DEVONPORT/TARMAR RIVER/ST HELENS/PORT ARTHUR/HOBART/D’ENTRECASTEAUX CHANNEL/PORT DAVEY/STRAHAN/BASS STRAIT/MELBOURNE.

A brief description of our 3 month stay in Tasmania

We set sail from Devonport on Wednesday 3rd Feb to head to Low Head the entrance to the Tarmar River, the home of Launceston. We tied up at a public pontoon in the West Arm of the river for 2 days before heading further upriver to another public pontoon at Rosevears landing. We had an evening meal at the local pub which claimed to have had an ongoing licence since 1831. We decided not to travel to Launceston as we were warned that the river gets very shallow further up stream and we did not want mud in our water intakes nor the stress of calculating the tide movements precisely. We returned to Georgetown going again under the Batman Bridge where it has the name of Whirlpool Ridge and Finesse picked up to an effortless 10kts as we went under with the outgoing tide with swirling water all around.

Departed Georgetown on the 8th Feb on the remnants of the incoming tide around 6.30am, travelled via Tenth Island where we saw a seal colony, then travelled to Ninth & Waterhouse Island and into Foster Inlet just under Cape Portland on the NE corner of Tassie for an overnight anchorage.

Our next destination, although not by choice was St Helens, as we intended to anchor in Binalong Bay and not tackle the bar crossing at St Helens. We were about 3-4 hours sail from St Helens when we encountered heavy sea fog and could only see ½ a boat length in front of us. It was eerie and we felt like standing on the front deck ringing a brass bell as a warning to other vessels. Radar of course has its limitations if the other vessel is wood or fibreglass, as are many of the local fishing boats. We decided to call the St Helens Coast Guard to ask if they could assist us over the notoriously dangerous bar ,which only a week before had claimed a young woman’s life when a runabout overturned . They came out and met us about 5.30pm and assisted by guiding us across the river bar and further down their channel entrance where we touched bottom 3 times on the way up the channel at Pelican Point. Their efforts earned us a generous tax deduction by way of a donation.

We spent the next day exploring St Helens and then departed on Thursday 11th Feb for Wineglass Bay. We were relieved when we crossed the bar again, thankfully with a slightly higher tide than coming in. Disturbingly we had to encounter a fishing boat coming in at the same time we decided to cross going out. Once you start your trip out to sea there is no going back as the entrance is quite narrow and the incoming waves/swell make it too dangerous to abort your passage. We had a good run down to Wineglass Bay, a beautiful sheltered cove, (although not secluded with 8 other boats in there).We spent two days in Wineglass Bay, Ron catching 7 large flathead, we walked halfway up Mt Graham and we spent a couple of hours cleaning the upper sides of the hull of Finesse.

We departed mid morning Saturday 13th Feb travelling down towards Schouten Passage to spend the night at Passage Beach on the southern tip of the Freycinet Peninsula. Next morning we headed further south to Maria Island to “The Deep Hole” in Oyster Bay a favourable anchorage of many locals. This is a fairly shallow bay with large areas of less than a metre under the keel but once across the bay there is a fairly lengthy “deep hole” which is around 6.5 metres in depth just near the shore.

On Monday15th Feb departed “Deep Hole” for our journey down the coast to Tasman Island and around to Port Arthur. The trip around the bottom and past Tasman Island was just beautiful. We were not far out from the high cliffs and rock formations. We saw Tasman’s Arch, the Three Sisters, The Candlestick and Lanterns – all magnificent features along this length of coast. Then through a narrow channel between Cape Pillar on the Tasman Peninsular and Tasman Island. Cape Pillar is renowned for having the highest dolerite cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere. At 300 metres of sheer cliff face only a 100 or so metres away one felt quite insignificant. Once through the narrow channel we had a good sail to Port Arthur. We were able to tie up to the public wharf just across from the ruins of the historical convict prison for the next couple of days. The next day was spent exploring the Port Arthur precinct taking the audio headsets tour option and learned a great deal about our early history and the hardship and sadness of some of our past.

