Bottomed Out in Bermagui

Leaving Lakes Entrance

Finally left the lovely Gippsland lakes on the morning of the 10th of April. Our plan was to aim for Eden possibly arriving after dark, maybe in the wee hours, which we were quite ok with. Having been there before we know the well charted and wide open harbour so would have been happy to go in at night. Plans changed along the way though and we decided to push on to Bermagui. It was a pretty uneventful journey, first heading east along the south coast of Victoria, Passing Point Hicks and Gabo Island before turning the corner at the VIC-NSW border. Once we got to Green Cape its pretty much due north and we arrived at Bermagui just after 9am, having motor sailed most of the way, with the emphasis on motoring...

Our journey from Lakes Entrance to Bermagui

Too low for zero

The shallow lagoon anchorage

Having spoken to both the marina (aka Fisherman's Coop), who wanted to put us on the fuel dock, and local Marina Rescue "yeah yachts go into the lagoon all the time..." we opted to anchor in the lagoon. Well that was interesting, it is indeed a very shallow anchorage and while we arrived at high tide and anchored in the deepest water we could find, just inside the entrance, it wasn't long before our freshly wiped bottoms were sitting on the bottom! In fact we sat motionless for 2 hours either side of high tide. It was fairly clean sand but still not a good look and it was going to restrict our departure time. We spent a couple of days here just chilling out and exploring. Keith had not been into Bermagui since the '98 Sydney to Hobart race, when Sienna was towed in with a busted engine and crew the worst for wear. They had stood by Offshore Stand Aside, who had rolled, lost the mast and cabin top and were totally disabled awaiting helicopter rescue. Alot has changed here in that time, hard to believe it was 27 years ago! We popped into Marine Rescue to say hi, sadly the folk who were around at that time had long since retired.

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Meanwhile we enjoyed wandering around the lovely, and sleepy town of Bermagui. The rocky coastline is spectacular and the beaches are beautiful. There are some pretty good coffee shops and boutiques here too. We waited for a small-ish southerly front to pass through, and for winds and seas to ease. We eventually relented, went into the harbour and spent our last night on the Fuel Dock so we didn't have to wait for the high tide to depart! And off we went, spag bol at the ready, an overnight passage to Sydney town!​