| Date: | Feb. 15, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 42 52.96 S, 147 19.97 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Constitution dock.
| Date: | Feb. 13, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 43 8.24 S, 147 51.63 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Stewart's Bay
| Date: | Feb. 11, 2014, 8:56 p.m. |
| Position: | 42 33.87 S, 147 53.56 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Anchored for the night.
| Date: | Feb. 11, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 42 30.62 S, 147 54.93 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Picked up Sid and also tied up to the wharf as a very strong blow of NWly winds came through.
| Date: | Feb. 9, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 42 40.02 S, 148 3.13 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Anchored.
| Date: | Feb. 8, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 42 15.55 S, 148 17.02 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Joined Ian and Desley in the morning and anchored for the day.
| Date: | Feb. 7, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 42 10.46 S, 148 18.76 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
We covered nearly 100nm during daylight hours. We were flying downwind averaging about 9-10kts most of the way goosewinged. Dropped anchor just at sunset. Not a great anchorage in these northerly conditions but we are tucked up in a corner of the bay. There was not room for Que Barbara who arrived about 30 minutes after us so they continued around to Bryan's Beach
| Date: | Feb. 6, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 40 45.44 S, 147 57.12 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Anchored for the night here. Had a wonderful sail from the Tamar River except for the last 13nm from Waterhouse Point when the wind started blowing on the nose and against the tide. Aweful conditions. We managed to make it relatively comfortable by motor-sailing with stay-sail and mizzen and tacking into Ringarooma Bay past Tomahawk Island before tacking again to lay the anchorage at Foster Inlet.
| Date: | Feb. 5, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 41 8.22 S, 146 48.58 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Back again.
| Date: | Jan. 28, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 41 26.02 S, 147 7.90 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Nice cheap berthing. Excellent chandlery (Tamar Marine) only a short dinghy ride away.
| Date: | Jan. 27, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 41 8.22 S, 146 48.58 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Anchored at Beauty Point, Tamar River.
| Date: | Jan. 26, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 40 25.13 S, 148 1.02 E |
Beautiful bay. Perfect day of motoring down the Franklin Sound between Flinders and Cape Barren Islands.
| Date: | Jan. 23, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 40 12.85 S, 148 14.79 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Picked up a mooring in front of Lady Barron township. Entrance through Pot Boil point was very challenging in low-visibility with rain and fog.
| Date: | Jan. 7, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 37 6.52 S, 149 55.61 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Moved around to East Boyd Bay which is a much nicer anchorage.
There is a lovely little river flowing out at the beach here and you can pick oysters off the rocks either at the river or off the supports for the large wharf.
We did a day-visit over to Eden on the other side to do some shopping and see the whaling-museum (which is not bad). The dinghy ride is pretty long (3nm) across the bay and should only be attempted in suitably calm conditions.
Even in calm conditions a prodigious swell was wrapping around the southern headland and coming into the bay on the day that we did it. In the troughs of the swell you could barely see land, but you could ride a wave almost all the way across to the other side.
| Date: | Jan. 6, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 37 5.96 S, 149 53.23 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Arrived in Eden in the dark and fog. Had to take an open-anchorage away from possible obstructions. The coordinates given here are for the south-west corner of the large bay where anchorage is possible at night, the only obstructions when coming in are the large number of oyster-farms in the bay. We didn't quite realise their full extent until we woke up in the morning and realized that we were very (very) lucky we didn't get caught up in several of them. We were coming in with a floodlight but could barely see anything due to the thick fog, on a clear night it would be possible to come in easily as you could see them with a light on the bow. The more modern charts would probably mark the location of them more accurately too.
| Date: | Jan. 5, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 35 42.27 S, 150 10.84 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Bateman's Bay is good for provisioning as there is a Woolworths (called Countdown in NZ) right on the waters edge where you can bring your dinghy close by.
The area near the town/Woolworths in Batemans Bay is full of moorings and the other anchorage is quite far away on the northern shore of the bay. We managed however to find a "hole" in the mooring field which we later found out was where a mooring has been lost/damaged/sunk. This makes a very nice anchoring area near the town if you can find it in the vicinity of (35 42.331 S, 150 10.891 E) - we stayed there for several days.
