Made it to Flinders Island

Our first week back on board has really flown by. I thought it would take longer to adjust to life back on board, but its been surprisingly easy. I still have a niggling feeling that there is an unpacked bag somewhere of all the things I meant to bring, or was sure that I had packed, that mysteriously hasn't appeared yet... Keith did most of the unpacking, and he really did a great job finding a spot for everything, I just wish I knew where he hid the citrus reamer! My brother reminded me of his share-house experience of buying a lamb roast, transporting the groceries home in the back of the car and then a couple of months later, alerted by a nasty smell, finding the purifying flesh his boot, it having fallen out of the shopping bag and not been missed! 

Passing the Iron Pot

Beach at Lime Bay

Pied Oyster Catcher

Anyway, after a very ordinary weekend weather-wise we were lucky that our first few days on board have just been stunningly beautiful, warm and sunny. Having left our mooring on Tuesday morning we made our way down the Huon River and into the d'Entrecaseaux channel, then up around the top of Bruny Island and across to the NW tip of the Tasman Peninsula, a full 45nm to a beautiful anchorage called Lime Bay. We stopped here on our way in, and its a great place to stage from for our transit of the Denison Canal. We take the RIB ashore and walk along the lovely beach. There is a fair bit of seaweed ashore, it would make great compost, but its starting to get a bit smelly (I think of the lamb roast...) Its much calmer here than on our mooring and we both sleep really well.

Emerging unscathed from Marion Narrows

It's an early start the following morning to transit the Denison Canal before low tide. We make contact with the Canal attendant on our way to the leads but have to do a bit of circle-work to wait for a fishing boat to come through ahead of us. He is a bit faster than us and clearly on a timeline. We get through without incident and wave to the cheer squad on shore (no idea who they are, but we seem to be the day's entertainment). Its a good hour across to the lagoon to the Marion Narrows and out into Marion Bay. We found a sandbar on our way in so we are keen to avoid that on the way out. I have downloaded the .gpx track, helpfully provided by MAST and we can follow along on the iPad as well as the chartplotter. Nailed it this time, hugging the south shore as we cross the bar, leaving the 6 inch high waves to our port side. Its a straight line to Maria Island and as a Nor'Easter is expected we head for Chinaman's anchorage in the north of the bay. Only 25nm today so after lunch we head ashore for a walk along the beach, again lots of seaweed and a few scallops washed ashore, hmmm that smell again... Its lovely and warm and the water is crystal clear but we might save that first swim until we get to Wineglass Bay.

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Maria Island

East side

Chinaman's Anchorage, Maria Is.

Lots of orange rocks in these parts

Woke a little later than usual, after a very calm night. We put engines on straight away and have breakfast on the go. We head up the west coast of Maria, past Ile des Phoques, which gives off a very strong, fishy smell, carried to us on the NE breeze! A sure sign that seals are in residence. Its rolly as we pass the gap between Maria and Schouten Island, as the ocean swell comes through the passage. We round the top of Schouten Island just after lunch and then punch into it for a couple of hours. The NE waves of 2-3m​ are pretty nasty, bouncing off the cliffs to our left, and coming back at us again. It makes for a pretty uncomfortable ride as we fall off the back of one wave and T-bone the next. We pass a mono that is having as much fun as we are, and just as we turn west to head into Wineglass Bay,  the westerly kicks in. Catabatics make their way down the steep cliffs of The Hazards into the bay and we see 30+kts gusts.

There are a few boats here, including one that we last saw in The San Blas Islands, Panama. In fact we saw them at very close quarters, when they came between us and the shore in a shallow anchorage, ran aground, lost control and were about to hit us amidships! We had to fend them off! Sadly their English was not good enough to muster an apology, and fortunately they probably could not understand our descriptions of their seamanship.... They give us a friendly wave as we anchor, oblivious to their reputation.

We tuck into the South East corner of the bay, as close in as we can, to get some protection from the swell which finds its way around the corner. The westerly blows through fairly quickly and its quite calm by bedtime, which is not that late these days. The southerly kicks in around 11pm but the anchor resets and we hold well. After gusting well into the 30's for a bit it finally calms down and we have a very still night, which is only fair given we have had wind coming at us from just about every direction today!

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Mt Graham

The Hazards from our anchorage

Look at that water!

Beautiful Beach

We decide to stay put on Friday and relax. The weather is cool and its quite overcast but we head ashore and walk along the beach. Otherwise a relaxing day doing a little cleaning and passage planning but not much else. Its a lovely calm and peaceful day in a beautiful bay. Later in the day I go ashore again on the SUP, still not quite brave enough for a swim though...

We got the best spot!

Great to stretch our legs

Sigh...

Keith being silly

Had a very early start (6am) on Saturday morning to make some progress northwards with some southerly breeze. Sadly the winds were too light to sail so we ended up motoring most of the way once again. Still the seas were flat and we had a glorious sunny day. Progress was so good we decided to continue on past Binalong Bay (St Helens) and made it all the way to Eddystone Point. A front came through about an hour south of the point bringing gusty winds from the west, but seas remain flat. Eddystone Lighthouse looms large over the point but not much of a view of it through the salt-spray covered helm "clears". As the wind is due to turn south we opt to anchor on the northern side of Eddystone. There are already quite a few boats here, we saw them leave from St Helens in the afternoon. The bay gives reasonable shelter from the westerly but as the wind drops out it leaves is with the residual rolling ocean swell from the NE and it makes for a creaky night. 

Eddystone Light House

Anchorage sunset

Another boat

Strzelecki Peaks

Another 6am start the next day as we plan to make it all the way to Lady Barron Bay on Flinders island. Whilst Bass Strait has a fearsome reputation, and rightly so, we first have to transit Banks Strait. This stretch of water also has a bit of a reputation as both tidal currents and southern ocean currents funnel through this relatively narrow area. As we were initially planning our departure from further south we would have hit Banks Strait just on low tide, with a southerly breeze and flood tide then carrying us through. Perfect! However the start from further north meant we arrived mid-ebb tide and had 3kts of current pushing against us most of the way across. Although it was wind over tide, which you are supposed to avoid in this area, it actually wasn't that bad. A little bit lumpy but with a full main and headsail and a little Volvo assistance we were able to push through. We passed Clarke Island and Cape Barren Island on our starboard side and the majestic sight of the Strzelecki Peaks comes into view ahead of us. Its still some distance to get into Lady Barron though, navigating carefully around the many rocks and shoals in this nicely protected area. We anchor in a Lady Barron Bay  just to the east of the Town Quay and head ashore.  I feel like we should be hoisting the Q flag and going to check in with the local officials, but no we are still in Tasmania! So instead, we don our best flannelette shirts and head off to the Furneaux Tavern for a very fine meal, (schnitty and fish & chips of course). We have organised a rental car for a few days so we can see the island the easy and fast way!

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Lady Barron Anchorage