On Wednesday 17th Feb departed Port Arthur at 8.00am planning to head 24nm to Parsons Bay and near Wedge Island on the Tasman Peninsular, as the winds were favourable we decided to cross Storm Bay and head to Bull Bay on the NE corner of North Bruny Island not far from the mouth of the Derwent River. Arriving at 2.00pm just ahead of a weak front expected later afternoon and evening. The front had actually started as we entered Bull Bay and we became concerned that Finesse could be slowed down enough to furl the sails before anchoring. This bay put us in a better position for an easy sail into the Derwent River to Hobart.

Thursday 18th Feb at 9.15am sailed for Hobart, as we the seas were calm with 2.5kts of wind we decided to explore the Derwent before heading in to the Royal Yacht Club Tasmania, where we had arranged a berth for the coming week. Sailed under the Tasman Bridge a height of 44m and up as far as the Bowen Bridge. Because of height limitations we were not able to go under the Bowen Bridge so started our trip back down the river exploring many interesting coves and anchorages along the way. Arriving at the RYCT mid afternoon and proceed to engage service and repair people for the few jobs that were needed on Finesse with the help of the two very experienced Bosuns Ron and Danny from the club.
By the end of the day we had secured the services of a motor mechanic for engine service and for our outboard motor (first) service, a diver to dive on the hull and check the anode and hull fittings, a marine trimmer to repair worn patches on the dingy cover, and a stainless steel welder to repair and beef up some of our stanchions.

As all these service people were due to either pick up required repairs and/or service Finesse within the next few days we decided to hire a vehicle for two days and go and explore parts of Hobart and the Huon Valley.

On Saturday after the diver had finished inspecting the hull we took a water taxi from the club to Constitution Dock to explore the famous Salamanca Square markets. Had a great day.

Sunday 21 Feb set off and drove up to the summit of Mt Wellington and then to the Huon Valley. Walked the tree top walkway at Tahune (NW of Geeveston) on the Huon River, then drove back into Hobart across the Tasman Bridge to Bellerive so Peta could pick up an Australia / West Indies Cricket program for Ben before heading to historic Richmond (which is like York in WA). The night was spent in the old stone pub before heading back to the Cadbury chocolate factory at Claremont. Took advantage of having a vehicle and restocked the boat with grocery’s etc and visited a chandlery shop before returning the hire car late Monday afternoon.

On the Tuesday before our intended departure on Saturday we had the diesel mechanic (Keith Smith) on board who serviced both the main engine and the genset. Delighted with the professional approach of this experienced mechanic as he found the engine and genset had three more anodes than Ron had recorded in the vessel service log.

Over the next few days cleaned and changed water maker filters and generally did a cleanup of the interior of the boat. All the time we are learning about our boat and the anode find by the mechanic was no exception, caught the bus from Sandy Bay into Hobart for a day of shopping and exploring Hobart.

Caught up with David & Di Baulch (an ex CPA Board colleague of Ron’s) for dinner and drinks at the RYCT one night and on the Saturday morning before our departure to Port Davey we had breakfast with John Culshaw who was in Hobart for the tourism awards whom we first met in Pt Lincoln and later caught up with again in Adelaide.

Our departure from Hobart on Saturday 27th was an interesting start to our 6 day trip down the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, had to dodge racing yachts in the 20-25kt winds down the Derwent River. Our first overnighter in the channel was in Barnes Bay on Bruny Island “The Duck Pond” Spent Sunday there as it was calm sheltered waters and as the Coast Radio Hobart had been giving warnings all morning about the possible effects of the Chilean earthquake in the form of a tsunami.

Set sail on Monday across the channel to the Tasmanian mainland town of Kettering, explored the harbour before heading further south past Woodbridge in Peppermint Bay, past the mouth of the Huon River and on to the port of Dover in Esperance Bay. Found a quite and delightful anchorage at Rabbit Island at one end of the Bay.

Next morning set off for a 2 ½ hr sail to Southport (the end of the Huon Highway) where we anchored in Deephole Bay which gave better protection from winds and swell than our first anchorage just opposite the main town site. Southport Hotel has the famous notoriety of being the most southern hotel in Australia. The next day went ashore and explored the Ida Bay State Reserve area and railway, (an old limestone light gauge railway taking limestone from the quarries onto barges) now a tourist railway. Walked the track to Southport Lagoon, took the dinghy up the Southport Narrows towards Hastings Bay. After lunch set sail taking 2 ½ hours to reach Recherche Bay the last of the “small hops” before our big leg to Pt Davey – some 70 nm away.

