Logbooks:
| East Coast Cruising (2) | |
| England 2016 | |
| East Coast Cruising | |
| Darwin to Sydney | |
| Cape Leveque to Darwin | |
| North West Cape to Cape Leveque | |
| Hillarys to North West Cape | |
| On Board Singita, Perth to Port Lincoln |
East Coast Cruising
Oyster Cove
| Date: | April 22, 2016, midnight |
| Position: | 32 44.07 S, 151 57.12 E |
After a lovely five days, (probably too lovely & too relaxed as we didn't get much 'pack-up' work done), we have travelled the last 6NM down to Oyster Cove Marine ready for lifting & storing for 5 months. It is very shallow down this SW end, we saw 2.2m on the way down & it was high tide!
Once lifted it will be all systems go, all that work we haven't done yet!
Soldiers Point
| Date: | April 17, 2016, 1 a.m. |
| Position: | 32 42.06 S, 152 3.56 E |
Our friends from Perth, Scott & Sonja, arrived yesterday & are on board 'Singita' in Soldiers Point Marina so we have travelled across to spend our last few days with them. We are comfortably anchored in a great spot just between the marina & oyster beds.
Fame Cove
| Date: | April 15, 2016, 6 a.m. |
| Position: | 32 41.08 S, 152 3.88 E |
This is one of our favourite anchorages in Port Stephens & even on a weekend & in school holidays it is still beautifully quiet. All you can hear is the wildlife whilst being 'wrapped' in natural bush. Feels like you are in the middle of nowhere which is far from the reality.
Salamander Bay
| Date: | April 13, 2016, 4 a.m. |
| Position: | 32 43.48 S, 152 6.09 E |
We have moved just around the corner to Salamander Bay to get a little more protection from the easterly which is due today & tomorrow. Whilst here we'll provision just enough to last until next Tuesday which is our last day on board for a while as we are off to the UK.
Corlette Bay
| Date: | April 12, 2016, 5:15 a.m. |
| Position: | 32 43.00 S, 152 6.59 E |
Funny story! It is the Port Stephens Annual Regatta this week & on the way to our anchorage we past the start of a race. The fleet of good looking racing yachts & one catamaran were going in the opposite way to us but we passed clear but reasonably close in the channel. We still had our reef in our mainsail but in the now flat water we were 'hooting' along at just over 10 knots, faster than any of the fleet were travelling! Needless to say my Captain was very keen to swing her around & join in!
Lead Line to Port Stephens
| Date: | April 12, 2016, 4:15 a.m. |
| Position: | 32 43.41 S, 152 14.55 E |
After a very good & quick trip up the coast we are turning to head into Port Stephens a couple of hours earlier than expected.
Just as predicted we had gentle SE breeze, perfect angle for this strip of coast. We were cruising along very nicely in 8 to 12 knots of wind doing 9 knots. Given that we won't be coastal cruising until we come back from the UK it was a very nice to finish off this trip.
Ocean Swell
| Date: | April 11, 2016, 11:30 p.m. |
| Position: | 33 4.90 S, 151 40.30 E |
Back out on the ocean & the gently rolling swell from two directions, got to love that! Good job it's a calm day!
Easy trip out through the channel & bridge. Although I must say this entrance should never be taken lightly! We had very good conditions this morning, the weather is good, the swell offshore is low & it is low tide but still the flow is strong & there are whirlpools that push & pull the boat strongly. We were 10mins early for the bridge & Roger spent the whole time mannovering the boat to keep her safely in the channel. It was like a mini 'Whirlpool Alley' in the Kimberley.
Leaving Lake Macquarie
| Date: | April 11, 2016, 9:45 p.m. |
| Position: | 33 5.11 S, 151 38.31 E |
After a couple of weeks of meandering around the calm waters of beautiful, (& quiet), Lake Macquarie we are up (nearly) before the birds this morning to head back down the shallow channel & out through the Swansea Bridge, hang a left & head towards Port Stephens. We have booked a 7am opening so had better be on time!
Green Point
| Date: | April 9, 2016, 8 a.m. |
| Position: | 33 1.41 S, 151 37.88 E |
Left Belmont this morning & travelled the very short distance to Green Point. What a lovely spot! As it's name suggests it is green, seriously green, looks great from the water! Beautiful expansive grass edges with bushland behind.
We did a lovely walk along the water's edge to Valentine, a beautiful spot with a perfectly positioned coffee shop half way!
Belmont Bay
| Date: | April 8, 2016, 2 a.m. |
| Position: | 33 2.14 S, 151 39.30 E |
Belmont is seen as the more up market part of the Lake with the township being the more popular & the largest with Toronto being the poorer 'cousin'. Well interestingly we didn't feel that at all. Yes, many of the house along the shore are bigger & newer but the township itself we found to be very basic indeed. Toronto has a much nicer feel about it. Only one night required here.
Styles Point
| Date: | April 2, 2016, 6 a.m. |
| Position: | 33 2.03 S, 151 35.46 E |
We explored a little by paddle board here. A very pleasant & protected anchorage.
Myuna Bay
| Date: | April 1, 2016, 3 a.m. |
| Position: | 33 4.08 S, 151 33.97 E |
Just an overnighter in this pleasant 'corner', protected perfectly from the NE winds.
