Day 7 and 8 - The Slow Road to Eden

Well here we are safely in Eden. After the blow on Sunday we woke to a beautiful calm Monday morning in Huskisson. We easily picked up Ash from the beach and then had a champagne sail for most of the afternoon, out of Jervis Bay and then 180 degrees south. Sadly the wind died in the evening and so the engine went on and even more sadly stayed on all night. Despite that it was a lovely trip down and Ash even got a view of dolphins swimming through bio-luminescence when on his watch.

We arrived in Eden at about 11am this morning and tied up with the fishing boats to get a bit more diesel and a few more provisions. We then headed across the bay and are now safely anchored in East Boyd Bay, next to a big Japanese owned wood chip facility and some beautiful beaches. We have scoured the weather reports and spoken to the locals and everyone seems to agree that the next few days should be "ideal" for a Bass Strait crossing. So after a good sleep tonight we will be off tomorrow for the big leg of the trip. We are aiming to be in Wineglass Bay on the Freycinet Peninsular by Friday afternoon.

Peaceful Anchorage - Huskisson

New Crew!

In amongst the fishing boats

At anchor East Boyd Bay, Eden

That's a lot of woodchip and even more trees!

Day 6 - Huskisson and another Blow

Things almost went to plan today! We motored across to Huskisson and picked up a mooring, then went ashore in the dinghy with our foldable trolley. Debi picked up a few provisions whist I went and got 40 litres of diesel to top up the tanks. In the meantime the weather had got up a bit and so we had a few dramas trying to get back to the boat. The main issue was trying to launch off the beach with a dinghy full of stuff. Debi managed to fall over the side and then a wave broke over the dinghy and filled it and our shopping with water! At that point a kind local swimmer came and gave us a hand and we successfully got away. A few more lessons learnt. The weather continued to build to 25 knots of wind and so we decided to book Ash into a hotel for the night whilst Debi and I sit out here on a mooring riding out the storm. It's subsiding now and so we should be ok to pick him and his hangover  up in the morning! Hey ho all good fun!

Moored at Callala Beach, Jervis Bay 

Day 5 - A Busy Few Days?

Well this is relaxing at it's best. On Thursday we sat in Darling Roads on the mooring just chilling out and waiting for another big southerly which came through yesterday evening. We managed to squeeze in some swimming and snorkelling and a nice walk along the beach. Today we have come to the northern part of Jervis Bay and have now picked up a mooring at Callala Bay. The plan is to pick up Ash tomorrow at Huskisson and also do a bit of shopping. We'll then review the weather for setting off to Eden.

Waiting for a Southerly Change!

Callala Bay

Day 2 - A Day of Contrasts

Well this was the first big day. with the aim of getting to Jervis Bay.  We set off from Spring Cove, Sydney harbour at 0615 hrs, a bit later than planned in light rain and no wind. So we motored south for a few hours until we started to see some wind and then motor sailed. By 1100 hrs the engine was off and we had idyllic downwind sailing doing 7-8 knots and sometime 9 knots. We even had a brief view of a dolphin following us as we passed by Bondi beach.

By 1700 hrs we had sight of Point Perpendicular, the entrance to Jervis Bay, and we were pretty much going to schedule. As we entered the bay we decided to motor sail in but then the dreaded southerly change occurred. Quite staggering how quickly we went from idyllic conditions as shown in the photos below to in excess of 30 knots on the nose. The main came down very quickly and the poor engine struggled to make headway. At one point we were down to 1 knot and it was gusting to 37 knots! After two hours of battling we came into our planned sheltered anchorage at Darling Roads, to find four other yachts and a very unexpected free mooring.  Despite the conditions, Debi did a text book job of steering us to the mooring and suddenly things seemed a lot calmer. I doubt this will be the last time we get caught by a southerly change on this trip, but next time we should be a bit more on our toes! 

Rounding Pt. Perpendicular, Jervis Bay

Pt. Perpendicular, Jervis Bay

The most welcomed mooring in the world!

Day 1 - We're off!

Well we got away at around 8am this morning and headed south. Our original plan was to get to Port Hacking today, but the forecast suggests strong NE winds tonight and our planned anchorage was quite exposed to this wind direction. So we have stopped short and are now tucked up in Spring Cove, Sydney Harbour for the night with four other boats. It's raining! Hopefully the weather will calm down so that we can depart tomorrow. 

Departing our home port, Broken Bay

A cosy anchorage at Spring Cove, Sydney Harbour

Day Zero

Here we are all provisioned up, everything onboard and ready to go. The plan is to remain tied up here tonight at the Quays Marina to charge up the batteries and cool the beers in the fridge and then tomorrow we'll be off!

We have Water!

We finally got around to firing up the water maker for the first time yesterday. It only took 10 minutes to make  20 litres of the finest Eau d'X-Pat! A great feeling of independence.

The Rainman in action

A Fine drop!