Whilst sitting in Coalbin Bay (Recherche) with a number of yachts waiting for the right weather to dash to Pt Davey, another Nauticat 38 sailed into the bay. Later that evening we met with Lou & Liz, the Nauticat owners who had just returned from Pt Davey. We spent the next day exploring the area which once housed a small settlement including a pub which the whalers and the forest loggers used.

Friday 5th March set sail early at 6.00am (not yet light) on our way to Port Davey. Headed down the coast to SE Cape across the south coast from SE Cape to SW Cape via De Witt Island (near the Maatsuyker group) and up the West Coast to Port Davey, anchored the first night in Spain Bay arriving at 4.00pm. Had a good motor sail across as the winds were less than 5kts, another good voyage in the Southern Ocean.

For the next 7 days explored the areas of Port Davey, going up the Davey River to its second gorge by dingy, taking most of the day. This is where we first met up with Lyn & Tony and Mike and Denise who were visiting on Tony’s beautiful American made “Westwind” displacement motor cruiser. We anchored in various bays in the Bathurst Channel, Schooners Cove and Ila Bay. Spent an uncomfortable night at Kings Point (just before) Clayton’s Corner and we heard the next day that they were forecasting “storm force” winds of up to 50kts. As we were having trouble holding with the anchor decided to shift around to Claytons Corner. Again tried to anchor in the small bay and after much discussion decided at 7pm to shift and tie up at the only jetty in the whole area. Thank goodness we did as we were not the only boat/cat to drag anchor there.

Whilst in this area took the dingy down the Melaleuca Inlet and Melaleuca Creek some 5nm and explored the area pioneered by Deny King, quite an amazing man who lived and brought up his family in this area for 45 years. He built a “Nissan style hut home built the light aircraft airstrip by hand and worked a tin mine in the area. We had both read the book “King of the Wilderness” the life story of the SW Tasmanian pioneer called Deny King and could only feel wonderment at his achievements, certainly deserving of the Order of Australia award bestowed on him.

Whilst still tied up to the jetty at Claytons Corner walked up Mt Beattie for a fantastic view of both Bathurst Harbour and up the channel to Port Davey, then departed to start making our way back out to Spain Bay, anchored in Clyte Cove overnight before taking the dinghy up to Joe Page Bay and exploring Manwoneer Inlet where we saw hundreds of black swans with white tips on their feathers.

Departed Spain Bay on Saturday 13th March at 6.30am for our trip back across the bottom of Tasmania to Recherche Bay, as we were having a good run decided to head further up the D’Entrecasteaux Channel into calmer waters back at Dover and anchored again at Rabbit Island around 6pm.

The next day made contact with Anne & Cran from the catamaran “Letting Go” who we met in Adelaide at the Royal Squadron Yacht Club. They were in Cygnet heading to Port Davey and stopped in at Rabbit Island to catch up with us again. We went ashore later that afternoon and reprovisioned Finesse and had a lovely meal at the old post office “6935” restaurant. Whilst in Dover met the local mussel farmer who at one stage owned a Nauticat 44 called “Archer” (the sister ship to Finesse) and he invited us later that afternoon to visit him and his wife at their farm/home.

For the next 9 days we explored more anchorages/bays in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. We visited places like Tin Pot Bay in Great Taylors Bay on Bruny Island, lighthouse jetty beach again in Great Taylors Bay, Port Cygnet where we spent 3 nights in Cygnet before heading back across the channel to Isthmas Bay on Bruny Island where we climbed the large lookout staircase to see the other side of the Bay (Adventure Bay). Then departed for Woodridge (Peppermint Bay) where there are 6 public moorings available. Visited the local upmarket pub for lunch before returning to Finesse for the night as strong winds were again forecast. At 2am Ron woke up by very strong winds 30-40 kts tugging at the mooring only to find that another power boat had dragged the mooring and was heading towards us. Glad we had put a second rope on the mooring we were using, assisted the other boat by using our spot light to help him to pick up another mooring. Spent the following day battling the strong winds whilst still on the mooring; finally around 6pm that evening they subsided.

