. Michael continues to be the MacGyver of all things mechanical - I swear he could jury-rig just about anything out of a tube of sikaflex and a couple of stainless steel bolts. Neither of us wants to throw the other one overboard ... yet! ;o)

We have the sneaking suspicion that we have just experienced the best cruising Australia has to offer - Tassie is AMAZING - but we are very excited about the next stage of our adventure. Oh for warmer waters!!!! Seriously - bring it on. Kitty is a little fluffball and ugg boots on a boat is a baaaaad look!

Anyway, wish us luck, we'll check in once we're on the other side of the ditch!

Grainy camera-phone picture of our anchorage at Wineglass Bay

Port Davey & Bathurst Harbour

"The mountains which presented themselves to our view in this situation, both close to the shore and inland, were amongst the most stupendous works of nature I ever beheld, and it seemed to me are the most dismal and barren that can be imagined. The eye ranges over these peaks, and curiously formed lumps of adamantine rock, with astonishment and horror."

How awesome is that quote?! That’s how Mathew Flinders described the South West coast of Tasmania when he and George Bass passed it during their circumnavigation of Tassie in 1798.

Dismal, barren, horrific – exactly what you want out of a cruising destination, right? Hehehe. Well of course Port Davey, and its neighbour Bathurst Harbour, is also dramatically beautiful, virtually untouched by man, has a fascinating indigenous and European history, and provides safe – indeed tranquil – harbour from the ferocious Southern Ocean at its doorstep.

We decided to make the dash around to Port Davey quite late in the season, but figured as long as we chose our weather carefully and were prepared to get stuck there for up to a month, it would be a great opportunity to explore this wilderness area pretty much on our own. It really paid off as we saw only a handful of boats the first few days (they must have left during the good weather that we sailed in on), and then only a few fishing boats late in our stay. The only time we shared an anchorage was during the last week when the Police launch Van Diemen surprised us by anchoring adjacent on the far side of Schooner Cove. The only people we spoke to in person were a pair of hikers we met at Melaleuca airstrip – they had just been dropped off by light aircraft to trek back to civilisation along the South Coast Track.

For much of the time we had the unique and somewhat eerie feeling that we were the only people for hundreds of kilometres. There could have been a zombie apocalypse and we would have had no idea!

The weather was … challenging. Cold and rainy apart from a couple of sunny days. We weathered one big storm in the remarkable comfort of a little hideaway called Casilda Cove (nearby Maatsuyker Island recorded gusts over 75 knots). We spent many rainy afternoons baking bread, curries and casseroles to keep the cabin warm! There was blood, sweat and even tears as we challenged our bodies (and our sanity!) hiking seeking lofty views. We met swans and cygnets, sea eagles, mutton birds, freshwater lobsters, southern rock lobsters, wombats, wallabies, frogs and leeches (could have done without that last one…) We learned all about the incredibly tough families that eked out a living by mining tin and fishing in years gone by.

Yet every day we would sit up in bed, look out the window and be completely blown away by the breathtaking beauty just outside. We feel like we only scratched the surface of exploring this pretty special place, which is fine by us because it gives us an excuse to come back one day Thank goodness the area is protected and World Heritage listed – hopefully it will remain unchanged until we return!

Here is a summary of our time in Port Davey and Bathurst Harbour – which of course doesn’t do justice to the grandeur of the place, but will hopefully give a sense of it.

Our passage to Port Davey started with a bang ... or should I say "crunch". 3am we weighed anchor at Recherche Bay. Totally black and flying blind - imagine driving your car using only the GPS - I didn't follow our track log and ran up on a rock. I quickly put the boat in reverse and got free and motored out into the bay incident free. Thank god for steel boats. It was only a little bump, but I never want to experience that feeling again. There is a saying in sailing circles that there are two types of sailors - those that have run aground, and the liars. I guess by posting this I cant be accused of lying!

Anyway, thankfully the start was not indicative of the rest of the passage. Sunny skies, low swell, light winds, 12 1/2 hours and we were in Port Davey! It actually felt a bit like cheating - a little too easy. We have friends that absolutely copped it during this passage, so we couldn't help but be amazed at our luck as we had a pretty perfect passage (Sorry Captain Silver!).

A shot of the infamous Maatsuyker Island - off the Southern coast of Tasmania - our friend John from Three Hummock Island said "that's where they make wind and send it down the West coast". Look at that swell. Killer. ;o)

 The entrance to Port Davey, Mt Misery in the distance.

Our first anchorage at Lourah Inlet. It was such a warm, sunny day we could hardly believe our luck. We were on such a high after such a great passage. This anchorage was described in our guides as having "questionable" holding, but we didn't find that at all and returned there twice more during our stay.

Eagle over Lourah Island

We then moved into Bathurst Channel. This is a photo of the narrow entrance, Mt Misery in the centre. There is an "embarrassment" of calm, protected and picturesque anchorages within the Channel to choose from.


