Saturday there was a window to get through the canal and although it meant motoring into 15-20kts of wind and 1.5-2.5m swell we took the opportunity to finally leave Orford!
Sheokee decided on the same course and joined us for the run south. It wasn’t that bad, although there was plenty of water over the bow.
There wasn’t plenty of water under the keel around the canal and we just squeaked through with less than 0.1m under us in places! We came out of the canal and into the short, unpleasant chop of fetch in Norfolk Bay. Despite pushing the motor to higher revs we couldn’t get to Murdunna fast enough. A look under the boat the next morning revealed why – we’d picked up a huge ball of weed on the propeller and rudder. Alex to the rescue again!
It was a peaceful, windless night for a change and we all slept well.
After a walk to the local shop for a coffee and the Sunday papers we moved around to beautiful Lagoon Beach on the tip of the Tasman Peninsula. Unfortunately the recent winds had pulled up rafts of seaweed and pushed it into this bay so we were floating amongst potential propeller fouling mines. We moved to Slopen Main and enjoyed sundowners on Sheokee before another peaceful night.
Time for one more night on the water – we motored yet again across a flat Storm Bay and into our final stop at Quarantine Bay, picking up a mooring so that the Skipper could fully enjoy evening drinks! It was a busy bay – the last night of a long glorious weathered weekend for most. We toasted our 41 day summer sojourn, such as it was, remembering the good bits and cursing the weather gods, before turning in for one last night afloat.
