For those who receive our blog by email it seems the last one about our arrival in Albany was cut short. There is a little video showing us scooting through the channel coming into Albany, and that's where the email version of the blog stopped.
If you would like to see the video and the rest of the blog, click on this link to go to the full blog site:
Monday, March 18, 2019
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Albany Arrival
Four months after leaving Brisbane and the Gold Coast, on 20th
February 2019 we made a joyous arrival in our home port of Albany. We have had the most
amazing experience sailing over 3,200 nautical miles down the east and across
the south coasts of Australia.
Although we have been ‘home’ for a few weeks ago now, and somewhat
immersed in the busyness of land life it’s time to share the story and some of
the thrills of the last leg from Esperance….
Checking our navigation from Esperance - Albany is that way! |
Our new crew Lloyd and young Christopher were on standby to
get across from Albany and join us for the few days cruising home. They came on a Saturday and we again
enjoyed watching the afternoon’s yacht racing from our premiere position anchored
next to the start line, followed by a terrific dinner at the vibrant yacht
club.
We were very taken with the whole Esperance sailing scene
and the fantastic cruising in the Recherche Archipelago. It’s definitely on the list to go back and spend
more time there with the added attraction/incentive of the amazing places to
see on the way.
Stunning Esperance. Go there for a holiday! |
Young Christopher took to the helm of the big boat like an old professional |
Lloyd and Christopher exploring Doubtful Islands near Bremer Bay. |
We then sailed slowly towards one of the tour boats and by
midday found ourselves right in the midst of a pod of about 6 orcas, lifting
heads, flapping tails and fins and generally putting on a bit of a show. Unlike other whales we have seen that are
resting for long periods on the surface, the orcas are hunting at great depths
and come up for air and a short rest.
The canyons are on the edge of the Continental Shelf where the depth
drops rapidly from about 100 metres to several kilometres, creating an intense
marine biodiversity hotspot for orcas and other giants of the sea.
We were too excited and didn't have the camera gear to take any decent pictures...
But there are plenty of fantastic photos on the web so we'll borrow one for you:
And if you'd like to know more about the Bremer Canyon Hotspot, here are
some links to videos:
Orcas! Christopher's best shot |
This is what it felt like we were seeing! Photo courtesy of http://sightseeingpassaustralia.com/index.php/wa-bucket-list-25-things-see-western-australia/ |
Thrilled with our up-close experience and with a nice
south-easterly breeze filling in, we popped the spinnaker and enjoyed a fast
run all the way for the 60 odd nautical miles to Two People’s Bay. The moon was rising beautifully as we sailed
into our familiar bay at about 9pm and dropped anchor for the last time on this
big voyage.
Sunset spinnaker run to Two People's Bay |
Welcome aboard Marie! |
The conditions were perfect to make a quick sail for the last 25 miles from Two People’s Bay, running across King George Sound in a fresh 20-25 knot easterly and taking a leg out past Breaksea Island.
Final dash across the Sound. |
Scooting into the Attaturk Channel in the fresh sea-breeze. |
So what’s next? Well
we took a few days to move off the boat and enjoyed being ‘visiting yachties’
at the marina right in the middle of our home town. After a few days at the marina, we moved the
boat across the harbour to our new pen at Princess Royal Sailing Club and
somewhat reluctantly moved back into the house.
Our very grateful thanks to Johnno Clarke for setting up mooring lines
ready for us., and to Colin Westerberg and Kelly Walsh who put in the new pylon
for our pen. Upstart is snug and secure in her new home and we have again become
familiar with living on-shore.
Snug in our new pen at Princess Royal Sailing Club |
This year will see us here in Albany, enjoying local
cruising for the remainder of the summer/autumn seasons and then pulling the
boat out of the water in winter for maintenance. Next year.... watch this space!
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Reaching to the Recherche
As promised this comes to you from the lovely town of
Esperance, W.A after our Great Australian Bight crossing. We are relaxing in a café, waiting for our mammoth
load of washing to go through and generally enjoying the joys of town life.
Lovely summer light playing on the hull. |
After waiting out the extreme heat wave in Streaky Bay (47 degrees!), our new crew
Peter and Diana moved on board and we filled the boat with food, water and fuel
and set sail. We wanted to give Peter and Diana a chance to sail the boat in
the protected waters of Streaky Bay before heading out into the rigors of the Southern
Ocean so we had a day sail and put a few sails up and down before anchoring at Eba Island, a few miles out in the bay.
