The anchor came up at 07:20 after being well buried in sand. We hadn't shifted all night and the Anchor Watch program on the iPad confirmed this a heavily coloured crescent. It had been a rolly night but a weary sleep can cope with that.
We'd no sooner raised the anchor and pointed out past Tomahawk Island when I noticed a whale surface and then breach about 100m away. Wow! Our first whales on this trip. I don't mean just today or recently, I mean since leaving Mandurah last November! Of course we've seen lots of whales before, especially when we sailed to Shark Bay and back 3 years ago, but in over 2,000 nautical miles and 12 months we've not spotted a single one until now. By the time I got the camera we were moving away from the show and was clicking out of synch of the action. Darn!
The best shot I could get after getting over the surprise of seeing the whale/s.
Not quite 'stupid o'clock' but certainly an early start. The tide lords dictate an ebb tide is what is needed to pass through Banks Strait and even getting there would be a whole lot easier going with the tide than against it. Tick tock, tick tock. It won't hurt to mention this again but Bass Strait is incredibly tidal. Eddystone Point is barely out of Bass Strait and has a tidal range of less than a metre. Inside Bass Strait the tidal range is 3m and the water fairly rips along.
Yup - 7.6knots Speed Over Ground (SOG) with 2.9knots of wind!
There is a wind farm out on Cape Portland that is quite the biggest of any we've seen. I counted more than 50 turbines. We made it out to Banks Strait under motor. After the huge wind of the day before, the morning breeze was insufficient to get through the chute within the ebbing tide. Getting there was not negotiable. It was a very scenic run between Cape Portland and Swan Is with a view to Cape Barren Is and other islands of the Furneaux Group to our north. We'll visit them on our way back across Bass Strait next year.
Turbines having a rest today after probably near blowing away their foundations yesterday.
There must be an explanation but why is it that on a lonely road you'll pass the only other car coming in the opposite direction on a bridge or some other restriction? Traveling as we have, through winter months and less common routes, we've encountered very little shipping, so logic is against the odds that we'd come the closest to any passing ship while passing through Banks Strait which is barely 2nm wide!
SC Kulanda passed us by at 6.9kn between Cape Portland and Swan Is.
A shameless selfie as proof of life.
We reached our planned destination for the day with a northerly wind and a southerly swell of around 3m around lunchtime after our speedy transit through Banks Strait. Absolutely NOT what the Bloke was expecting. The Northerly yes; and in fact we were thrilled that it filled in as we popped out of the Strait and commenced a southward course. Unbelievable. We wouldn't have dared even script it. It was however strangely, predicted!
Odd looking rocks just north of Eddystone Point
Eddystone Point Lighthouse.
This is not a photo from the moon.
Motoring into Wineglass Bay at 02:00am Tuesday.
Clearly this does not capture the grandeur of the moment but check out the silhouette!
The 3m southerly swell was a game changer. What to do? What to do? We felt fresh enough and Eddystone was certainly presenting as untenable. Even without the swell it still looked awkward for wind changes. It's not like going to a different part of a bay, it required negotiating an ugly looking point. Not a Cape, but a nasty headland. Conditions for the next day would be stronger. In 14 or 15 hours we could be somewhere more suitable - our next planned destination! OK Wineglass Bay or bust. Conditions were suitable to get there - a northerly wind that should strengthen to allow us to sail without being too strong, a near full moon, a huge wide and protected throat to the bay entrance and a bay that was over 1nm wide when we got in. Neat! Here we go, here we go, here we go!
The Bloke confessed to me later that the only boat that has been 'lost' on one of the Van Diemens Land circumnavigation/rally held every 2 years, has been at Eddystone Point. The yacht failed to negotiate the nasty hedland in bad conditions while attempting to get to a more favourable anchorage on the other side of the point. This fact certainly vindicated out thought process.
We motor sailed until we could sustain a minimum of 5kn (the Captain Paul cruising rule) and then sailed on into a fine and moonlit night past St Helens and Bicheno. In fact, there seems to be small hamlets all down the coast of the Bay of Fires. The terrain is quite mountainous too. A very attractive backdrop for our passage.
Dusk
Motoring into Wineglass Bay at 02:00am Tuesday.
Clearly this does not capture the grandeur of the moment but check out the silhouette!
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