On Thursday 25th March set sail again for Hobart, motoring all the way back to the RYCT where we were met by Ron’s sister Helen, nephew Clinton, his wife Sarah and baby Amos who were in Hobart visiting Sarah’s grandmother. It was good to catch up with family again and spent the following day with Helen before they departed on Saturday back to Sydney. That evening (Friday) had dinner with Lou & Liz (Nauticat 38 owners) at their lovely multi storey classic home in North Hobart.

We had booked a berth at the yacht club for the following two weeks and in that time decided to once again hire a car for 6 days and explore more of Tasmania.

Headed to Strahan on Saturday morning, to catch up with friends Rob & Lorraine - “Songlines” from Geraldton who we first met last May in Streaky Bay with whom have spent many good times as our paths have crossed on this journey around Australia.
Spent Saturday night aboard “Songlines” and on Sunday morning witnessed the world record attempt of the greatest number of water skiers behind one vessel. Much too every one’s excitement, they broke this record with 114 skiers. Strahan was in party mode.

Sunday afternoon around 1.00pm departed on the charter yacht “Storm Breaker” for an overnight cruise 34 km up the Gordon River to Sir Johns Falls, had 4 other passengers on board. Motored across Macquarie Harbour and up the Gordon River crossing a very shallow bar at the entrance but once across the river it was very deep and the reflections of the surrounding hills and stands of trees along its bank were absolutely magnificent. For the first time we became aware of the famous Huon pine trees.

On dark reached Sir Johns Falls in the upper reaches of the Gordon River and pulled into a landing. The rafters who had travelled down the Franklin River to Sir Johns Falls were waiting there camped in the surrounding bush they were to accompany us back to Strahan the next morning. Arrived back in Strahan around 1pm and as we had arranged to stay on board for the next 2 nights at the jetty we decided to do some sightseeing around Strahan. We had also booked on the Strahan-Queenstown historical train trip for the following day. Again this was a wonderful day with a little steam engine pulling us up and over the hills on a rack and pinion track system, travelled premier class which gave us food and wine for the whole journey, a great way to see this area.

Left Strahan the next day and drove to the Cradle Mountain area where we walked around Dove Lake, then headed to Deloraine for an overnight stay before heading back to Hobart again purchasing supplies to restock the boat before we left.

Easter was spent at the RYCT where we caught up with Beres & Margaret’s son & daughter-in-law , Michael & Christi, who were visiting Hobart, had dinner at Salamanca Square On Monday had dinner on finesse with friends Kerry & Jenny (Adelaidians) whom we met in Pt Vincent SA arrived in Hobart to do bush walking. Monday also saw us replace our aft cabin toilet as the pump decided to stop working, it was cheaper to buy a whole new toilet rather than get parts for the old one.(Just like motor car part prices). On Tuesday evening before our intended departure on Thursday we had dinner with Tony, Lyn, Mike & Denise who we met in Port Davey on Westwind. So all in all our last week in Hobart was spent socializing and sightseeing.

On Thursday 8th April departed Hobart at 7.00am heading down the Derwent for the last time, heading to the Denison Canal, a shortcut through to the open waters just south of Maria Island. Dropped anchor again at the Deep Hole in Chinaman’s Bay at approx 7.00pm, spent the following morning doing a 9km walk to an old historic farmhouse before departing for Schouten Island. Found the two anchorages in Hen & Chicken Bay quite small so decided to travel further north to Bryan’s Corner again we had to anchor in the dark. Next morning sailed to Coles Bay and found a public mooring available, so decided to stay there overnight in this delightful location situated just below the Hazards (low rocky mountains) over the peninsular from Wineglass Bay).

Next day headed around to Wineglass Bay as this was a safe anchorage and gale force winds were forecast for the next couple of days. Put out two anchors and held well, spent 3 days at this anchorage before heading further north leaving on Wednesday 14th April to sail to Binalong Bay just north of St Helens. Anchored overnight and then headed to the Furneaux Group, first to Clarke Island at Rebecca Bay where we spent a very rolly unpleasant night. Ron even slept in the wheelhouse to be ready in case the boat dragged anchor.

Next morning we sailed around the west end of cape Barren Island and into the south side of Franklin Sound on our way to the town of Lady Barren on Flinders Island. As we followed our pilot book instructions very carefully along with our chart plotter we managed to get safely into Lady Barren. Spent the night tied up at the inner wooden wharf after seeking permission from the Port control officer.