Cams Wharf
| Date: | March 31, 2016, 7 a.m. |
| Position: | 33 7.59 S, 151 36.72 E |
Have travelled further south to the quieter but working end of the Lake. There has always been a lot of coal mining down in this region & Lake Macquarie was home to a number of power stations, which can be a blight on the landscape. However, with a number closed down the few remaining, which were built more traditionally, are not at all. In fact, bizarrely, they look quite elegant.
Marmong Point
| Date: | March 30, 2016, 7 a.m. |
| Position: | 32 58.44 S, 151 37.05 E |
Travelled up to the northern end of the Lake for an overnight stop. Had a nice walk along the foreshore & visited a Awarba House & it's gallery. It was exhibiting local student's HSC work which was a very interesting & very insightful, a 'snapshot' of the world with topics such as global warming, super powers & war, violence, drugs & many family issues. It did strike me as quite sad but at the same time to produce that level of work at such a young age showed an incredible awareness.
Toronto
| Date: | March 30, 2016, 2 a.m. |
| Position: | 33 0.84 S, 151 35.95 E |
What a great facility! Toronto has a floating jetty purpose built for visiting yachts to moor up to for a couple of hours to run any errands required in the town. With all required amenities very close we will take advantage of during our stay.
Bolton Point
| Date: | March 27, 2016, 7:30 a.m. |
| Position: | 32 59.96 S, 151 36.40 E |
First stop Bolton Point. We have a friend, Wayne, who is renovating an old house here & he is up here at the moment from Sydney so we'll stop by & interrupt his good work!
Lake Macquarie
| Date: | March 27, 2016, 6 a.m. |
| Position: | 33 5.15 S, 151 38.39 E |
Arrived at the entrance to Lake Macquarie, Swansea Bridge, after a relaxed motor / sail of 7 hours.
Lake Macquarie, which is very big deep Lake with a very narrow & shallow entrance, has lovely memories for both of us so it's great to come back. Roger spent many happy hours as a child on holidays with his family at Eleebana in a cottage right on the Lake & it is where he taught himself to sail. Leap forward a number of years & together we hired our first catamaran, cruised extensively & got hooked on 'Cats'.
Moon Island
| Date: | March 27, 2016, 5:30 a.m. |
| Position: | 33 5.13 S, 151 40.55 E |
Rounding Moon Island & heading for the Swansea Bridge.
Moon Island is nicely positioned as it helps protect the Swansea Bar from the SE swell, that said, it's a bar & must always be crossed with caution. In today's good conditions the crossing was easy.
Broken Bay
| Date: | March 26, 2016, 11 p.m. |
| Position: | 33 34.15 S, 151 22.10 E |
Broken Bay just 15NM north of Sydney Harbour is a fantastic & very extensive waterway. They are four 'arms', Pittwater, Cowan Creek, Hawksbury River & Brisbane Waters. We have only been here for 3 days so have seen & done very little. We did have a lovely few days in America Bay & Refuge Cove (Cowan Creek) & in Hardys Bay (Brisbane Waters). The last bay enabled us to catch up with friends Mac & Sylvia for lunch which was very enjoyable. Broken Bay is on our must do thoroughly list when we return from the UK.
Up early ish this morning to catch the tide down the very shallow & winding channel back out to the heads & ocean to head to one of our old favourites, Lake Macquarie.
EnRoute to Port Stephens
| Date: | March 23, 2016, 2:30 a.m. |
| Position: | 33 49.64 S, 151 18.39 E |
After a busy & enjoyable 3 months Clawdette has finally left Sydney Harbour! After close to 3 months we are on the move, heading North, first stop Broken Bay for a few days.
March Already?!!
| Date: | March 6, 2016, 10 a.m. |
| Position: | 33 52.34 S, 151 11.18 E |
Amazing, where does the 'time' go?!
Our plan 'ish', which has long since gone by the wayside, was to spend January in Sydney Harbour, February in Pittwater, March in Lake Macquarie & April in Port Stephens where we plan to leave the boat whilst we travel to the UK at the end of April. However, we are still stuck in Sydney Harbour! Not a bad place to be stuck I must admit!
So what have we been up too? Harbour 'hopping' to various bays including Athol, Manly, Quarantine, Bantry, Sugarloaf, Spit Bridge, Lane Cove to name a few. In between socialising, (yes, too much food & wine!) we've increased our walking after 7 months of not really being able to do enough. We managed to get ourselves on TV very early on by following in 'Guayas' an Ecuadorian naval training tall ship from Sydney Heads to the Harbour Bridge, we didn't see the news but we were reliably informed that 'Clawdette' made an appearance. Also managed to get out on the harbour for the Australia Day celebrations which were great. We had a prime spot for the FA18 fly by, they literally flew up the harbour towards the bridge & in line with our mast & once over head went vertical with after burners on, awesome sight!
With changing states we've also had administrative 'bits' to organise & we've caught up on medical bits & pieces, eye tests, blood tests & skin checks etc. Luckily mostly all good, only Roger requires a follow-up for some scapple work, hence why we have needed to hang around longer.
21st of March is the day we are looking to start heading North, weather dependant of course. So I will update again when we are on the move.
