Whales, sunrises, bright lights and doin’ the gybe

In my previous blog I reported that we were sitting in a protected anchorage in Salamander Bay (Soldiers Point) expecting the weather to get nasty.  Nasty it got.  For the next few days, weather conditions ‘outside’ (at sea) were hazardous.  There was a big low over the Tasman, towards New Zealand, which was pushing up large swells accompanied by strong winds.  Seas and swell combined were supposed to give a total wave height of around 3-5 metres.  Definitely not seas for the faint hearted, or for us fair-weather sailors.  So, we stuck it out in Port Stephens, twiddling our thumbs.  By land, there’s probably heaps to do in Port Stephens when the weather is yucky.  When you’re in a boat, and you’re at the whim of the weather, it’s more important to be in a safe, comfortable anchorage than it is to get to the shops or hit the nightspots.

The day after our arrival in Port Stephens dawned surprisingly warm and sunny.  We headed back to shore to stretch our legs.  I found a geocache at an interesting spot – an historical old well (spring) that once provided water to ships from many parts of the world.  The water was said to have extraordinary keeping qualities, remaining fresh long after other water had turned.  Anyway, it was a nice diversion and allowed for a good wander.

Shortly thereafter, Graeme decided to study the thermal qualities of the water and took a short swim.  Turns out its slightly warmer than McCarrs Creek.  That’s all I’m allowed to say.  Don’t even ask.  I wrote more, but it appears to have been redacted.

That afternoon we pulled up our (very muddy) anchor and decided to check the conditions over at Nelson Bay.  Well, turns out our little anchorage was very protected.  Conditions just crossing the Bay were pretty nasty, and we knew Nelson Bay would be untenable, so we retreated back to our spot.  Oh, and we were the ONLY boat out there on all that wide bay.  That’s saying something.

We did eventually get to Nelson Bay, and enjoyed dinner out.  The most exciting thing for Jamie was being able to do a load of washing in the marina laundry!  We planned to return the following day for more fun and frivolity, but by early morning the wind had shifted and we were bouncing.  It wasn’t viable to stay on the courtesy mooring any longer, so we headed over to Fame Cove; the pick of anchorages in the Port Stephens area.  We found ourselves a mooring in a lovely sheltered spot, enjoyed a dinghy safari into North Arm and revelled in the warmth and gorgeous conditions.  That evening, we triple-checked the weather forecast and decided we could finally resume our journey north the next day.

Heading out of Port Stephens on Sunday morning proved a little more challenging than we’d hoped.  We’ve never really thought Port Stephens had a bar, but we’ve changed our minds.  The breakers on the shoals were an impressive 3-metre break that would run along the shoal for about half a km (surfer’s dream!) and certainly showed us where NOT to sail.  We headed out on the leads which took us surprisingly close to some of the breakers and even on the leads the swell had picked up and we had large steep (scary) waves of around 4 metres.  And the wind was right on our stern, at 25 knots.  Not quite the benign conditions we were expecting!  We had to gybe (where the wind goes around the back of the mainsail and the boom suddenly flips to the other side with a big whoomph) to change direction.  The first time our controlled gybe went very well and Graeme was praising the boom break – the device that helps to control the rate of the whoomph.  (Sorry about all the technical terms!)  The second time we attempted a controlled gybe, we managed to rip an 8mm solid steel bale right out of the boom – bent it almost in half.  That meant Graeme had to go out onto the deck in those conditions (lifejacket and tether on) to get the main down and under control.  I had to try and steer the boat into the wind with current and winds trying to draw us towards a rocky end on Boondelbah Island.  The adrenalin was pumping.  After getting the main in, Graeme had to get the boom under control (which was flopping about, threatening more damage).  He tied the boom in place and jury-rigged a sling around the boom to replace the bale.  Once finally under control, with Graeme safely back in the cockpit, our heart-rates settled down to an acceptable rate.  We set a course to avoid the other islands in the immediate area and found a comfortable motion for the boat.  The swell dropped to a reasonable 2-3 metres.  Our log for the day shows conditions being alternately ‘sloppy’, ‘bouncy’, ‘choppy’ and ‘rolly’, averaging speeds of around 5 knots when the wind died to nothing.  Later in the evening the log shows conditions going from ‘not bad’ (a nautical term) to ‘good’.  We saw one other sailing boat that day, heading south.

No one got much sleep that night.  Sometimes it takes a while to settle in and feel comfortable enough to rest when you’re off watch.  Jamie wouldn’t rest unless everyone else was resting.  Which wasn’t possible.  From about 2100 Jamie was asking if the sun was coming up soon.  Even though conditions were great, it was a very long night.  I was on watch as the sun came up.  There’s something quite special about being out at sea on watch alone and witnessing the sunrise over the ocean.

It was an absolute delight at sea that day, although there could have been more wind – we had to do a lot of motoring.  We had tentatively planned to go into Coffs Harbour but with such great sea conditions we decided to continue northwards.  That evening, conditions were flat enough that I could cook a meal from scratch.  We enjoyed a creamy sundried tomato, chicken and pasta dish.  Conditions remained fabulous throughout the night, with all of us getting good blocks of sleep (probably from exhaustion!) and Graeme was on watch for another magnificent sunrise.

It was a day of whales as we edged ever closer to the Queensland border.  We watched one whale breach four times in a row, and many others tail slapping or just cruising along.  We think we’ve missed them before as we were too far out to sea, and the whales seem to stick fairly close to shore.  Not sure why that is?

The jutting towers of Surfer’s Paradise came into view on the horizon as the sun began to set.  We all started to feel a bit of excitement, knowing we were going to be reaching our destination and sleeping at anchor that night.  We crossed the bar around 2000, (full dark) having to dodge the numbnuts fishing right in the middle of the narrow channel.

Ah, Southport! The Gold Coast!  What a shock to the system after spending three days alone at sea.  Helicopters passing by close overhead, jetboats, jet skis, tourist charters, bright lights, tall buildings, people everywhere – it’s all happening here!  But we’re safe.  We made it.  Celebratory banana pancakes with lashings of maple syrup for dinner, then showers and a bed that wasn’t moving.  Ahh. Bliss. Sometimes it’s the small things in life that give the greatest pleasure.

Update – Thursday 27 July:  We’ve caught up with some Cruising Club members, and my old friends Deb and Loz.  A wonderful evening with them on the boat last night, watching the sun set and the coloured lights spangle across the water over bottles of wine and fresh prawns.  More socialising today (shopping, lunching) with Deb.  She’s an inspirational woman and I cherish our time together.  Meanwhile, Jamie and Graeme went to find the laundromat (bit of a first for Graeme – lucky he had Jamie to show him what to do!) more to appease Jamie’s desire to do washing than for any pressing need!  Funny, I would have been wanting to hit Sea World, but our boy has other priorities, it seems.

We’ll be out again this evening with Deb and her family.  She’s even told Jamie he can do a load of washing in her machine, so a pretty great day for Jamie too!

We plan to leave tomorrow morning (Friday) and head up the inland passage to Moreton Bay, followed by Tom and Patricia in their beautiful new Bavaria (whose name I won’t mention as I can’t be sure to get it right).  There are more club members and land-based friends just a little further north, waiting to catch up.

And so the journey continues.

Thanks for reading!  We appreciate all your comments and are delighted to see we have even gained some ‘followers’.  It’s wonderful to be able to share our adventure with you.