We woke as arrangements were under way for the annual “Blessing of the Fleet” held on the wharf next to us.  Several of the local yachts were brightly sporting flags as they sailed around the small harbour while one of the local clergy offered blessings to the fishing fleet.

We noticed a NS-X monohul also tied up on the other side of the wharf called “Pensive”.  On closer inspection, we were amused to note the name of their dinghy being “inex-Pensive”.  This reminded us of several other curious names for dinghies which relate in a diminutive way to the main vessel.  SCARLETT’s dinghy is called “the Pimpernel”, and when we had our earlier Seawind 100 called INDIGO the boys coined the term “KINDIGO” for the dinghy.

If you have a name for your dinghy - please let us know by posting a comment!  We know there were other great names we have seen on our way around, but we forgot to make a note of them - we will do from here on!

Something must have worked with the blessing, because we caught two yellow-eye mullet later in the day - and they proved to be excellent eating, as it outlined in the small fish identification book we had. 

...but I am ahead of myself...

We left the harbour at 9:15 planning to go a further 40 or so miles to Batemans’ Bay and although it meant going out in the the south-bound EAC, we set a course for nearby Montague Island.  Unfortunately it is not permitted to land on the island unless you are part of a commercial tour, but we sailed close by and had a good look at the large Fur Seal colony - apparently the largest in NSW.  There are also little penguins, but we didn’t see these as they tend to come home at dusk.

It was the sight of a huge fleet of anchored fishing boats of all sizes at the north end of Montague Island that reminded us to put out the line and after a short time we had caught our first of two mullet.

Craig taught Rachel how to scale and clean the fish, and she was on hand when the second one caught the lure and brought it in nicely.

During the afternoon we passed another Seawind - this time a Seawind 1000 called ‘As time goes by” which was heading south.  We called on the radio to say hello and to wish them fair winds.

Our initial plans were to go 40-50 miles to Bateman’s Bay, however when we approached our destination at 5pm the winds were still a perfect 15-17 knots from the South East.  Craig re-checked the weather and concluded that these conditions were scheduled to change over the next few days, and it may be a good idea to make progress while we had such favourable winds.

In addition, Bateman’s Bay is open to the south east, and the swell was funnelling into the bay which has few protected anchorages for winds from this direction, and the bar and river at the head of the bay would need to be negotiated into the evening, with the knowledge that the recent heavy rains would make the outbound flows higher, and potentially more dangerous.

With the above in mind, we decided to keep going to Jervis Bay, so the night-sailing gear was put on, and we continued into the evening under near perfect sailing conditions, finally anchoring in Commonwealth waters at a place named the “Hole in the Wall”.  (Not to be confused with the narrow strait of the same name in the Northern Territory -See Day 76)

Till next entry...

Craig & Kerry Margetts