Year 2 – 2 February 2025 -Cowan Creek

It was a still foggy morning when we woke and there was damp moisture all over the deck. Boats appeared like ghosts out of the mist at their moorings and the party boat was silent. I had got up in the middle of the night and they were still partying in the early hours.

We had a cereal breakfast in the cockpit and the sun soon burnt off the fog and it was going to be a hot day with little wind. A few members of the party boat staggered up gradually. We looked at the pilot book and decided we would explore the upper reaches of Cowan Creek which became quite deep after the bay we were anchored in. We got the fire pump hose out and used it to wash the chain and anchor as it came up as it was covered in mud. It fits to a fitting at the mast and an electric pump means we can pump up seawater and wash with it. This did not take long but in using the bow thruster one of the foot buttons stuck meaning it was permanently on when switched on. This will need to be looked at.

We motored out of the bay and came round the headland and we were then into Hallets Bay – a quite wide bay with a small sandy beach one end. There were boats anchored off it. We motored on and went down Jerusalem Bay which was about a mile long creek with an anchorage at the end. We saw ski boats dragging their skiers and kids sitting on inflatable rings being pulled along. We saw lots of the blubber jelly fish in the water which they did not seem to worry about although most of the people were wearing some form of wetsuit.

When we came down Jerusalem Bay there were various offshoots one of them being Panta Bay which had 3 party boats in it and we thought it should have been named party bay !. We passed Little Jerusalem Bay -being a smaller version and went into Yeomans Bay. These bays have various boats mostly moored on mooring buoys and being the National Park have rocks and trees lining them rising up from the water. Apart from mankind it is remote and beautiful and reminded me a bit of the remoter sections of the River Dart or somewhere like that. They call it bush here.

We turned round in Yeomans Bay and then continued down Cowan Creek and could see Cottage Point which is a major point with a marina and a pub and a community. It is a sort of major junction and we thought we may return at some point. We decided to go down Coal and Candle Creek which is a couple of miles long and quite deep. It had a marina toward the end with a café and possibly some shops. We tried to sail initially but due to the sides of the creek the wind died. We motored on passing a number of motorboats coming the other way. It was a beautiful creek and about 25 meters deep in the centre. We continued on and saw the marina which went right back into its own creek. We continued past and anchored in the middle about 300 yards away from the marina.

We got the dinghy ready and headed ashore and went down the marina pontoons which must have had about 150-200 boats in it and found a nice café called The Shed where we had a good lunch. After lunch we returned to Stormbird and then went back to get rid of our rubbish. A dinghy came by and a man and his wife asked after the boat as they were considering a Hallberg Rassy 53 or a Swan 57 as they wanted to sail around the world.  I gave them my view on HR’s but suggested they should sail both before making their decision.

We were a little close to one edge of the creek and as we wanted to stay the night we moved about 100 yards so we were more in the middle of the creek. I undid the foot pedal for the bow thruster and found the button clogged up so Mark and I cleaned it up and oiled it and then put it back with new sealant. We thought we should do the other one which we did. They are therefore now re-sealed and working.  It is very satisfying when you can do it yourself and it works.   

We decided to have a little siesta and then sat reading and chilling. We all then sat on the rear deck and watched the sun go down and the crescendo of the cicadas increased. It was beautiful and very quiet and all we could hear (apart from the cicadas) was the odd fish jump and the cormorants fishing or sunning themselves in the trees near the water. The picture of the day is at anchor looking down the creek.

It was a lovely spot and we had cheese and biscuits in the cockpit as it got dark with new bread that Trevor had made. It had been a lovely, chilled day and we had seen some of the National Park and the backwaters which the locals clearly enjoy.

We will explore more tomorrow and hopefully hear when we can get the new AIS unit.

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from April to September 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