Our 6th Day on the circumnavigation started with an interrupted night’s sleep with strong gusty winds to excess of 35 knots throughout the night making Fargo yaw and surge on the anchor chain creating an intermittent cacophony of clanking and grinding noises not conducive to a restful night. None the less we woke to a calm bay with very little breeze in the sunny early morning prompting your scribe to take a “sans wetsuit” swim around the nearby yachts “ Great Sandy” and “Aurora 3”. Sarah from Aurora 3 took her inflatable Kayak to the beach for a morning stroll along the beach and I did a quick swish along the waterline with a cleaning rag to keep the hull looking her best.
After a quick breakfast we were prompted to get underway by the freshening breeze and we soon hoisted sail and set a course out through Mercury Passage past the “Isle des Fogues” Seal island with its seemingly healthy population of fur seals and on to Crockets Bay on Schouten Island.
Here we found “ La Vida “ with our “package” of a new chip for the chart plotter.
Mark B and I took a brief walk ashore to Cooks Hut on Moreys Beach where the Tasmanian Parks service has an interpretive centre manned by camp hosts only too keen to chat about the wildlife and the splendid natural features this island has to offer.
Back on board for dinner Duncan had prepared a superb meal of spaghetti bolognaise which we washed down with a lovely shiraz.
Our mooring was blessedly quiet with clear skies and we went to bed with plans for a walk to Bear Hill overlooking Crockets Bay on Tuesday morning.
Sadly our 7th day plans for a walk were abandoned when we woke to light rain and very heavy low cloud. Weighing anchor brought up huge quantities of soft fibrous bright green sea weed cloying to the chain as well as the anchor itself. Mark B. aka “anchor wench” spent a tedious few minutes picking the weed off the chain as we winched it aboard.
We motored out through Schouten Passage towards Cape Tourville and Wineglass Bay in light rain and low cloud mostly obscuring the land even though we were only one to two kms to the east. Fairy Prions and Black Browed Albatross kept us company while great flocks of Shearwaters were streaming south. A little breeze came up allowing us to hoist sail then Duncan served a lunch of soup and corned beef and chutney sandwiches in the cockpit. Sadly a piece of equipment failed causing a break at the deck end of the boom prop . Skipper was able to reattach the topping lift as a jury rig and plans were hastily made to get repairs done in Launceston. Not a major problem but annoying none the less. We have not had as much dolphin company on this cruise as we had on VDLC2013 but at dusk as we passed St Helens we had several for company in the fading light.
Sunset off Binalong Bay was a pretty sight. Duncan was not phased by preparing the evening meal whilst underway and fed us a hearty meal of chorizo sausage and macaroni cheese.
Our 10.00 pm anchorage at the northern side of Eddystone Point showed us that the new plotter chart was as accurate as we hoped it would be leading us in the dark past some treacherous boulders to the safety of the sheltered but slightly swell affected northern bay.
We needed to be up at first light on our 8th day making our way north through the rocky inshore waters past George Rocks to beat the tide race through the Banks Strait and around the corner to our lunchtime destination of Foster Inlet.
Albatross came begging for a meal but we had neither fish nor bait to offer them nor the inclination to do so.
The early morning glass off gave way to to a mid morning sailing breeze and we made clear passage to Foster Inlet by around 12 noon.
Through the calm of the morning Duncan had prepared a hearty leek and potato soup for lunch which we all enjoyed at anchor before I set off with trusty dinghy boy Mark B in search of abalone.
Having dived here on our previous voyage I was hoping to find a tasty snack for the crew. With my Abalone and Crayfish licence recently updated I was pleased to find the abalone in plentiful supply and within half an hour I had bagged my daily possession limit (10) of mostly green lip abalone with a solitary black lip making up our allowance.
Mark and I cleaned our catch ashore shucking the flesh from the shell , slicing thinly and then tenderising with a spiked mallet.
Earlier in the day before the strong Easterly sprang up cruise commodore had invited all on the anchorage to social drinks on the beach at 5.00 pm. The spray over the bow of the dinghy made for a wet ride to the beach for all but the tiller man (myself). Once ashore we were joined by the crews of NIRVANA 1 , ANOTHER DIMENSION , SANS SOUCI for a very pleasant hour or so for drinks and nibbles.
Upon returning to the Fargo we enjoyed an entree of abalone pan fried in garlic butter followed by a main of Duncan’s Chicken Pie washed down with a gorgeous 2004 Maclaren Vale Shiraz we found lurking in the wine locker.
The only down side to another wise fantastic day was yours truly suffering a small injury to the top of his 4th digit on his left hand whilst lifting the last reluctant abalone from his rock on the sea floor. “ tis only a flesh wound” - Nothing that a bandaid and a tincture of time won’t fix.
Very nice, Doc Dog. Up here we're getting sopping wet and also totally tired of the 20knot SE winds which have blown without a break for 17 days now. Might see you in a week or so.
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