Joanne Jones

Left Hobart at around 10:45 am under sunny conditions with light winds and thus sail motored most of the trip. The winds were supposed to be from the north west but were actually variable but mainly from the north east. The swell was less than a metre. At the top of south Bruny the winds picked up to between 11 and 19 knots which quickened our pace across the bay. On arriving to Adventure Bay we picked up the MaST mooring in 18 knots just ahead of an approaching rain system. With winds still coming from the north west the mooring is a little rolly now but the wind is expected to swing SW overnight which should make it a little more pleasant.

Motored into very light NW winds pretty much all the way, virtually no wind and no swell averaging around 4.5knots. Arrived at Sullivan at around 5:30The setting sun created bad glare that was not ideal for the zig zag manoevering into the marina. Docked in Berths 4/5 on the public marina. Signed in with the QR code. No one else here at the moment so hoping we might be able to stay two nights instead of the allowed one, at the moment we are due out at 11am tomorrow morning.

Left 3:30am under light winds. Motor sailed the rest of the way as winds were less than 5 knots. We’re sailing with a NE swell. Swell around Tasman island was up to 3m and wind kept on moving around all over the place. We skirted Tasman island to the outside where there were quite strong currents. It took about 1.5hrs from Tasman island up to Ladies Bay where we dropped anchor in about 5.5m of water. Stayed here for four nights waiting out weather. During our stay we walked around to Port Arthur historic park and 10mins up through Stewart’s Bay lodge to the general store to pick up milk and bread. Stewart’s bay lodge has a good floating jetty you can tie your dinghy up to. There is also a sandy beach at Ladies Bay where we left our tender when off on walks.

Very light Southerly winds and we motored all the way. Dropped anchor at the western corner of Bryan’s beach in 3.5m of water at low tide on a sandy bottom. Let out 28m chain plus 4m for bridle. Crystal clear water meant that I could almost see the full length of chain right through to the anchor. Went to shore and bush bashed through to the impressive huge lagoon behind the dunes. We walked along the lagoon pretty much all the way to the other end of the beach…lots of black swans. Walked back along the beach and found the skull and some bones from what we thought was a whale but had teeth so not sure. When we got back to the boat we ran the water maker to top up our tanks as the water here is so crystal clear. Heading to Fortescue bay tomorrow so it will be an early nights. We plan to leave around 4am.

Went to shore in the morning to get fuel before leaving… there is Ampol about 150m up the hill from the boat ramp. Diesel was $1.84 litre and the guy gave us a further 6 cents a litre off which was a good deal. Headed off across Oyster Bay soon after 10 with a light south easterly wind. Our course was pretty much straight across but we encountered two fish farms, one to the north and a larger one to the south on route which were not really where the charts said they should be. Once we arrived we spent about half an hour motoring around looking for the two MAST moorings. Nearly ran over two moorings without buoys on them in the process which was a bit scary as by this point we had strong south easterly bullets shooting down into the bay. We finally located the two mooring directly off the boat ramp jetty ( in a straight line with the Main Street of town), one pink/red round ball with a white pick up bouy which had an old fishing boat on it that looked like it has been there for weeks if not months ( so much for the 24hr limit) and a second next to it flat yellow disc with a white pick up buoy…kind of assumed we were looking for two that looked the same. Anyway, no problem picking up the yellow one, but the lead ropes are very long. We ended up bringing quite a lot of the rope up on deck as otherwise would have swung quite close to the boat on the other MAST mooring. In the afternoon we took the dinghy across to town. The main jetty has a well padded floating dock adjacent to the boat ramp with seemingly no time restrictions. The general store is a lot smaller and more expensive than the one at Swansea but still stocks most things you might need. We walked up the Main Street then down the Esplanade to the ferry terminal and along the coast trail to the petrol station, trailer park and tavern on the other side of the headland. As with groceries, Swansea is much more convenient and cheaper for fuel. We stopped for a pizza at the restaurant above the Ice Creamery on our way back. This is a great spot as from either venue you are looking right down the street at your boat while you eat. We spent the night here with the plan to head to Bryan’s Beach in the morning.

Spent a lovely morning on the paddleboard at Wineglass Bay before reluctantly heading off around 10am. It was virtually dead calm when we left the bay and we motored for two hours down the coast to the Schouten Passage. We picked up a little wind in the passage and were able to get the Genoa up and achieve 4-4.5knots. When we were clear of the island we had a SE wind and current behind us and were able to have both the head sails up across the bay achieving 4.5 knots from about 5 knots of wind. About an hour out, the winds dropped to around 2 knots and we motored the rest of the way in. The charts showed two fish farms in the bay but we saw no evidence of either of them. The charts also showed a MAST mooring off the end of the pier. We couldn’t find anything labelled MAST but found a large yellow mooring we assumed was it but upon trying to pick it up, it was so encrusted with mussels that there was no loop to fix to. Not trusting it as sound, we decided to anchor instead. We dropped anchor in 2.3m of water between the end of the jetty and the closest mooring. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the supermarket in town (close to the end of the jetty) reprovisioning. The supermarket wasn’t huge but had good meat and fresh fruit and vegetables cooked chickens and everything else we needed. There were also two petrol stations both 24/7 within 200m of end of the pier where we plan to fill our Jerry cans before heading to Cole’s back in the morning.

