Quick and wet passage to Erith Island
We put up the sails and pulled up the anchor at 0635 on Tuesday. We had been anchored in “Middle Arm”, South of Georgetown and Beauty Point. We had a pleasant time there with more enjoyable walks. Unfortunately, the anchor and chain were covered in thick gooey mud. We wanted to get away quickly and just left it to dirty the previously clean deck. We popped down the river with assistance from the tide.
We had a quick passage. A couple of hours faster than our best estimate. However, the seas became very nasty for a few hours (4metre seas on a 2 metre swell- occasionally breaking). This was when the strong current and strong Westerly swell and winds were in opposition. That part was exceedingly cold and rather wet. Still, things quieted down from the 30-37knots at the right time to a more pleasant 25-30kts and the tide changed direction so the waves improved. Two other yachts which left after us turned back and tried again the following day.
We sailed up the Murray Pass- in almost pitch dark with just some starlight to guide us and anchored safely with the sails up under the high cliffs here.
Next day, we upped anchor and delivered some fresh grapes to the newly arrived caretakers on Deal Island. Wes and Ethel have been here three times. His grandfather was head light-house keeper here and another relative was killed in the RAAF aircraft crash in the mid forties. So, many connections with the past and lots of interesting stories.
We completed some of the walks still outstanding from the last visit. Then it was back to the other island for the night. We had pleasant drinks aboard Miriamar with here skipper Bob and crew. He has been at St Vincents Hospital for 40 years, knows Penny’s sister (Annette) and also our friends Peter and Ruth Carter. This is his 18th sailing visit to Tassie.
We may be leaving for Eden on Sunady but the weather is a little uncertain at this stage.
We were very pleased that we had left Deal Is just before the gales which we experienced in the Tamar. Apparently they recorded wind gusts up to 72knots here (that’s about 130km/hr). We also found out that the 5 stranded kayakers got away and paddled all the way to Victoria in something like a 17hr paddle.
Best Regards, Dave and Penny