Next day we set off for the beautiful St Francis Island which
is about 50 miles west of Streaky Bay. The west coast of the Eyre Peninsular is
peppered with islands and we were still regretting that we had missed out on a
visit to Pearson Island so we were keen to go to St Francis. We anchored in a
lovely north facing sandy bay with half a dozen other islands in sight to the
north. Crystal clear water and those turquoise colours over white sand that
hardly seem real were our world for two nights and days.
St Francis Island anchorage |
There was evidence of human occupation including a couple of
stone building ruins which were being rapidly reclaimed by the land and sea. Who
knows what people were doing there and why they took the trouble to build such
houses. The only current residents were sooty shearwaters [Mutton Birds] whose
burrows were everywhere, tiger snakes and wallabies.
We took a walk up to the top of the hill where there is a lighthouse and a radio repeater tower. The views were worth the effort of navigating through the scrub looking for stony ground the Shearwaters had not dug up.
Radio tower and heli-pad at St Francis Is |
Stunning day to climb to the lighthouse and tower. |
When we got back to the beach in the afternoon there was a large pod of
about 30 dolphins we had seen earlier still playing in the shallows along the
shore. They were also having a Sunday at the beach it seemed, sparring and having
fun while watching us by holding their heads above water for quite some time
particularly when we were swimming. Wonderful!
Zoom in and you may see some of the 30 or so dolphins that patrolled the shore line and played for us |
Evening sky at St Francis Is |
We dragged ourselves away eventually for a lovely 6 hour sail
to Ceduna. Most people we had spoken to had been disparaging about Ceduna but
we found it to be friendly and pleasant in all respects and a good place to top
up our supplies including an interesting experience taking on water at the big
ship dock through a massive canvas fire hose. We also did a bit of business at the
local Aboriginal Art Centre and came away with some lovely sea dragons for the saloon area of our boat.
Gorgeous sea dragons by Ceduna artist Christina Tschuna |
We then set off for the local playground favourite of Davenport Creek. A totally sheltered inlet arm hidden behind the massive sand dunes. We motored in through unmarked shallows and massive rafts of ropy weed until we were forced to stop by the mass of weed on the prop. Peter was keen to jump in to clear it so we dropped anchor while he went for a swim to do the business.
Up a creek. |
End-for-ending the anchor chain at Davenport Creek |
Jobs done, now it's time to play....
Dinghy sailing fun at Davenport Creek in Wanda, our all round handy little tender. |
Diana gets Wanda scooting along. |
Trekking the dunes Lawrence of Arabia style. |
And a quick descent to the other side! |
Davenport Creek from the top - Upstart sheltering in the corner. |
Back to the boat before the mozzies arrive. |
We enjoyed another three nights there meeting up with dark
clouds of very vigorous mosquitoes in the evenings. We could see why the few
locals who turned up during the day left well before dusk!
Eventually it was time to get on with it and leave for the
Bight crossing. As often happens we started off motoring for an hour or two
waiting for the breeze to fill in but this time we were in a thick fog. By
lunchtime we had the main down and were pushing along nicely with just the jib
doing our normal 7 knots.
Chris relaxing in his home-base at the helm |
Cruising along before it got a bit rough |
Diana busy with her sewing skills. |
Although the wind was favourable as forecast and stayed constant at 20-25kts on the beam, the sea became really confused during the first evening and we suffered about 30 hours of being tossed around like some crazy cork in the most horrible sea state. Short steep waves were crashing into the side of the boat, throwing massive great buckets of water straight into the cockpit. Mostly the crew dodged these but the odd one hit the target, testing our wet weather gear and good humour.
Still smiling! |
Mr Flottmann took the opportunity to have a good long spell in bed and fast during this period and the rest of us didn’t feel like eating much either. The second dawn at sea saw a great improvement in conditions as the wind moved more behind us, the waves settled down and everyone was feeling well and hungry again. The rest of the 3 and a half day sail was easy and fast and after 540 nautical miles from Ceduna we made it in to Middle Island well before dark on the fourth day.
Diana and Peter relaxing somewhere in the Bight - happy the seas have settled |
Once again we found ourselves in a north facing, white sand
bay surrounded by islands and ragged rocks. Stunningly beautiful. We visited
the spectacular pink lake and spent hours wandering along the beach looking at
all the things animal, mineral and vegetable in abundance there. We found
highly polished areas of granite which looked wet until we touched them and
found them dry and glossy, massive areas of quartz type rock, whale bones and
minute finely detailed shells, sea eagles and those tiny birds that run along
the sand at high speed like cartoon creatures [plovers].
