The problem with weather is that it's not an exact science - as our weather router told us, weather is a mixture of pattern and chaos.
Today our experience of weather has been fully chaotic!
We set off from Lakes Entrance with a three-day window of weather that was quite okay for us to sail around past Gabo Island and on up to Eden. We were making great time and estimates of our arrival time at Eden got closer and closer during the day and we were all feeling quite up about this part of our journey.
During the night however things changed quite significantly. The winds swung around to the north, impeding out progress substantially and causing us to lose all the ground we had gained during the day. With a great deal of effort we were able to continue to move forwards, albeit slowly but by five or six am we could see that our plans to sail all the way to Eden were never going to be achieved with this wind. We decided to head in to the anchorage at Gabo Island and wait there until the head winds eased off. Sixteen tacks in twenty seven nautical miles later and we tied up!
This reminds me of how essential it is to be able to respond with flexibility to what is happening when you are sailing - to have plans and back-up plans and sometimes, to be able to think outside the square if the situation requires you to.
Every cloud has a silver lining the song says, but you know it is often quite true!
We came to Gabo because it was the only viable option but gosh it is lovely here!
The first thing we discovered after tying up is that there is a MASSIVE fairy penguin colony and as soon as we stepped on to land to explore we saw and heard babies in burrows! After all our watching and waiting at Emu Bay here we find ourselves literally surrounded by them! Needless to say we can't wait for dusk!
In addition we have found a wealth of blackberries, unsprayed for our eager mouths and tummies - which we will enjoy with some left over strawberries and cream for dessert.
While here we will of course be keeping a close eye on the weather information, looking for a day with suitable wind for us to complete what we started out to do!