Batemans Bay does not get a good rap from cruising sailors. Before coming here we heard from so many who said, ‘No, don’t go there’ and really the opinion was quite universal. But we had good reasons why we wanted to - Batemans Bay is like a home away from home for Canberrans and the place we could be the most easily available to friends and family from that other life we used to live. Despite the general opinion of it being difficult and hardly worth bothering with we did a lot of checking with people who actually sailed at Batemans Bay and made sure we were as familiar with the conditions as possible, and then made an informed decision – we would go to Batemans Bay.

And we are so glad we did!

The Batemans Bay bar is one that is frequently perceived as difficult. Too difficult to bother with. Most told us to anchor off just outside the bay so as to not need to bother with the bar. Well that’s fine if you don’t have a good reason for going in – if you need no fuel or food or water – but for anyone contemplating actually going in to Batemans Bay, we’d say that the bar is easily navigable.
• You need to enter at high tide. If you are a deep-keeled vessel then enter at a super high tide. Tide charts will provide information about coming tides and it is easy to plan. We came in on a 1.7 high tide and at the shallowest part of the bar had 0.8 beneath us. Quite adequate. We could have come in on a lower tide and been fine.
• You need to follow the leads. We spent a morning with Marine Rescue volunteers recently who told us that it still amazes them that the rescues they need to do at the bar most often involve people who sail straight into the channel without following the leads. The leads are set to indicate where the best place to cross the bar is – and while there is some shifting of the sandbank, locals do tell Marine Rescue when this is significant and the leads are altered.
• You need to enter with a reasonably flat sea. When we came in the bar was dead flat and I couldn’t imagine it being otherwise. Since we have been here though there have been plenty of days when the bar was anything but flat! We have watched as huge waves crash down on it, churning up sand and silt from the entrance, and causing yachts entering to be pushed all over the place. Entering under these conditions would not be at all wise.
In order to be able to enter under these conditions it is best to anchor temporarily outside the bar. Marine Rescue recommend Snapper Island. From Snapper you can see the bar, and you can be seen by Marine Rescue. From here it is possible for you to assess the conditions well and for Marine Rescue to advise you. Once the tide is right and the conditions easy, it takes only a few minutes to cross the bar and be in the channel and heading towards the Bay.

The other reason many gave us for not coming to the Bay were about the services and conditions for yachts in town.
Again we have found things somewhat different.
At first we arranged to pick up a mooring. This was because when we had called to the marina we were told we were too big and we would never get in. We did find being on a mooring difficult – especially in the conditions we faced with storm after storm cell passing through. We had so many days when getting off the boat was necessary but unpleasant, where the dinghy was difficult to manage and despite issues being resolved for us – like the outboard being loaned to us when ours needed a spare part that wasn’t immediately available, and being generously provided with a generator when the batteries just would not charge properly and we had no power for days – despite these things that made it easier, it was still very challenging.
It was when we were at the marina enquiring about using their holding tank pump-out facilities that we discovered that there is a new manager. The ‘no, there is no room at the inn’ attitude was gone and in its place was ‘welcome’ and ‘of course we can help you’. One by one the things that have been difficult while we have been in the Bay have slid away and along with them taken the stress and pressure we were under with them.
We arrived and found that the only laundry was 3 km away in Batehaven. There used to be one quite close but it closed down. Twice I have walked the 3 kms with a trolley laden with washing and then returned to the boat to hang it all out. Then the marina manager informed me that there was a washing machine and dryer at the marina that had never been installed! No one had ever thought of visiting yachts coming in and so the need had never materialised!
Guess what – now it has! So the marina manager is now looking into getting this done. There is a dew day dawning it seems – a day in which visiting yachts are catered for more fully and really welcomed into the Bay.
And what a good thing that will be.
Batemans Bay is a fantastic place to stock up for a journey with more than enough shopping facilities for anything. There are four big grocery stores – a brand new Woolies store down at the bridge end of town, the older Woolies that locals call the ‘feral’ one, which is up closer to the marina end of town, a Coles and an Aldi store. Each store has different opening times and each meet different needs.
There are several really decent op-shops in town and a great good-quality, low-priced designer-type recycled clothing store. There are health food shops, hair dressers, chemists, hard ware and marine supply stores. We have found people in town extremely willing to help with many things – trying to get hard-to-get parts for us, delivering things down to the yacht where ever we have been – both at the mooring and at the marina. We have found people so willing to assist us in so many ways. One of the things we have needed here has been work. Our resources are quite depleted after nine months of sailing and many unexpected things needing to be replaced or repaired – but there have been many avenues for us to look at for work here.
And of course, our reasons for coming here have been amply met. We have had the opportunity to catch up with many family members and friends and this has been such a highlight. If we need somewhere to stop for a bit and get some work, then for us, this is a great place to do it, where we can see family and friends so easily.

So far from Batemans Bay being an impossible place to get in to and an unfriendly one when you get in with limited assistance to visiting yachts, we would rate it easy to manage and a great place to stop for a while that is developing great facilities!