Some of the treasures at Middle Island....
Our next stop was a natural tiny harbour facing south called
Victor Harbour where we snuck in behind Lorraine Island with the keel up to anchor
in a space just big enough for us to swing at anchor. We had intended to stay
there for a couple of nights but the captain was up at 3am woken by a change of
conditions as the swell increased. The crew were roused and we were out of
there by 7am before the surf closed off our escape route.
The new day brought us another lovely gentle sail through
the most dramatic seascape you can imagine. The Recherche Archipelago is over
100 miles long and Matthew Flinders described it as the most rock strewn
dangerous area of sea he had ever seen. Of course we now have the benefit of satellite navigation and all the charts that have been developed from Flinders' original, amazing work. Facing this area with none of these must have been hair-raising to say the least for Flinders and his crew.
Flinders Peak at Middle Island |
After the parched and denuded landscape
of much of South Australia, it was so wonderful to see the deep green of the healthy native
bush on the islands and hilly shores of Cape Arid and Cape Le Grande national
parks.
Threading our way through the Recherche Archipelago to Esperance |
As we sailed the last few miles into Esperance we were
welcomed by a pod of dolphins who stayed with us for more than half an hour
amusing us with their antics at the bow.
As it was a Saturday the Esperance Bay Yacht Club racing
fleets were out and we enjoyed a celebration bottle of bubbles as we watched
the fleets finish their races. We were then treated to the most wonderful
welcome by the members of the EBYC as each of the bigger boats came past us at
anchor to offer us welcome before dinner at the clubhouse.
A blast from the past - Pelicans racing in Esperance Bay. |
The friendliness, kindness and hospitality of club members has
been amazing. A massive thanks to Mark
Quinlivan from Clearwater Motel who has leant us a vehicle for our time here. If you need accommodation in Esperance, please have a look at Mark’s place, its
perfect and he is such a great host.
We said a fond farewell to Diana and Peter last night who
are reluctantly returning to their everyday lives. We will now spend the next
week or so here in Esperance, enjoying it all and waiting for the next high to
settle in for our final cruise home.
Bye, bye Diana and Peter - thanks for sharing the Bight with us! |
One of Diana's beautiful nature studies in the dunes at Davenport Creek |
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Waiting to take the Bight
First of all, here are the promised photos of the wonderful sculpture of Matthew Flinders and Trim in Port Lincoln. We know you have been waiting for them!
Matthew Flinders - an extraordinarily talented man. |
Trim - an extraordinary seafaring cat |
We are writing today from the lovely but very hot and dry Streaky Bay. S.A. on a 40+
degree day -with cyclones and deep low pressure systems to the north and south
of us across the whole country, and way to the south. [Crazy weather patterns
and we are expecting 45 degrees tomorrow!]
We are waiting for the weather to settle a bit so that we can set out across the Great Australian Bight and hoping for one of those persistent high-pressure systems that park south of the Bight and provide easterly winds all along the coast.
Murphy's haystacks near Streaky Bay S.A. A bit of sightseeing in the parched country side whilst we wait... |
The day before we left the Port Lincoln area we had a lovely
little sail in the sheltered waters of the bay from our town anchorage back to
the National Park to the south and anchored in Spalding Bay for the night ready
for a pre-dawn departure towards Coffin Bay.
Anchored right in town at Port Lincoln. Which style of cruising do we prefer?! Hmmm! |
Big shopping expedition as we leave the last big town for a while. |
Fire her up! One of the quirky collections at the extensive Maritime Museum at Port Lincoln. |
As we left in the dark a nice south easterly wind was
blowing for us which enabled us to thread our way through the notorious Thorny
Passage at the south eastern end of the Eyre Peninsular, without tacking and
with a good strong tide flowing with us. This was the stretch of water where a
small boat and 8 crew were lost from Flinders ship Investigator and so all of
the islands in the passage are named for the sailors who drowned. Fortunately
it was not so rough for us to start with and we shot out of there doing 9 knots
over the ground until we hit the swell out in the ocean where the sea got very
rough and confused indeed. We had planned to sail around Williams Island which
is off Cape Catastrophe and West Cape at the southern tip of the peninsular but
given the crazy sea state we turned right and took the inside passage where
things were a lot more comfortable
.
