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| Happy family sailing. Levi, Chris & Oli |
It feels like we have been on a long journey this last 12
months, one of preparation and packing. Upgrading the boat from one which was
set up for short cruises in Queensland to one fit for the open ocean has been a
big job for us. Preparing Jenni’s house to be left and rented has also been a
large task involving sorting and moving her belongings. A lot of things to let
go! Cars and boats needed to be sold and in the case of ‘Cloud’ put into
storage. Chris needed to finish moving out of the workshop on the farm and
finalise arrangements with his partners in that venture. We are both very
fortunate to have lovely tenants for our homes.
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| Deckhand Jenni |
We are on the move again, yea!
Finally on Thursday 5th March we left our pen at
the sailing club and headed over to Oyster Harbour for a quiet couple of nights
on one of the courtesy moorings there. When we arrived all the moorings were
taken by a small fleet of local boats waiting for a change in the weather so
that they could leave for Esperance so we dropped our anchor nearby.
Anchor dragging.
We woke the next morning to an even stronger easterly with
quite a bit of north in it and sure enough after a couple of hours Chris
decided to let out a bit more chain and as he did so the anchor started to drag
and we were headed for the beach very close by. Fortunately the motor was
running as a precaution and we were able to motor forward just before we connected
with the lovely old vessel ‘Amity’ which was moored next to us.
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| We narrowly avoided colliding with the lovely old Amity |
We then headed
out of the harbour and dropped anchor at the pretty little Middleton Bay just
outside the Emu Point channel where the wind was safely blowing offshore. The
sun came out and we spent a great few hours swimming and resting before heading
back into Princess Royal Harbour for a more sheltered night in town. Lloyd
joined us in the evening and we set off before dawn the next day, Saturday the
7th March to head west to Cape Leeuwin and the Indian Ocean.
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| Farewell Albany - rounding magnificent Bald Head. |
The easterly was still pretty brisk so we motor-sailed against the wind with plenty of water over the bow out to Bald Head as the sun came up. Once we turned the corner and started heading west and down-wind the motion was easier and Chris went below to make tea.
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| Moody West Cape Howe |
Leaking boat.
Sadly he was greeted with the sight of a soaking wet bed and
forward cabin, salt water everywhere. It turned out that the big hatch over the
bed has a setting which just leaves it open a small gap for ventilation and this had
been accidentally used instead of the fully closed position, oops! (Won't make that mistake again!)
The rest of our 30 hour journey to Hamelin Bay was easy and
uneventful. We had good winds from behind for most of the way with only a
couple of hours of no wind when we motored to keep to our scheduled arrival
time. The night watches enjoyed beautiful clear starry skies and an almost full
moon. It was lovely to have Lloyd along again to share the first leg of this new voyage.
As we rounded Cape Leeuwin in the early morning, we reflected
on having now sailed the entire south coast of mainland Australia.
Hamelin Bay.
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| The gorgeous turquoise waters of Hamelin Bay |
Hamelin Bay just north of Cape Leeuwin was as beautiful as
ever. Strong easterly winds persisted for the whole week we were there but the
anchorage was comfortable and snug. The caravan park was very helpful and we
made full use of the laundry for washing and drying the salty stuff from the for’d
cabin. We were invited by an old client of Chris’s who is a fisherman there to use
the new mooring they had installed for visiting boats.
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| Crayfish anyone? Thanks Graham! |
The following morning we woke
to the sound of a large diesel motor close by and 2 crayfish were dropped in
our dinghy. Chris went to say thanks and went aboard the fishing boat to meet
the crew including Girl [aging blue heeler] and have a look around. He thought
he had made friends with the dog and was surprised to get nipped on the hand as
he went to pat her goodbye. Quickly pulling his hand away meant that a sharp
tooth tore the soft inside of his hand just near the thumb. It was a neat deep
tear and really should have been stitched but Mr Lee was resistant to that and
stuck it together himself. It is healing nicely but of course taking much
longer than if it had been sutured, and unfortunately keeping it dry meant no swimming in Hamelin Bay for Chris.
While on the topic of hand injuries, the next day we had an
after-school visit from Oli and her three kids for a BBQ dinner and a bit of
fishing. Chris was sitting on the beach with the boys when the dinghy started
to drift away, he put his good hand down on the sand to get up and put it right
on top of a resting bee. Never having had a bad reaction to bee stings before,
he didn’t think much of it and the evening progressed for about an hour during
which time he became very itchy. Turns out he had developed a bright red rash
of hives across his groin and thighs, under arms and head. Jenni rushed back to
Upstart for anti-histamines and after another hour it had subsided just leaving
a very swollen hand which persisted for 3 days. All in all a bad period for
hand injuries that left us singing that song from the Sound of Music... when
the dog bites, when the bee stings….🎵🎵
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| The Albany fleet in Hamelin Bay - 6 yachts. Must be a record we think |
During the week we were a bit surprised to see a sail
approaching from the south. It was Darren and Linda on ‘Baudin’ the leading
boat in a fleet of 6 from Albany. They had got fed up with waiting for the
easterly to subside for their planned trip to Esperance and hopped on the wind
going west instead. During the course of the day five boats arrived and one
continued to Quindalup.
Dunsborough
It was great to have a few mates around and we joined them
sailing north to Dunsborough Bay on the 14thMarch. We had Chris’s mate Alex and his two nieces Nava and Avaz on board for the day sail
along the coast of the peninsular and around Cape Naturaliste. A lovely sail and
a good chance to catch up with an old friend.
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| Happy Alex |
We have been here on a mooring in Quindalup for a few days
now and will stay for a week or so, or until the wind is making it unsafe.
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| Rounding Cape Naturaliste into Geographe Bay |
Oli, the kids and her friend Fay joined us again earlier this week for twilight sailing and fishing. Young Isaac proved his mettle as an
apprentice rigger, climbing the mast to the top spreader to retrieve a wayward
halyard. (Although he quite effortlessly
free climbed the mast, we did of course have a safety harness on him!). It was a beautiful evening and the kids had a great time exploring, hauling in the sheets, grinding the winches and learning to steer the big boat.
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| Rigger Isaac, a natural mast climber. |
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| Isaac steering a steady course - totally focused on the telltales. |
We are enjoying the relative quiet here and have been
provisioning and catching up with a few small jobs. Heavy rain a few days ago washed
all the salt off the boat and enabled us to fill our water tanks. We are very well placed for self-quarantining.
Most of the other Albany boats have gone further north now
looking for a bit more warmth, We may see them going the other way when they head
for home and we make our way north at some time.
Exploring Hamelin Island - in pictures.
Hamelin Bay was a bustling timber port in the late 1800s early 1900s with the remains of a long timber jetty still visible in the water. We took a dinghy ride across to the little island off the Bay to explore the old ship moving infrastructure still there.
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