The sail from Shell Harbour to Port Hacking was mainly motor sailing, as the wind was calm and sea state and swell around 2m. It wasn’t perfect sailing, but at least we have moved north. We anchored in Jibbon Beach late afternoon and made sure we were well anchored as the next 2 days strong southerly winds were coming. Jibbon Beach is on the south side of Port Hacking and the best place to be, however I didn’t get a lot of sleep that night when the winds were howling and I even got up during the night to check that we were holding. Even Neil checked multiple times during the night as well. The winds lasted for 2 days and so it meant we were trapped on the boat and so were the people on the other 3 boats in the bay. The only positive thing about the strong winds, is that the boat was facing into the wind and this keeps the boat stable and little roll. There was little fetch as we were close to shore and so it was still comfortable being on the boat.
The third night the winds died right down and this meant the big ocean swell came rolling into the bay which caused the boat to seriously roll that night. Little sleep that night and we both got up early to head through the very narrow channel into Gunnamatta Bay, so that we could get away from the roll. We checked the tides and went in on a rising tide as the depth is low in parts. Once in Gunnamatta Bay we had breakfast and then headed off in the dinghy to find a place that we could take the dinghy to get to shore. We had planned to call in to Port Hacking, so that I could catch up with Anthea, an old friend from high school as she lives in the area. So, we needed to find a place where we could get to shore to meet. We went up and down the bay and in the end we thought the best place was the dinghy dock at the Royal Motorboat Yacht Club. I explained our situation to the manager at the club and I did a deal with the manager, that we would come for lunch with my friend and they let us use the clubs dock for our dinghy for 2 days. The manager was praising how good the food at the club was and so I thought it sounded like a nice place to enjoy a meal together. The club ended up being only a very short drive from Anthea’s house which was good. We planned to meet the next day, as Anthea wasn’t working that day. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Anthea’s husband Craig, but hopefully we will when we come back to Sydney.
Anthea picked us up at the club and then took us for a drive to Botany Bay where Captain Cook had landed. We had a lovely lunch at the club and the manager was correct, as we all had a nice meal. Then we went for a drive to a spot where we could take a walk along the coast and we got to look out at Jibbon Beach and the entrance to Hacking Bay. We then went back to Anthea’s house for a cup of tea and finally Anthea dropped us back to the club. It was lovely to see her as it had been many years since we last saw each other. On the way back to the boat, we saw the boat Inismara (with John and Megan), as they had anchored near us. Inismara is a boat from Fremantle like us. We had first met John as we were leaving Hobart, and it was lovely to see him again and meet his wife Megan. They are heading north also to Queensland.
Tomorrow is time to continue heading north with an early start. It will be another 7-hour sail and we plan to anchor in Broken Bay, north of Sydney Harbour by mid to late afternoon. I am not sure which anchorage we will head to once inside Broken Bay and that will be my job as soon as I finish writing this blog to work out where to go. We have friend’s who are anchored in Broken Bay and so we might anchor near them to start with as we haven’t seen them since Triabunna in Tasmania. We plan to stay in Pitt Water and Broken Bay for about 2 weeks, as it is a huge waterway area. What about Sydney Harbour you might say and why are you not stopping? As, we are keen to get to Queensland and a bit behind our original timeframe, we made the decision to spend time exploring Sydney Harbour area on our way back to Sydney at Christmas time, rather than on our way up to Queensland. I know when we eventually sail for the first time into Sydney Harbour it will be amazing and special. Something to look forward to.