The only place available for having a rest on this passage
was quite close to our destination and a fair way off our track. It also had
the ominous name of Avoid Bay [the names around here are dire!]. So, as we were
making really good time in a nice south easterly breeze we decided to keep
going for Point Sir Isaacs which is at the entrance to the huge Coffin Bay. We
arrived there at 5.30pm covering the 92 miles in about 12 hours. We spent a
comfortable night there all alone and feeling like we were in the middle of
nowhere.
Eagle's Nest - a prime piece of real estate in the Coffin Bay channel. |
We had made arrangements with the Coffin Bay Sailing Club to
use a mooring or their jetty for a few days and so we set off the next morning
motoring in no wind to cover the 22 miles through the shoals, sand banks and
oyster farms to the little one shop town. A really fine sunny, gentle day of
moving through the rugged parched scenery of South Australia.
Coffin Bay town and sailing club were a real treat. We
arrived on a Friday which was the day the club had a little evening market on
the grassy banks of the inlet, some music and a simple dinner for anyone. Turned
out the place was heaving with hundreds of diners and drinkers going for it all
evening. All run by volunteers from the little town of 160 people.
Moored right out the front of the Coffin Bay Yacht Club - pens a wee bit small for us. |
Middle of the action - our mooring was right on the start line for Sunday's race. |
Washing day in Coffin Bay. |
We were excited to be heading out to the uninhabited Pearson
Island on our way north. We had heard that it is very pretty and has colonies
of rare Wallabies and Seals. We had pruned our planned stay back from two
nights to one because of a forecast north east wind and then had to abandon the
whole trip because the temperature warning light was on for the motor. It
turned out to just be a faulty sender but at the time we didn’t know and
thought it best to head north to a lonely spot called Waldergrave Island which
is connected to the mainland by a reef. We had a good night there until the
wind swung north east well before predicted and we had another early morning
start as the anchorage was exposed to the new wind.
South Australian sunset colours - so vivid. |
Our next leg was interesting, we were heading for Sceale Bay
which is only about 30 miles south of Streaky Bay and the wind from over the
land got stronger and hotter as we went along, at times like standing in front
of a big hair dryer. We had some very strong gusts and were going along with
just the jib up. Then it all stopped before coming in at a similar gusty
strength from the complete opposite direction a few minutes later. This was
Anxious Bay at its best.
We turned the corner into Sceale Bay at lunchtime in our
usual fashion with a roaring gale blowing and a steep 2.5 metre swell crashing
on the rocks straggling out off the point for a mile or two. We found a good
spot in the corner of the bay with good protection and nice deep sand for our
anchor.
We also saw lots of curious clear jelly blobs on the beach which turned out to be sea-snail egg sacs.
We also saw lots of curious clear jelly blobs on the beach which turned out to be sea-snail egg sacs.
Sceales Bay - there's a sheltered anchorage in the south east corner. |
By this time our Bight crossing crew had arrived in Streaky
Bay. Diana and Peter were in the caravan park and although only 30ks by road we
had to wait for three days for conditions to be right for our sail north. In
the end Diana came with us and we had a great trip with following wind and seas. It took us six hours to cover the 37 miles to
the safe mooring in Streaky Bay, which belongs to a very friendly commercial
operator originally from Peaceful Bay just up the road from us in Albany!
Welcome aboard Diana! Straight on the helm for the day's sail to Streaky Bay |
With every bit of awning and shade cloth we could find covering the
boat today, we are trying to stay cool in this heatwave. At the moment there is absolutely no wind at
all, but we are expecting hot and gusty northerlies later today and tomorrow,
then no doubt the ‘pirouettes’ of wind from every direction as the cool change
comes through on Friday.
With no clear
indication of when a suitable 3 or 4 day high might settle in the Bight, we
plan to move up the coast a little further for a change of scenery later this week while we wait
for that elusive high to take us over the Bight to the Recherche Archipelago, about 100
nautical miles east of Esperance.
The Bight crossing will take us around 4 days in good
conditions, during which we will be pretty well out of range and ‘off the air’.
We should have radio contact from time-to-time with the local sea rescue groups as we sail across.
Next update from Esperance!
Now, just to see if you've read this far.....
Do you know what this is? |
And this? (You'll have to go back to the Jervis Bay blog for the answer to this one) |
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