Sunset view of Munday Island from Wombat Cove

Mt Rugby reflections from Iola Bay

We hiked (or should I say "scrambled") from Iola Bay up to the peak of Mt Beattie with a rainstorm chasing our tails. We really should have chosen the marked path from nearby Clayton's Corner. Although in the photos the country looks like low-cropped grass, it is actually knee-high buttongrass and completely sodden peat. Its so wet that thousands of freshwater lobsters live hundreds of metres up. For a drought-ridden South Australian, that much water just seems... well, wrong! I very nearly had a nervous breakdown on this hike (I slipped 5 times I think, busted up my hand, and did I mention the leeches??) but maaaaaaan the views were worth it!!

A few days later we headed to Clayton's Corner at the mouth of Melaleuca Inlet. We tied up to the wharf to celebrate my Birthday (thanks for the chocolate cake and pirate candles Mike!) and explored the house and garden which had been built by pioneers Win and Clyde Clayton in the 1960's. The house is now managed by Parks and Wildlife.

We were pretty thrilled to be one of the first members of the Clayton's Corner Yacht Club (CCYC, established 2012, annual membership $2)

The next day we took dingy for the half day trip down the still waters of the inlet to the settlement of Melaleuca. Melaleuca  is taken from the Greek - mela = black and luca = white, which describes both the contrasting black and white rocks that line the banks, and the native trees that hug the waterline.

One of the hiker's huts at Melaleuca. It was fun reading the visitors book - glad to see I wasn't the only one to experience the joys of a leech attack.

The airstrip at Melaleuca. We got buzzed by a light plane dropping off a couple of hikers heading down the East Coast Track. We were pretty surprised that they had no idea that some pretty serious weather was coming in a day or two.

Bass Voyager has performed flawlessly on our trip thus far - through big seas and various grounding incidents - ! - so something had to give eventually, I guess. Naturally it happened in the wilderness, hundreds of kilometres from anywhere. A tiny pin in our anchor winch decided to finally snap - 25 years after installation, which is pretty fair in my book! Thankfully BV has its own resident  mechanic who tore the old girl apart, diagnosed the problem, realised there was no hope and rigged up a very clever manual override to get us through till civilisation. I love my clever husband! Glad I'm a good cook or I'd bring nothing to this relationship! ;o)

OK, this post is getting really long, so I'll try and speed up... try...

On the 4th May we dragged ourselves out of bed at Frog Hollow to be met with a total white-out. After having brekkie, cleaning up the boat and doing the dishes the mist still hadn't risen, but we decided that our radar, the still conditions, plus the fact that we hadn't seen another boat in over a week, meant we could saftely move back out towards Pt Davey. It was completely surreal travelling through the mist- a lot like sailing at night, except everything was bright and beautiful. There was no wind, but we knew there was a bright blue sky above because the air around us glowed! We slowly glided out of the clouds into the bright blue morning. So memorable.

 

 

We didn't have much luck with the cray fishing (or any fishing actually). We caught three, two of which were under size, which is evident from the look on Michael's face ...

 

A sea eagle. We started to think the isolation was getting to us when we started to name local wildlife after 1980's action movie stars. This guy was called Steven Sea-egal, there was also Dolpin Lungdren ... ah-hem.

Police launch in Schooner cove - our only neighbours for the whole trip. They kindly gave us the weather report. VHF Radio is definitely not adequate for Pt Davey.

On our last day we hiked over to beautiful Stephens Beach from Spain Bay to check out the ocean conditions and stretch our legs. This is pretty typical of the path - we love our waterproof Keens!

The slipperiest, moss-covered bridge-of-death.


Windswept, ocean-pounded Stephen's Beach

 

Wombat footprints! So cute!

Bass Voyager in Spain Bay, Pt Davey

The next day we called Coast Radio Hobart on our satellite phone to get the weather for the next few days, which looked very promising for a departure after three weeks in the wilderness. Our mates Jim and John, who we met at Partridge Island, had suggested that if weather allowed we should break the trip by stopping at New Harbour on the South Coast, and as we had three days of Northerlies forecast we decided to go for it. It was a bit "sloppy" with 2-3 metre swell, but the winds were under 20 knots so it wasn't too bad. We fully expected a rolly night in New Harbour, but were amazed by the tranquil waters, tucked behind a little headland at the far North East corner of the bay. It was a real thrill to be somewhere that not many people visit except fishermen. Would not want to stop here in Southerly weather though.

Beautiful New Harbour

How funny ...  the first day of our trip to Pt Davey we ran aground. The last day of the trip ... yup, we ran aground! Like neat little bookends ...
We had a negative low tide (!) and bumped the sandy bottom on the way out of our anchorage at New Harbour - no worries- our powerful 70 horsepower engine got us out of the shallow water. Oh well, we've decided that running aground is actually good luck for us as, just as on day one, we had a dream run back to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel with 2-3m swell from behind and 15-25 knots from the N-NW. We dropped anchor at Partridge Island just as the last light faded.

So here we are, two days later, back in Hobart on a mooring in New Town Bay - courtesy of Jim and John on Sea Slug and Sea Lion who live here and have offered to put us up for the next few days. We've caught up on our laundry, done our reprovisioning, and are looking at heading North as soon as the weather allows!

View from our mooring at New Town Bay

Sea Slug and Sea Lion near the shore.