Year 2 – 18 February 2025 -Port Macquarie -Trial Bay

If anyone reading this and is free in June- mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew for that month fully at present.

We woke to a lovely warm day but no wind. We had a relaxed start and a leisurely breakfast. We planned to leave around 11.00am to get back over the Port Macquarie bar. I went and looked a little way along from the marina where you could see the entrance. I took the binoculars and watched the entrance and the bar behind it. I could see quite large waves and breakers coming in. We did not have that when we entered. I decided to ring Marine Rescue again and they did not give advice really but said we should be ok. They could see from where that they were breakers and I guess this is quite common. They said if you go and look and if you do not like it do not proceed!!  

We therefore decided to leave at 11.00ish. Malcolm and I cleaned the deck and Mark had another go at sealing my window.   I realised that when we wanted to leave we will have tide pushing us on to the boat next door. I therefore long slip lines forward so as we moved down the pontoon we could pull in on these slip lines and hold us nearer to the pontoon so we did not move against the boat next door. We took the electrics in and prepared all our lines.

Coffs Harbour was due to be our next stop (about 72nm North) but as we were leaving a little late and we would not be able to get there before dark. We had two choices on the way -Hat Bay some 25nm North or Trial Bay some 36nm North.  Both were open anchorages and only suitable in light weather. The wind was again predicted to be light. We needed to move on and hopefully we will be able to make it and if not we can motor.  We therefore started the engine and got the instruments etc on. We got ourselves ready and slipped the bow line and then slipped the stern and moved slowly forward. We started to drift over to the other boat but as we came forward and on to the next cleat we pulled in on the long slips and this prevented us from moving over to the next boat. We were then free from the pontoon and I had to watch out for the stern and the dinghy on the davits not hitting the other boat. We made it and it all worked.

I concentrated on slowly retracting our route through the narrow buoys and channel and the guys took in all the fenders and coiled the lines and put everything away. We had made sure all the hatches were shut and everything was stowed as we may have to go over/ through some big waves. We meandered through the narrow channel and I watched the depth but we did not go below 3.5 m. We came out of the channel and looked ahead to the river entrance. There were some good size waves out there and I saw a motorboat coming in through them quite fast. It came into the entrance and stopped. It was Marine Rescue the equivalent of the RNLI. It turned round when it saw us and headed out again as if showing us the way. I motored up to the entrance and we picked up the sector lights showing which sector we were in and whether we were in the right sector. I then headed out of the entrance and turned North-Northeast and followed the track I made on the way in.  Mark saw some dolphins as if waving us off. Trevor told me what light he could see behind us and we headed out in the right direction. We approached the wave area and some were quite big. Stormbird went up and down through these large with great splashes of water and large amounts of water coming down each deck with the deck drains struggling to cope with the large gurgling sounds of the water going down – a bit like a plug in the bath when letting the water out but much louder. 

I kept up the revs so that when we hit the wave or went through it we kept going forward and were not stopped by it. It took a couple of minutes to get through this rough area but after a few minutes of bobbing about over the waves we were through the worst and headed for deeper water. We were then into the ocean swell which was about 2.5-3.00m but the waves were some 6-8 seconds apart so although they looked big we rode over them without any issue.

There was some wind so we got the sails up and sailed for about 4.5 hours with full sails up managing about 3-5 kts depending on the strength of the wind. It was a beautiful day and the sun shone and the sea looked clear and a lovely blue. The wave heights were coming from a low further South and out into the Tasman Sea toward NZ.

We had some wraps for lunch and read, chilled, enjoyed the scenery as we sailed up the coast. There were a few other boats out sailing and of course fishing boats. We saw the odd fish jumping and Trevor put out the new lure we bought in  Port Stephens which has done well so far. We got to mid-afternoon and the wind died and the sails were flogging. We therefore put on the engine and motored ahead as we wanted ideally to get to Trial Bay as it was then halfway to Coffs Harbour. After a couple hours of motoring the rod ratchet went and we had got a fish. We slowed the boat down and Trevor pulled the line in and we had another fish which was slightly bigger than the last and we got it on board and put it out of its misery. It was a Skipjack Tuna or Oceanic Bonito and a good size. Trevor filleted it and although we had planned to have chicken tonight we decided fresh tuna was the better option.

We motored on up the coast and approached what is called The Smoky Cape – which has three hills- Big Smokey at 319m, North Smoky at 217m and Loggers Point at 83m. Before you reach them the Smoky Lighthouse sits prominently on Korogoro Point leading you up to The Smoky Cape. Before you get there you have to past Fish Rock which is a large rock off the cape with waves crashing up and on to it providing a splash of white in the blue sea. We gave this a bit of a wide berth and then headed toward the entrance to Trial Bay and as we neared we saw dolphins jumping out of the water having fun and as if they were welcoming us. We continued on round and into the bay and saw three large fishing trawlers at anchor but they had their navigation lights on.

We came round and dropped our anchor in about 9m of water. There was a bit of a swell coming into the bay but this gently rocked us. We had arrived at about 7.15pm and the sun was beginning to go down. The picture of the day is of our  arrival as the sun is lowering. We had a quick beer and then Trevor cooked his tuna which we had with potato, onions and broccoli. It was a great supper as the sun set. We had got out of the river safely and arrived at a reasonable time which will make our onward passage to Coffs Harbour much easier. It was a lovely evening and we are the only sailing yacht here. How lucky we are.

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from late April to Mid-July so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com