I think the oysters in Batemans Bay were probably the best on the east coast - very small and a bit expensive but also very sweet and tasty.
| Date: | Jan. 4, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 35 21.34 S, 150 28.63 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Picked up a mooring in Ulladulla. We stopped for a night at Uladulla because it seemed like a convenient stopping point. I would not do this again. It is a tiny harbor with no room to swing on anchor for all the moorings. We ended up just picking up someones mooring which was ok but we were still swinging uncomfortably close to a nearby boat. We contacted the harbourmaster on Ch 16 and he was a nice and helpful guy who was happy to turn a blind eye to the fact that we were just picking up anyone's mooring.
| Date: | Jan. 3, 2014, 9:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 34 54.25 S, 150 44.22 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Anchored in Shoalhaven river for the night. It is a convenient stop-over on the way south as you can easily enter the river and then drop anchor just near where the river forks. The Shoalhaven/Crookhaven rivers were a very nice stopping point and we could have spent longer there.
| Date: | Jan. 3, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 34 4.77 S, 151 9.85 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Anchored off Jibbon Beach in Cronulla.
We found Cronulla to be a pleasant surprise and could have easily spent longer there - a whole summer even?. The nice thing about it is that all your shops are pretty close to the main bay/marina and its a short walk across to a nice long beach where you have a choice of: rockpools, calm swimming beach areas; surfing areas; and kitesurfing areas. The marina was also quite cheap (can't remember the price but we didn't flinch at it). There is also a train to Sydney Central which is awesome/faster than trying to get down from Broken Bay where there is no train, and I feel better leaving our boat/dinghy in Cronulla than in a central park in Sydney!
The thing that seems to turn most people off going there is the overhead powerline near the entrance, and the shoaly water... but it is well worth making it up the river as we found it to be one of the most beautiful and secluded inlets on the east coast.
With regards to the powerline: The charts have it marked as 8m overhead; Allan Lucas notes that 8m is its height at the lowest hanging point (in the centre) but if you stick closer to the northern bank where the channel is then it is more like 14m; we have 17.1m on our main mast and we cleared it without a problem at low-tide. Stick as close as you dare to the northern bank and you should be fine, you will see the tower is on top of a cliff on the northern bank so the cables are very high there.
Ask the locals about the condition of the sand banks around. They dredged all the channels just last year so it was nice and deep when we were there. This might last for a few more years. But I have heard from others that before they dredged it was very shoal and pretty much untenable.
There is an obvious shoal patch about 1.5nm off the beach in the center of the bay when you approach Cronulla at (34 03.5424 S, 151 11.2324 E). This would probably break in very large swell but it was not when we were there. We were able to sail straight over it at all tides and picked up an Australian Salmon (Kawai) every time we went past it. Its a good way to stock up on fish before you head in.
The anchorage at the south of the bay is very nice (Jibbon Beach). But there are some weedy patches and we dragged at 3am in the morning and nearly hit the cardinal marker at the north of the beach. When we re-anchored we favored the western end of the beach, nearly in front of where the first house is, and we were fine there. Coordinates where we re-anchored were around (34 04.8421 S, 151 09.7658 E).
Gunamatta Bay (the first bay before the overhead powerlines) is really full of moorings. You might meet someone who has a mooring you could borrow but otherwise the marina is cheap and good.
We met some locals and were invited up to their house for dinner so we took Tuuletar under the powerlines and up the inlet. Beautiful area and hard to believe you are still only a train-ride from Sydney. We went as far up the end as you can before getting in the dingy to go the last 1 mile or so. We anchored in about 10m at (34 03.7841 S, 151 05.5701 E).
Allan Lucas raves about South West Arm which is apparently more beautiful and secluded - but we didn't have time to go there - but if its more beautiful and secluded than our anchorage then it must be spectacular.
| Date: | Jan. 1, 2014, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 33 50.39 S, 151 11.45 E |
Moved around to Balls Head Bay for anchoring and going into the city.
