Return to the North Island

Hobart, Friday 20 March to Monday 23 March, 2015
We hired a car and visited the Maritime Museum, Mawsons Hut and the Female Factory. All were excellent. It was good to visit the Maritime Museum after completing our circumnavigation as we had been to many of the places featured.

Mawsons Hut is a replica of what they found when they went back to Mawsons Hut in the late 70s. It was just as it had been left in 1914 and this recreation shows the cramped conditions that 18 men endured during the winter of 1912.

Next was a tour of the Female Factory which highlighted the tough life of the women convicts sent to Van Diemens Land.  Most tragic was the 75% mortality rate for babies born at the prison.

Hobart to Lakes Entrance
23 March to 31 March 2015
On Monday we sailed back down the River Derwent in a light northerly that had gone to the SW and increased to 20 knots by the time we rounded the Iron Pot.

Half an hour later we were surfing down swells as the wind peaked at an unforecast 35 knots. We were happy to drop the anchor in a calm Lime Bay on the northern side of the Tasman Peninsular.

Hugh and I inspecting the workmanship (Photo courtesy of San Souci)

On Tuesday we motored around to the Coalmines, another penal settlement that was well worth the stop. Highlight for me of the hour and a half walk around the settlement was the underground cells.

Impressive stonework

From the Coalmines, we headed back through the Denison Canal in company with San Souci and across to Chinamans Bay on Maria Island.

On Wednesday we sailed to Bryans Beach on the Freycinet Peninsular. Another beautiful anchorage that was protected in the E breeze we had. On Thursday we decided to motor around to Wineglass Bay however we turned around when we encountered 2m NE swells that we thought would make the anchorage uncomfortable.

Bryans Beach

We headed back to Bryans Beach and walked across to Cooks Beach before moving across the passage to Crocketts Bay when the forecast S moved in.

Cooks Beach

Friday was moving day for most of the fleet with a SW that built to over 25 knots before easing back to 10-15 knots. We covered 69nm to anchor in Skeleton Bay for the night. On Saturday we had another early start in a forecast SW-W wind that had gone more to the NW by the time we got to Banks Strait. With an flood tide against the wind we had an uncomfortable crossing in steep 2-3 m waves.

We were happy to drop anchor in Lucy Bay on Badger Island at 1720 after 59 hard nm. We were now all watching the weather forecasts and trying to work out the best time to cross Bass Strait for the North Island (as Tasmanians like to call it!) Our original plan was to go to Deal Island but the forecast indicated that Monday and Tuesday were the days to go. On Sunday we therefore headed to Roydon Island on the NW side of Flinders ready to head into the strait on Monday morning.

Roydon Island

This was one of our most uncomfortable anchorages of the trip in the strong NW winds that were expected to abate overnight. We left with a double reefed main at 0740 in a 20kn Westerly that was forecast to die and move to the SW during the day.

Goodbye Tassie

Photo courtesy of David, Crispian

Photo courtesy of David, Crispian

In company with San Souci, Skellum and Crispian we had a great 2 sail reach until 1600 when we put the spinnaker up until dark. The seas were flat and conditions could not have been better.

Crispian enjoying the sail

The forecast was spot on and by dark the wind was only 6-8 knots from astern and we started a motor.

How good is this for Bass Strait!

We motored slowly throughout the night, timing our arrival at Lakes Entrance for dawn. We crossed at 0715 and motored around to tie up at the public jetty in the middle of town at Lakes Entrance after 132 nm. Print this post