Thursday 7 March 2019 Wednesday 6 March 2019 Tuesday 5 March 2019
The overnight “hop” up the coast from Port Davey to Macquarie Harbour turned out to be a more tiresome affair than was originally anticipated; made less so by the eventual arrival of the southwesterly change
We left Port Davey on Tuesday evening and sailed through the night to Macquarie Harbour, 100 miles up the coast.
Sounds pretty straight forward and sometimes it is.
Except in this case the south west change took a while to come in and in the meantime we tacked up the coast into a 30 knot northwester, with 3-4 metre swells coming from BOTH the south west and the north east. Plus some breaking sea thrown in for good measure
I still have the last three days’ Ships Logs to write, but we arrived at Strahan yesterday morning and I think we are just getting over the lack of sleep.
We’ve been a week without internet communication, so we apologise for the lack of contact. Just goes to show there are still “primitive places” with no web coverage out there in the world, and it IS possible to survive 7 days without checking texts and emails every 14-16 minutes.
We are currently in Macquarie Harbour and will probably be out of radio range again as we head up the Gordon River – later today and tomorrow.
In the meantime, I’ve included a few photos below of the past three days …
Dolphins seeing us out of Port DaveyRay and John strapped in for the ride …The low side and gravity is your friend … no look of apprehension at all as we start the night sale to Macquarie Harbour …?!Cold and miserable outside, snug inside Finally approach Cape Sorell and the harbour entrance as dawn breaksMore rain to go with the gale force wind … helps clean the decksJust miserable outside, but hard to capture on “film” Don’t know why I’m smiling … habit I supposeBeen a long night Then all of a sudden, out of the dark at 2:00am, in waddles a mutton bird into the cockpit.Cape Sorell lighthouse somewhere out thereGrey on grey on grey on grey
Then the sun breaks through like a Turner landscape “Where’s my hat” calls John … “No problem” says Isabel, “wear mine”Entering Hells Gate at Macquarie Harbour Hells Gate light StrahanSo this is a scallop pie Peak parking Through a friend of a friend of Isabel’s we managed to obtain tickets to a local theatre production that has been running since 1985 … not the same actual performance you understand … but the same production. “The Ship That Never Was” … A truly excellent performance, based on a real event that occurred in the harbour – the stealing of a ship by convicts in the 1830s and its voyage to Chile !! Well with a visit !! One of the two actors … also takes the money and hands out rugs A nearby workshop and a wall of history
Freedom Sail 