Phase2: Port Davey

Macquarie Harbour to Port Davey

Sunday, 8 March 2015 - 96nm

We decided to stick with our original plan of going to Port Davey in daylight hours even though many of the fleet left late afternoon or various times during the night. We thought with good breeze we should be able cover the 90+nm and arrive at Port Davey before dark.

Happy to be through Hells Gate

We upped anchor at 0700 and motored through Hells Gate at 0720 in a moderate northerly and not too much swell. We raised sails and encountered 3 metre seas that were very confused near Cape Sorrel. Once clear of the cape, the swell became more settled and we raised the spinnaker in a 15 knot NW breeze. We carried the spinnaker until 1120 when the wind increased to the 20 knot mark. We then goose-winged the jib and started averaging 7.5 knots as the wind built to 25 knots. We were ahead of our schedule and looking forward to arriving at Port Davey about 1930.

At 1530 we put in the second reef and as we gybed we had the head of the sail pull out. 4 kevlar webbing straps had broken and the main came down. This put an end to our good progress as we had to motor with jib only the last 30nm of the trip. We went between the Breaksea Islands and Boil Rock at 2000 and anchored in Schooner Bay at 2035 with the last of the twilight.

Port Davey - 9 to 12 March 2015

Schooner Cove

We spent Monday in Schooner Cove repairing the mainsail. We had some leftover jackstay webbing that we knew was rated to 2000kg breaking strain so we used this to reattach the halyard ring. It took hours as the sail at the head is very thick and we had to drill each hole to push the needle through. We were happy with the end result though and so far it seems up to the task.

On Tuesday we motored 9nm up the Bathurst Channel to Claytons Corner. It was overcast with frequent showers and we could not see the top of the imposing Mount Rugby as we passed. The channel has dark brown water due to the tannin in the freshwater layer that sits over the saltwater layer. This saltwater later contains over 500 species of marine invertebrates, many of which are usually only found in much deeper water. They survive here because of the lack of light due to the tannin and the very low nutrient levels.

Bathurst Channel

We anchored with about 10 other VDLC yachts and went ashore to climb Mount Beattie. This took over an hour as the track was very muddy but the rain held off and we got some great views at the top of Melaleuka Inlet, Bathhurst Harbour and Bathurst Channel.

Yachts anchored in Claytons Corner

On Wednesday we took the dinghy up to Melaleuka where there is an airstrip to bring in tourists to this wilderness area.

Follow the beer cans

The only other ways in are to walk or by boat. Deny King was a tin miner who built the airstrip over 3 summers using a small bulldozer. When completed in 1958 it allowed visitors to come to this remote area.