Weekly review for Dec 28, 2014

Highlights from last week:

12/28/2014
12/28/2014: Sugarloaf Bay
After a few nights in Bantry Bay, we moved over to Sugarloaf Bay for a change of scenery. We enjoyed the anchorage, but it was a lot more crowded than Bantry Bay.
12/28/2014: Spit Bridge
We followed at least a dozen boats through at the 10am Spit Bridge opening.
12/28/2014: Manly Corso
We anchored off Manly and went ashore for lunch and a walk around. The Manly Corso was incredibly busy on this holiday Sunday.
12/28/2014: Fairlight Tidal Pool
The view to our anchorage over the Fairlight Tidal Swimming Pool just west of downtown Manly.
12/28/2014: Moth
This Moth sailor was really moving across Manly Cove.
12/29/2014
12/29/2014: Socket
We installed a 15-amp, 240V socket in the lazarette so we can plug in 240-volt equipment.
12/30/2014
12/30/2014: MV Octopus
Evidence we’re in all the right places: this is our third sighting of Paul Allen’s Octopus since leaving Seattle. We last saw Octopus off Waikiki Beach, and before that in San Francisco Bay.
12/30/2014: Woolworths
Woolworths grocery delivery has been incredibly convenient for us here in Australia. We had several orders delivered in Brisbane, a large one to Bobbin Head and another large one here at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. This is one of four loads the driver is bringing us.
12/30/2014: Grocieries
Groceries to stow from our big Woolworths delivery. Woolworths doesn’t deliver alcohol in Queensland, but they do in New South Wales. So we took advantage and stocked up for the next few months.
12/30/2014: Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
Dinner at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. Dirona is visible behind Jennifer at the left end of the dock. We’ll be staying here through New Year’s.
12/31/2014
12/31/2014: Farm Cove
With Dirona moored at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, we went on a dingy tour of the harbour. Farm Cove is one of the prime locations for viewing the fireworks by boat, and already was getting pretty packed. Only boats less than 15m are allowed, but a few seemed to be pushing that limit.
12/31/2014: Fireworks barge
One of the several firework barges being towed into place. Those shells are huge.
12/31/2014: Octopus
We took a closer look at Paul Allen’s Octopus–there’s a pretty large boat inside the garage. Several of the larger yachts were stern-anchored to keep their stern to the display. Their anchor chain is visible at the left corner.
12/31/2014: Gloria Maris
Nordhavn 86 Gloria Maris also was here for the fireworks. We’ve seen that boat a few times in our travels: in the Tuamotus, Papeete, and New Zealand.
12/31/2014: Athol Bay
Athol Bay is another popular anchorage for viewing the fireworks and was pretty full. We’re told this is a less busy year than normal though.
12/31/2014: Superted
Matt and Jean Findlay had Superted anchored in Athol Bay and invited us in board for a drink.
12/31/2014: Barquita
Graham and Margarita Weir also were anchored in Athol Bay in their Norhdavn 43 Barquita.
12/31/2014: Family fireworks
We ran the tender out to the edge of the exclusion zone to watch the 9pm Family Fireworks display. The harbour was packed with boats ranging from kayaks to large charter boats. Fireworks are launched from many platforms spread throughout the harbor and the sheer volume of fireworks concurrently released with the city waterfront as a backdrop for the display is amazing. There are fireworks everywhere.
12/31/2014: Bradfield Park
We walked up to Kirribilli before the midnight fireworks. The streets were closed to cars and vendors were selling hot dogs by the dozen with people, and police, everywhere. A constant stream of people were arriving at Bradfield Park to watch the show.
1/1/2015
1/1/2015: Happy New Year
We watched the midnight fireworks from Dirona. It was absolutely amazing.
1/1/2015: Sydney to Hobart
We’ve started to work our way south toward Tasmania. Conditions right now are excellent: warm and sunny, with 10-15 knots behind us from the north. And we’re getting a nice push from a favourable cu
1/2/2015
1/2/2015: Shira
The fishing vessel Shira working a net just north of Eden.
1/2/2015: Marine Rescue
Eden Marine Rescue perched on Lookout Point. We’ll be stopping in Eden for a couple of days to wait for a weather system to pass through before continuing on to Tasmania.
1/2/2015: Multipurpose Jetty
Eden is a thriving commercial fishing town. This is the Multipurpose Jetty, primarily used by fishing vessels.
1/2/2015: Victoire
Eden is a popular stopover for boats returning from north from the Sydney-Hobart race. It’s also a common place to pull in during the race if conditions become too dangerous or a fault occurs. Victoire placed 15th in line honours this year.
1/2/2015: Snug Cove
The view across the Mooring Jetty and Snug Cove from a lookout on Warren’s Walk. Dirona is anchored in the distance at the right of the photo.
1/2/2015: Killer Whale Museum
The Eden Killer Whale Museum was closed for the day when we went past. A feature display is the bones of “Old Tom”, a killer whale who with his pod helped the locals hunt great baleen whales.
1/2/2015: Wharfside Cafe
We had an excellent meal of fresh local fish at the Wharfside Cafe.
1/3/2015
1/3/2015: Morning sun
Looking southwest from the anchorage. With the winds from the north, this was a picturesque and sheltered anchorage. A little swell came through occasionally, but not enough to warrant theflopper-stopper.
1/3/2015: Bottom clean
We dove the boat today to clean the bottom. It wasn’t in that bad a shape since it’s last clean at Lady Musgrave Island, but it still took us 2 1/2 hours each. We definitely do not need a larger boat. We wore our new O’Neill 5mm wetsuits for the first time and were perfectly warm in the 76F water. We’re quite happy with them.
1/4/2015
1/4/2015: En route to Tasmania
We got underway at 6:45 this morning for Tasmania. When we went to bed last night, the forecast wouldn’t have conditions sufficiently good until this evening. But when we got up this morning, wind conditions were calm and the new weather reports showed that it might be a little lumpy this morning, but generally good most of the way. If the weather conditions hold, we expect to be arrive at Freycinet Peninsula before noon on Tuesday. The red line shows our intended route–click on the image to see a larger view.
1/4/2015: Green Cape
First lit in 1883, the Green Cape Light is the most southern lighthouse in New South Wales. It’s also the second tallest in the state, at 95′.
1/4/2015: Gabo Island
We’re off the coast of Victoria now–this is the rather bleak-looking Gabo Island light.
1/4/2015: Conditions
As forecast, we had a few hours of 15-25 SW winds that have since eased off to 10-15. The wind came up surprisingly quickly, and the seas built up a bit, with tight 6-8′ waves on the bow and a fair bit of pitching motion. But it wasn’t a big deal a

Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations and more on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at http://www.mvdirona.com/maps/LocationCurrent.html.


If your comment doesn't show up right away, send us email and we'll dredge it out of the spam filter.


One comment on “Weekly review for Dec 28, 2014
  1. ken says:

    These are very good, I particularly love the Picture with all the wine.
    Ken

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.