As this was going to be our last night on “Tassie” soil, decided to have dinner at the local tavern and enjoyed a very expensive crayfish meal. The following morning departed Lady Barren at approx 8am to sail out the northern passage of Franklin Sound and consequently ran aground within an hour of leaving the town. The chart plotter was telling us that we had under our keel 5metres, unfortunately this deemed not to be correct. We had a flood tide and this was pushing us further onto the sandbar. After trying to use the dingy to move Finesse (a 17 ½ tonne vessel) without much success, we tried the motor to back off and eventually managed to move her and then the tide promptly sent us sideways and further onto the sandbar. Eventually we wriggled free and then crept carefully out of the sound up to the northern end of Marshall Bay to Roydon Island which was a beautiful picturesque and safe anchorage.

Sunday 18th April motor sailed to Deal Island in the middle of Bass Strait and anchored in East Cove. This anchorage is protected by two other islands (Erith Island and Dover Island). These islands are high 279m rock formations which just rise straight up from the ocean. Took the dinghy ashore and proceed to walk up the steep hill to the houses and structures at the top, met the “voluntary” caretakers who had only been there 5 weeks of their 3 month stay. Had a cuppa with them and exchanged gifts, ours being chocolates from the Cadbury’s factory in Hobart and their gift to us was some fresh vegetables and herbs from their wonderful garden. The caretakers have to bring in 3 months of provisions, bedding etc so the established veggie garden is a godsend. We walked up to the top of a hill, a great vantage point and visited the museum. We wanted to walk to the light house but it too late in the day for the return trip. This lighthouse is reputed to be the highest in the Southern Hemisphere, but unfortunately we decided to leave early next morning as we had favourable weather to complete our crossing, so we never did see the lighthouse. We would love to go back to Deal Island and explore some more as it was so remote, awesome and magical.

Monday 19th April departed Deal Island to head to Wilson’s Promontory a distance of 45nm, as we neared the defined shipping lanes we decided based on the sea conditions and weather to continue on overnight up to Hastings in Western Port.

We saw dolphins a number of times in the clear waters and they continued to accompany us into the evening and even late at night. The sea traffic around Wilson’s Promontory is divided into separate zones, those going east and those going west. Naturally we worked our way very carefully through this section , picking our crossing time and waiting to allow a south/west bound ship to catch us up (at 19kts) and pass before cutting across that shipping lane. At one stage during our voyage across Bass Strait we counted 18 ships in this area which our AIS through our chart plotter/VHF 16 radio picked up.

As night wore on each of us tried to rest up, as you can’t really sleep, whilst the other kept watch. At around 0300 hrs we had reach a point about 5nm from the entry into Western Port and as we don’t like coming into ports at dark we decided to cut the motor and with a very reefed mainsail sailed around 1.5- 2.0 kts towards (Hastings) entry. Hastings is quite a hike up a channel next to Phillip Island and would still take a few more hours to reach. With the light winds and direction of seas we did not have to steer and around 7.00am calculated we could reach the “rip” entry to Phillip Bay by the “slack water” tide entry time to avoid the up to 7kts tidal flow in or out of this huge harbour. (Slack water tide time was 12 noon).

On approaching the entry, we rang the Lonsdale lighthouse (also can use VHF 16) to ensure it was safe to enter, as sea conditions can close the entry to even large ships. Ron read and reread articles he had on entering what is affectionately known as “The Rip”. We got the approval to enter The Rip after a big ship had come out so we “bit the bullet” and went for it. It should be remembered that the entry is only 6/10ths of a nautical mile wide and when a large ship is in the middle there is very little room for error. Fortunately we had a fishing boat in front of us which in some way helped us, plus Ron steering from inside to be able to follow directions on the big chart plotter. We then proceeded up the West Channel to head towards Williamstown at the mouth of the Yarra River. We encountered heavy rain and 35kt winds coming across the harbour and after a couple of phone calls to identify which pen we were allocated to in the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria we berthed at 5pm that evening.

So here we are safe and sound in Melbourne, where we will spend 2 weeks in the RYCV before moving to Docklands for a further two weeks before we continue our journey across to Geelong the up the coast towards Sydney.