Phase2: Channel Cruising

Tuesday, 5 March to Sunday, 17 March 2019

We spent Tuesday morning making some investments at the array of outdoor shops in Hobart and picking up some last minute fresh supplies before leaving Constitution Dock. Our plans for the next couple of weeks included joining some friends for a Bellerive Yacht Club (BYC) cruise over the long weekend and then cruising further south in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel.

The Channel was named after Bruni D’Entrecasteaux who entered it by mistake in 1792 and realised that Bruny Island was separated from the rest of Tasmania. We spent a few days here last trip, but you could spend months exploring the many sheltered anchorages, enjoying the flat water sailing and the numerous walks.

Classic wooden boat in The Duckpond

We had to motor all the way to The Duckpond anchorage on Bruny Island, a secure anchorage for the range of winds expected over the next few days. Boat jobs and cold, rainy weather kept us busy for 2 days but on Thursday we were joined by Folie a Deux, Ezibeat and Aurielle. On Friday, we sailed south to Rabbit Island in Port Esperance in a fresh NW to W wind.

Folie a Deux looking good with full sails

Folie’s head pulled out of their main in one of the 30 knot gusts so they were handicapped with no mainsail for the rest of our cruise. We then motored over to Dover for sundowners with the BYC crews, where we all enjoyed the hospitality and the fire at the Port Esperance Sailing Club.

Port Esperance Sailing Club

On Saturday, the BYC fleet of 12 boats (including a Phase Three) headed to Mickeys Bay for a BBQ lunch.

On Sunday, with their guidance we finally found our way to Cloudy Bay Lagoon and then scrambled over the rocks to Cloudy Bay.

Cloudy Bay Lagoon

Cloudy Bay

Most of the BYC fleet left Sunday afternoon for anchorages to the north but we enjoyed sundowners on Aurielle. On Monday morning, Aurielle headed north while Folie and Phase2 sailed south to Recherche Bay in a light NNW wind.

Recherche Bay is massive

D'Entrecasteaux had anchored here in 1792 and again in 1793 with 2 ships that were floating laboratories. Physicists, botanists, zoologists, navigators, surveyors and philosophers explored inland gathering specimens and having friendly meetings with the local Aboriginal people. The French names of many places are a reminder that they were here 10 years before the British. I wonder if I would now be writing this in French if they had chosen to settle the area rather than study it.

This is literally the end of the road

We anchored off Cockle Creek but our plans for walks were thwarted by rain on Tuesday so we had a lazy day.

On Wednesday, we walked to South Cape Bay, the first (or last) stage of the South Coast Track to Port Davey. The track was diverse with forest and boardwalk components.

We were lucky to enjoy lunch at South Cape with little wind but overcast skies.

South Cape Bay

We had some rain on the way back, the track became quite muddy and we were glad to have our walking boots and gaiters. We slept well on Wednesday night after our 16 km trek. On Thursday, Maurice and Karen joined us for an 8km walk with a mixture of forest, beach and rock scrambling to Fisher Point.

Whaling was an important industry here

After 4 nights at Cockle Creek, we left early on Friday for Taylors Reef in Great Taylor Bay. We stopped at Southport on the way for lunch and a walk to the Southport Lagoon.

Southport lagoon

With our time in the Channel coming to an end, we had one more walk we wanted to do to Cape Bruny Lighthouse. It was a perfect day for the 8km return walk from Jetty Beach, with great visibility in all directions.

Saturday night was spent at Adams Bay in perfect conditions. On Sunday morning we had morning tea at the Bruny Cheese Factory to say farewell to our friends Karen and Maurice on Folie a Deux before sailing back to Hobart to get ready for the trip home.