12/22/2014: Boat wash

Position: -34° 50.82′, 151° 13.21′

We stopped off at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron to fill our freshwater tank and give the boat a quick wash.

12/22/2014: Bailey’s Marine Fuels

Position: -34° 51.67′, 151° 11.50′

In preparation for the trip to Tasmania after New Year’s, we topped off our fuel tanks with 588 gallons (2673L) of diesel and 48 gallons (219L) of gasoline from Bailey’s Marine Fuels near Darling Harbour.

12/22/2014: Spit Bridge

Position: -34° 48.15′, 151° 14.77′

Passing under the Spit Bridge in Middle Harbour. All the bridges we’ve passed under so far open on request, but this one opens on a fixed schedule only.

12/22/2014: Bantry Bay

Position: -34° 46.83′, 151° 13.86′

The view looking towards the head of Bantry Bay. We like to have a calm, secluded anchorage for Christmas, and Bantry Bay was exactly what we were looking for. The treed shores of Garigal National Park surround the cove–the only infrastructure ashore are old munitions storage buildings and on the other side, a small dock with a picnic area.

12/25/2014: Merry Christmas

Position: -34° 46.79′, 151° 13.84′

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

12/25/2014: Christmas Hike

Position: -34° 46.59′, 151° 13.95′

Out for our Christmas Day hike on the Bay Walk around Bantry Bay.

12/25/2014: Sandstone

Position: -34° 46.23′, 151° 13.78′

The Bay Track mostly is through the woods, with some dramatic sandstone sculptures and a few views to the water along the way.

12/25/2014: Bluff Track

Position: -34° 46.04′, 151° 13.72′

From the Bay Track, we followed the Bluff Track for sweeping views into Bantry Bay and Middle Harbour. Bantry Bay, for such a beautiful destination, had surprisingly few boats there over the holidays. Dirona is the rightmost boat at anchor.

12/25/2014: Higher Bluff

Position: -34° 46.00′, 151° 13.71′

The track continued to a higher bluff for even better views into the bay.

12/25/2014: Seaforth Oval

Position: -34° 46.99′, 151° 14.11′

We returned to Bantry Bay, then took the Timbergetter’s Track up to Seaforth Oval, an outdoor sports complex. Just outside the fields is a an excellent viewpoint. This is looking west towards Roseville Chase.

12/25/2014: Middle Harbour

Position: -34° 46.94′, 151° 14.08′

This is the view looking south into Middle Harbour from Seaforth Oval. The Spit Bridge is out of the picture on the left side of the photo.

12/25/2014: Offences

Position: -34° 46.92′, 151° 14.23′

We chuckled at this sign (click image to see larger picture). It looked like it had been translated from another language into English.

12/25/2014: Bantry Bay

Position: -34° 46.87′, 151° 14.07′

We followed an old, overgrown track a short distance for a good view into Bantry Bay.

12/25/2014: High tide

Position: -34° 46.66′, 151° 13.91′

Normally we worry about not having enough slack in the dinghy tie line for low tide. Here high tide also is the concern–the dock is awash.

12/25/2014: Middle Harbour Creek

Position: -34° 45.25′, 151° 11.92′

After our hike, we ran the dinghy up Middle Harbour Creek until we ran out of water. The creek runs through Garigal Naitional Forest and is beautiful and secluded, with few signs of people anyway except walking tracks alongshore.

12/26/2014: Bantry Bay

Position: -34° 46.79′, 151° 13.84′

A beautiful calm morning in Bantry Bay.

12/26/2014: Coffee Boat

Position: -34° 46.76′, 151° 13.84′

Two boats selling newspapers, ice cream and coffee came through the bay this morning. This one has a full espresso machine on board.

12/26/2014: Sydney-Hobart Race

Position: -34° 46.76′, 151° 13.84′

Most of the world’s great cities have a defining architecture or an iconic building. For Sydney, it’s certainly the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Sydney also has two defining events each year: the New Year’s Eve fireworks display and the Sydney-Hobart sailboat race. Both events bring nearly every resident, and a large number of international visitors, out to the harbor waterfront. An impossibly large number actually end up out on the water in boats. Sydney Harbor is a large one until you see thousands of spectator boats jamming in only feet apart. Just watching the spectator boats at the start of the Sydney-Hobart race was exciting. The race itself is one of the premier blue water sailboat races in the world. Boats and crews come to Sydney from all over the globe to compete. This year’s race started 114 boats and favorable winds carried the boats out of the harbor faster than in any previous race. We were invited out to watch the race on local residents Emma and Pat Roger’s cruiser. We appreciated the opportunity to watch the race without having to manage the helm. It turns out Pat is a real pro at maneuvering the boat into the ideal position to see the start of the race with other spectator boats only feet away in 25 kt winds. So, we got some great pictures and some movie segments fairly close to the start action.

12/27/2014: Damage at Sea

Position: -37° 56.46′, 150° 31.20′

Perpetual Loyal, one of the 5, supermaxis in the Sydney Hobart blue water race has retired with hull damage at the bow and taking on water. They believe they may have hit something last night around 9pm. Given that Dirona will be heading along the same rough path to Tasmania in a week, it’s a bit conserning to think that ocean born debris may have seriously damaged this 100 yacht: Perpetual Loyal “Hit Something”.