Grey skies - southerly weather
Our view from the verandah Point Cartwright

Southerly weather is dominating our coastline at the moment, not good for going south. The rain and almost daily thunderstorms in southern Queensland are not inspiring me to want to go sailing either! Sometimes being tucked up nice and warm in a house that doesn't move feels safe and I don't want to be out there! Grey skies always make me feel reflective and not bouncy and happy as blue skies and sun do.

The sad news received via the cruising community of 2 yachts coming to grief within 24 hours of each other also makes me want to be even more careful. Yacht Red Sky hit an unidentified submerged object off Evans Head and had to be rescued. Yacht Seaspirit ended up on the rocks at Pancake Creek and also had to be rescued. We are currently updating our equipment on Valiam including new batteries and a new Epirb. We are also looking at possibly a new chart plotter. Our Raymarine chart plotter purchased in 2007 has died. We have been using the IPad which is fine but a chart plotter may be good to have again.

The biggest issue is the weather so I have been researching once again good 'bolt holes' down the east coast of Australia. The trouble with river entrances is the tides. With a draft of 2.1m we always have to time our entrance into a river. And if we've had strong winds and following seas, the bars can be dangerous without local knowledge. My captain tends to go for roadstead anchorages. These are easy to get to any time but are exposed to the ocean and are only any good for certain wind directions. We have sailed up and down the east coast between Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland a few times and have learned to WAIT and time our hops down the coast. Sailing south we have twice had strong northerlies and favorable current that got us to Pittwater from Southport in 2 days or so. This time I would like to go more slowly and enjoy places such as Iluka and Lake Macquarie along the way. So it's all about timing and watching the weather.

These are some of our possible stops down the coast, depending on the weather and if we want to keep going:
Southport : anchor Wavebreak Island or Currigee, South Stradbroke
Coffs Harbour : anchor ( no good in an easterly)
Camden Haven : river entry. We've always wanted to go back there after we had a nice time at Laurieton on our first boat in the early 80s
Port Stephens : anchor
Newcastle : marina we can get to in any weather. $55 a night for Valiam.
Lake Macquarie : river entry and have to wait for the bridge to open at Swansea
Pittwater : my favourite relaxing entry in any weather and pick up a mooring ball Refuge/American bay. Best sleep ever
Sydney : Blackwattle was crowded last time we were there and Manly is ok in a northerly
Jibbon Beach, Port Hacking. Mooring and quite protected
Jervis Bay : Mooring at Hole in the wall
Batemans Bay : river entry and sandbars. Haven't tried it yet but would like to in the right weather
Eden : Enter in any weather. Two anchorages Snug Bay near town but not good in southerlies. East Boyd Bay on the other side is a good place to wait for the weather to cross Bass Strait
Babel island, TAS : a bit exposed but ok in a southerly and a shorter distance from Eden
Binalong Bay : a bit rolly but ok to anchor in a southerly
St Helen's : we would like to get in here to see friends but will have to rely on local advice with the depths
Chinamans Bay, Maria Island is quite protected. You need to time the tides if going through Denison canal
Hobart : Elizabeth st pier is close to town and quite cheap to tie up.

Weather, weather, weather! I stare at grib files and forecasts till I almost go stir crazy! I'm not going by Bill's method 'Just look out the window'....
So it looks like we may not be leaving any earlier than the end of this week. Who knows where we will spend Christmas?