Headed out of Musselroe Bay at about 3:45am. Very light winds meant we were motoring for the first few hours. Our destination was Binnelong Bay for the night and then on to Wineglass Bay the following day. Good consistent NE winds and a swell in our favour meant we made good time. Approaching Binnalong we started our port engine and found that it wouldn’t rev over 2000rpm. Suspecting we may have collected a crab pot or net approaching Musselroe Bay, we decided we needed to head to somewhere we could get help with the motor. As getting over the St Helens Bar was complex and we had one motor playing up, we decided it was best to keep heading south towards Hobart where there were several diesel mechanics. As we were ahead of schedule and still had favourable wind we calculated if we kept going we could make Wineglass Bay by night fall. We passed lots of boats heading north and hoped that there would be space in the Bay for us. Unfortunately the wind dropped about 15 nautical miles out and we didn’t arrive until after dark. Coming into the bay we could see three mast lights, a trawler and several fishing boats. We dropped anchor in about 7m of water alongside the trawler towards the middle of the beach as the south end was quite crowded. It was a little rolly in the middle but the winds dropped overnight and it was fine. We spent three nights at Wineglass. As boats moved out we moved our position until on the last night we had the prime spot tucked in right up the south end. The weather improved and on our second day the sun shone brightly and we hiked along the beach and up to the lookout. Wineglass Bay is a spectacular spot when the sun is shining and the seas are calm.

Light NNW winds around 10-15knots and a NW swell of less than 1m. A Storm caught us a couple of hours after leaving which brought overcast skies and heavy rain with very low visibility. Sailed with a combination of Screecher and the Genoa through the evening. Hit strong currents in the Banks Strait. These inhibited our speed by about 3 knots and you could feel them dragging the boat to starboard. It was a bit disconcerting. This effect eased in the lee of Swan island and the water was relatively calm on the approach to Musselroe Bay. As it was raining there was very little light from stars or moon. We were guided by the beacon on the east end of Musselroe Beach. We anchored in sand in about 7.5m of water with around 45m of chain around an hour ahead of high tide (The tide here is +|- 2.5m) at 1:30am. A southerly blew in around 30mins of anchoring so we got in just in time as this continued to build overnight. Although a little rolly, the anchorage was protected from southerly wind and sound. Apart from being a safe place to overnight or hide from wind, there is nothing here. A few houses up the east end of the beach but no shops or points of interest.

Smooth sailing in light winds. Slow start with 4-4.5 knots on the Screecher. Wind picked up about half way and had both Genoa and Screecher out achieving 7-7.5 knots. Arrived at Prime Seal Island (adjacent to Flinders Island) to pick up mooring and some selfish person had left his tender on one of the public moorings and the other was occupied- not impressed! Tried three times to set anchor with no luck so decided to continue on to mainland Tassie. About twenty minutes out I got a call on the radio from the stink boat ‘Tivoli Bay’ heading past us back the way we had come. Apparently it was their tender and they must have felt guilty as they offered to raft up on the mooring. 1. You can’t reserve public moorings, 2. Moorings are only rated for one boat and his boat was heavier than ours, 3 the regulations for public mooring clearly state they are for 24hrs only and 4. the regulations for public moorings also clearly state rafting is not allowed, so we kindly refused…should have just cut his tender free and taken the mooring but we are nice people!

Very light winds meant that we had to motor a lot of the way. Passed some Sea Kayakers out in the Strait…very brave! Arrived at Deal island under blue skies and light wind. Anchored on sandy bottom in East Cove alongside ‘Raptor’ another catamaran. Headed straight in to land to get some mobile reception at the ‘Telstra chair ‘ up the hill ( found out later that there is a free starlink connection outside the caretakers house …will know for next time). Spent the next day ( a beautiful blue sky and still light winds) making some water in the morning and then walked to the airstrip and Garden Cove in the afternoon. At this point Phil went back to keep an eye on the boat and check weather and I walked up to the old Lighthouse…about 45mins each way. We had a good chat to some ‘friends of’ volunteers doing weeding on the island and the caretaker that was mowing the airstrip. The caretakers gig in 3months unpaid but they get a house and provisions so sounds quite relaxing. it’s a fly in fly out gig in a 4 seater light plane. There is a penguin colony in East Cove, we heard their chatter at dusk. Plenty of friendly wallabies and Cape Barren Geese too.