We spent the next few nights at Balls Head Bay anchored in 10m at (33 50.3686 S, 151 11.4397 E). We spent a couple of days ashore with our unlocked dinghy just pulled up into the park and we walked up to Wollstonecraft train station for the 5min train ride to the city (across the bridge). The dinghy was still there when we got back but it did feel counter-intuitive leaving it just in a park like that. (Definitely better to lock it with a full bike-lock and cable-painter which we now have).
| Date: | Dec. 31, 2013, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 33 50.92 S, 151 13.85 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Arrived in Sydney Harbour with 6 hours to spare for NYE. We had heard horror stories about how you need to get there three days before to find a good anchorage. While I'm sure that helps, we turned up at 4pm on the 31st Dec and anchored around sunset and still got a very good spot. If you got there a few days before and could tolerate the rocking/rolling and noise from the passing boat/ferry wake then dropping anchor in Farm Cove about 400 meters ESE of the Opera House would give you the ultimate prime location. Surprisingly, you can drop and anchor anywhere in Sydney Harbour - even right in front of the Opera House - just have to be able to tolerate the noise, wake and being in literally millions of tourists' photos. For NYE they mark the channels they need to keep free for the tall ship pageant.
The thing that makes it awesome is that inevitably you will have friends that you meet or know from Sydney who will climb over each other to get on your boat for NYE. NYE in Sydney is all about getting on a boat. Like us, you may have to pick up some who live north and south of the harbor bridge. Crossing the harbor bridge on a vehicle on NYE is pandemonium and moving about on the water is infinitely faster and easier. So to make it easy for them we had one pickup spot on the south side and one on the north.
The south-shore pickup point was the public wharf in Rose Bay at (33 52.3131 S, 151 15.7038 E).
The north-shore pickup was quite close to our anchorage at Mosman Bay ferry wharf at (33 50.3087 S, 151 13.9345 E).
Its alright to pick-up and drop-off at at a secluded ferry wharf like Mosman Bay so long as you hold off and then literally swing-by and they jump on without barely stopping. You won't make any friends if you tie up to a public wharf or ferry wharf and then sit there for 20 minutes while you get your act together.
The spot that we found was a deep hole in about 25-30m which was about 100m SE of Cremorne Ferry Wharf at (33 50.9242 S, 151 13.8550 E). This gave a very good view of the city, Opera House, and the bridge. We just couldn't see perhaps the bottom-north 1/4 of the bridge. But that was not an issue because the fireworks go off mostly around the city, Opera House and centre-of-the-bridge - nothing can quite prepare you for how the city will explode around you in that spot. I'm not normally into fireworks but it is very spectacular.
I think there were no boats there when we arrived because it was too deep and also quite close to where the ferries come in - you must leave an East-West corridor for the ferry to come in/out.
Cruisers with some bluewater experience and the right gear should be able to manage anchoring in those depths without a problem, particularly in light winds. It also has the added bonus of providing all-night entertainment as the weekend sailers with 20m of anchor rode drift around you all night with their rode hanging straight down.
After the fireworks and partying pretty hard we all just crashed the night and stayed on anchor there in that spot. You can stay there as long as you like due to the few anchoring restrictions in Sydney Harbor. The wake from the ferry and other boats woke us up at about 9am we moved on then to our various drop-off points.
| Date: | Dec. 27, 2013, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 32 42.87 S, 152 10.63 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Had a good sail down from Coffs Harbour. Much less adventurous than the sail TO Coffs.
| Date: | Dec. 24, 2013, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 30 18.49 S, 153 8.91 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Another mistake that I'll be not making again. We left Ballina after our brief (5 minute) stop there and the weather forecast was saying strong wind warnings for Northerly winds ahead of a southerly change. I thought that 30 or so knots would not be too much of an issue, however the forecast severely under-estimated the wind. We came down with 45-50 kts and a terrible sea-state. We broached once in the middle of the night and took enough water down the sides to bend the stanchions out. I'm now getting them welded here in Coffs.
| Date: | Dec. 23, 2013, 7:50 a.m. |
| Position: | 28 52.34 S, 153 34.98 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Got a rope around the prop while trying to reef the sails in quite strong wind. Had to sail in to Ballina to drop anchor and un-wrap the rope. Sailing across the bar in the middle of a strong wind warning was an experience not to be forgotten.
| Date: | Dec. 22, 2013, 9:30 p.m. |
| Position: | 27 56.84 S, 153 25.40 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Came down from Tangalooma as a day-sail through Broadwater Sound.
