Heading back to Sydney for New Year

On Boxing day we headed to Jervis Bay excited there was a small chance we would see the Sydney Hobart fleet pass and jokingly shouting 'starboard' on Wild Oats. Our excitement changed to being slightly concerned as the weather closed in and visibility became poor, it was one thing spotting the fleet quiet another if we hit anyone! As it turned out they were miles out to sea nowhere near us. A quick overnight stop in Jervis Bay then a short hop up to Shoalhaven River requiring us to cross a sand bar at high tide so planning our arrival time was critical. Shoalhaven is a pretty little place where everyone seems to own a tinny and fishing rod so tonight fish is on the menu, again :)
One thing we have noticed south of Sydney is the lack of facilities to refuel and refill our water tanks. To fill up with water in Shoalhaven we would need to tie up against fishing boats that have bits of apparatus sticking out. We decided against that plan as could see our rigging getting tangled up so will wait till Port Hacking. Filling up with fuel would involve transporting two 40 litre tanks to a garage and doing a few trips. Someone kindly let us borrow a trolley in Jervis Bay allowing us to do this, so we should be OK till Sydney.

Broulee Island - Heading North

Its not a traditional Christmas Day for us as we are anchored at Broulee island about 80 nautical miles north of Eden waiting for a gale to pass. We are currently hunkered down watching videos, reading and listening to Jonathon Ross podcasts which we highly recommend, very funny. We knew the front was coming and sailed overnight to miss it having our Christmas dinner yesterday when the sun was out before the wind and rain arrived.
We wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas and if you're in Manly at New Year give us a call as that's where were headed setting sail tomorrow for Jervis Bay.

Eden

We are anchored in Snug Bay at Eden, a little holiday and fishing village, and indulging in the freshest fish and chips money can buy. We plan to head off tonight back up the coast aiming to be in Sydney for New Year. We were going to go to Tasmania but have realised it would take alot of time to do it justice, there is no way Archie could make the trip, and David and I would benefit from a bit more sailing on the high seas before attempting the Bass Strait. So its north we go, destination sunny Queensland and wave these big weather systems goodbye!!

Vrooma to Narooma

We have just spent a few days on land visiting Mogo, a historic gold rush town where you can

pan for gold and cruise the cafes and art shop's, and also Milton which had fantastic restaurants, galleries and countryside. Now we have returned to Samurai refreshed and ready to go!
We woke to calm seas at 6am this morning and headed 30 nautical miles south to Narooma which leaves us another 50 nautical miles to cover to get us to Eden which we're planning to reach tommorrow.

The first picture shows the dolphins in Batemans Bay which we saw almost every day.

The pictures below, shows what we thought was a seal sun-bathing which we spotted en route to Narooma. Apparently this is how they cool themselves down by sticking their flippers out the water.

Kicking back at Batemans

We've had a relaxing few days sailing around the bay visiting different anchorage sites and being visited by the local dolphin's. Archie's turned out to be a very good dolphin spotter and squeaks loudly when they surface then spends hours patrolling the boat searching for more.
We met Harry, a local coastal patrol volunteer, who very kindly offered us the use of his mooring so we have decided to spend a couple of days exploring in land and rented a cottage outside Batemans Bay leaving the boat tomorrow.
For people following us that don't know the Australian coast we have posted a picture that shows our passage so far and will update periodically as we continue along the coast.
We have also posted photos showing our living quaters on Samurai showing the saloon and the cabin where we sleep, we also have a galley, aft cabin that sleeps two, a large head with shower and nav table.

Batemans Bay

Yesterday morning after checking the weather forecast we found it had changed in our favour so made a quick decision to head to Batemans Bay 50n miles further south. We are finding the weather is a lot more changeable than we anticipated so finding a window when we can jump down the coast is a challenge. Planning to hangout a few days around Batemans as it looks like a nice spot and we'll be able to have a couple of dinners onshore. The photo shows a beautiful sunset at Jervis Bay.

Jervis Bay Samurai has arrived!

Last Friday we travelled 70 miles our biggest leg so far and fair to say it was interesting, swell rose to around 2 -3m and gusting 30knots the last 10 miles. We had planned to go into Shoalhaven River but due to the conditions we decided it was a better option to continue to Jervis Bay, as crossing a sand bar in those conditions was not looking attractive. A couple of firsts have happened in Jervis Bay...... we met our first cruisers, Elke and Rick, who have been cruising on and off for 10 years and we experienced our first grounding in style, just off the public wharf at Huskisson! At least we got a cheer when we re floated two hours later at high tide. It was also nice that Clare and Phil made the trip to Jervis Bay and stayed with us overnight. The pictures below show Point Perpenticular at the entrance to Jervis Bay, Archie enjoying some quality time at the beach and Clare & Phil enjoying the sunset.

Waiting at Bundeena

We tried to leave Port Hacking last Sunday but sea conditions were building so we decided to wait. Two big southerlies have gone through over the last few days with strong wind warnings and we have been sheltering from these at Bundeena. When the seas have calmed from the high wind which has kicked up a 4m swell we'll head out again, hopefully some time soon. This picture was taken from Jibbons beach, Bundeena.

First step down the coast

After a couple of quite rainy days in Pittwater practicing our maneuvers we finally left the sanctuary of Quays Marina and headed 30 miles south anchoring up in Port Hacking. The last couple of days the weather has been fantastic and spent our time walking into Cronulla to get provisions and do some chores as well as fitting in the odd swim. The picture shows Samurai in Pittwater the morning we left. Plan to do a bigger jump south in the next day or two.

End of Week 1

End of week one we sailed down to Sydney Harbour to attend a Senior First Aid course and anchored near Manly Wharf. We had planned to invite friends onto the boat that night but unfortunately David slipped and fell into the water holding the outboard causing it to cut out. Lesson 1: always have the outboard hooked on to something when lifting out the dinghy. Thanks to Chris and Matt for helping us sort the engine situation and Rebecca and Anne for bringing the wine :) We're heading back to Pittwater now and this is Caroline taking us out the heads.

When back at Pittwater Clare, Phil, Mark, Tanya and Chris visited for a sail and some lunch. David mentioned he needed to go up the mast to change a bulb and Phil jumped at the chance, brave man!

Moving In

On Friday the removal guys came to move all our furniture into storage and we drove up to Pittwater where Samurai is moored with a car load of clothes, food supplies, books and whatnot that we couldn't do without. The afternoon is spent figuring out how and where we can store all this stuff on the boat. Per and Jill come up for the weekend on Saturday and after the now traditional sail round Lion Island we settled in for the night at Refuge Bay. Sunday is Caroline's birthday which is celebrated with champagne on the mooring under tarps as the rain comes and goes - it doesn't stop keen swimmers though.

House cooling

With a few days to go before moving onto the boat we had a party to say cheerio for now to friends in Sydney. This happened to fall on Halloween and some strange looking people turned up. As you see here the modern dracula is happy to eat grilled haloumi and veggie sausages. Thanks for the awesome effort on make up and to everyone who came to wish us well,.

The boat is a 45ft steel cutter called Samurai built in 2001 which we have owned for four years. We bought her in Brisbane in 2006 and sailed her down to Sydney with our friends Karen and Peter which was an amazing experience we'll never forget. This photo was taken on that trip at Port Stephens where we stopped off to avoid a southerly change. The previous owners sailed around the Whitsundays, Melbourne and Tasmania in her and we are planning to do a similar kind of cruise.

Firstly we need to introduce Archie who is a 7 year old cavoodle and very much part of the team he just needs a little encouragement (treats) to find his sea legs.........