EDIT: From Bundaberg to the Gold Coast is probably my favorite section of coastal sailing on the east-coast. You can actually go almost all the way from Bundaberg to the Gold Coast through inland and protected passages. It goes like this:
- From Bundaberg you sail down through Hervey Bay to Moon Point and then through the Great Sandy Straits to Tin Can Inlet at the bottom of Fraser Island.
- Wait for favorable conditions to cross the "Wide Bay Bar" - it looks pretty extreme but lots of boats do it every day. Its pretty exhilarating.
- Once you are over the bar the short day-sail down to Mooloolaba is fantastic.
- Another short day-sail to the West Coast of Morton Island, then you are inside of Morton Bay and protected again.
- From Moreton Bay you can make it right the way down to the Gold Coast through the maze of inland waterways called the Broadwater Sound. Its shallow and it pays to time it with the right tides, but it is a very pleasant experience.
| Date: | Dec. 21, 2013, 9 p.m. |
| Position: | 27 13.44 S, 153 21.81 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Met up with Ian and Desley (Cat's parents) for the night.
| Date: | Dec. 20, 2013, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 26 41.16 S, 153 7.91 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Picked up Mum and Dad in Mooloolaba after a day-sail down from Pelican Bay near Tin Can Bay.
Mooloolaba is a beautiful town which is well worth some time. Go there on the weekend and you'll think you've walked onto a movie set portraying a cliche Australian beach-town.
| Date: | Dec. 19, 2013, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 25 48.83 S, 153 2.55 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Leaving Tin Can Bay after spending 10 days here getting a new transmission oil cooler.
| Date: | Dec. 11, 2013, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 25 54.78 S, 153 1.22 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
Dropping the anchor in 3+kts of current with 20 kts of wind against tide was very interetsing to say the least.
| Date: | Dec. 10, 2013, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 25 31.12 S, 152 56.93 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
We decided to persist on to Tin Can Bay to get the transmission repaired. We have perfect northerly winds and are having perfect sailing.
| Date: | Dec. 9, 2013, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 25 12.91 S, 152 59.56 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
The transmission stopped turning the prop as we were motoring up to anchor. After we anchored we found that there was water all through the transmission. Obviously the transmission oil cooler has failed.
We dropped the anchor under sail right on the sandbar off Moon Point. Very very shallow at low-tide... kind of a lucky drop.
| Date: | Dec. 6, 2013, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 24 45.75 S, 152 23.16 E |
| Track to here: | Download |
I made a critical mistake that I won't be making again. We were going fast throughout the night and looking to arrive at Bundaberg in the night. We decided to slow the boat down so that we would arrive in the daylight hours. However as the front passed over us earlier than expected we got caught 15nm downwind of Bundaberg with very strong southerlies. We motored into the southerlies but did a fair bit of damage as the boat was taking a hammering with short choppy seas on the nose.
| Date: | Dec. 3, 2013, 1:24 p.m. |
| Position: | 20 20.89 S, 148 56.97 E |
After 6 months of fly-in-fly-out boating from Perth to the Whitsundays we are taking off on our big adventure. We've got the rather ambitious plan to try to get to Hobart and then cross the Tasman at the higher latitudes (46-47 degrees south) to the bottom of New Zealand.
EDIT: After having spent several months getting to know the boat in and around the Whitsunday Islands, and with the hindsight of our (so far) 2 years of bluewater sailing experience, we can recommend to other cruisers that you don't need a long time to see the Whitsundays. When Tuuletar was berthed at Hamilton Island, we used to take guests on a 5-day "best of" tour (but double this time in good weather would be more relaxing) which was basically:
Day 1: Short sail from Hamilton Island to Cid Harbour - then hike to the top of Whitsunday Peak from Cid Harbour
Day 2: Cid Harbour short sail around to Whitehaven Beach for the night.
Day 3: Sail north along Whitehaven Beach, stop briefly at Hill Inlet to get a photo of the spectacular inlet then through the passage between Whitsunday and Hook Island to stay the night at Nara Inlet (probably my favorite anchorage in the Whitsundays).
Day 4/5: Sail up to the northern tip of Hook Island and moor at Stonehaven Bay, then take day-trips around to Manta Ray Bay for incredible snorkelling/swimming.