Episode 73 Sydney Harbour to Jervis Bay

For Episode 72 our last blog post, we had sailed down from Lake Macquarie and spent 3 great weeks in the Kuring-gai Chase National park waterways.

It was a very active time with 50+km of kayaking, 30+km of bush walking, fishing, exploring, waterfalls, etc…

At the end of the episode, we had sailed down into Sydney Harbour and moored up just inside North Head at Quarantine Bay.

We enjoyed a great first evening and Friday night sunset over the famous harbour.

We were so fortunate when we arrived to tie up to one of only 3 public moorings in the bay – and the last one available.

Our route in Sydney Harbour

We woke on Saturday to a lovely warm day - with stunning weather, we knew it was about to get very busy on one of the world’s most famous waterways.

The kids sailing schools were in full swing and boats were arriving into the bay, vying for a spot to anchor.

As it got hotter, people turned up to the beach and the ice cream boat was there selling  to those both on boats and ashore.

Quarantine Bay is historically famous as the mandatory first stop for vessels arriving from overseas into the country back in the 1800s through to the mid 1900’s.

It has a large amount of buildings spread throughout the complex that were used to house the staff, sailors, arriving immigrants, fumigation areas for their possessions (and them) and to house the sick during pandemic times.

Now it has been repurposed in “Q Station”, a popular area for day visitors to view the restored buildings, a museum, restaurants, cafes, walking trails, stunning beaches and access to the iconic North Head National Park.

It also has overnight accommodation, corporate and wedding venues, visitor info centres and even a live music venue!

There is no parking within the area (only at the entry gate), so the only way around is walking or a free shuttle bus system. 

With such a lovely day (and knowing Lorelei was safe on a mooring for 24 hours) we decided to make the best of it and kayaked ashore. Next we changed into or hiking gear for a big day of exploring.

First stop was the area around the foreshore which included the old wharf, museum and fumigation buildings.

On the way out we spied a lot of sandstone carvings in the rock walls that were carved by the crew & passengers from arriving vessels – while they were stuck in quarantine.
Some we very basic, but most were works of art that had been on display for well over 100 years.

We walked further up the hill to view that hospital and staff quarters, which had incredible views across the harbour to the city skyline.

At the top, we had a look around the Q Station entrance area (which was packed with people arriving for the day and wedding organisers) before exiting the station and walking towards North Head.

 

The lookouts along the high and steep cliff of the headland were awesome and the sandstone carved seats were amazing.

The area is famous for its Sydney Sandstone so it was nice it was incorporated into the famous lookouts.

 

There was a lot of old remnants from WW2 such as pill boxes, gun emplacements, viewing platforms and underground tunnel systems (that can only be accessed with a guided tour).

The area also has a very well thought out Memorial Walk.

It is a paved pathway linking a series of sandstone monuments of all the major wars including info on each.
Many of the pavers are inscribed with serving men and women, RSL divisions, community support and those that didn’t return from war.

We explored the walks further north along the peninsula and even a 1.2km swamp walk that was on an elevated platform.

Sadly with the lack of rain, it was mostly dry, but we did get to see lots of spring wild flowers, lizards, and even a large Brown Snake. 

Along the walk we saw a very long old sandstone wall that seemed to go for miles.
We had seen the wall from Lorelei when we sailed in through the heads.

On the return, we went though the barracks section and found a large stage where they were setting up for “A night at the barracks” a series of open-air concerts featuring Australia music from all different genres.

By the time we got back to the Q Station entrance, we had walked about 12km and Paul’s knee (which he hurt in the last few days of the last episode) was starting to complain.

Fortunately, we were able to get a free shuttle bus ride 2km down the hill to the water’s edge as the driver was shuttling wedding guests and there was 2 spare seats.

We even jokingly got an invite – but given our attire and spying most of the women in stunning designer label dresses and matching Birkin or Kelly handbags, we definitely weren’t in that league!

By the time we got back, the boats had started to thin out leaving only the small number of those staying overnight left in the bay.

That night there were strange search lights overhead. 
We could only assume they were from the stage at the barracks.

With a strict 24 hour only stay on public moorings, we left the next morning and heading across towards The Spit. 

We passed the famous Balmoral Beach before heading up to a bay in Clontarf that had a quiet little beach in the corner. 

Well it didn’t stay quiet for very long!!!

Being another stunning spring day, boats came out of The Spit area in droves and either went past to another location or stopped in the bay.

It was chaotic! 

But there were many incredible boats out and about and ones we’ve only ever seen in magazines or on display at a high-end boat show.

Lisa called it serious boat porn and we sat in the cockpit watching the parade.

Sadly, many of them were crazy high powered and the owners seemed to like the idea of travelling at crazy high speeds resulting in massive wakes rolling through the anchored and moored boats.

And RIB’s!!! OMG!!! Some of the biggest RIB’s (Rigid hull Inflatable Boats) we’ve ever seen – and lots of them.

Most had twin 200-300hp motors but some even had up to 4 x 600hp outboards.

And more ice cream boats…. 

Needless to say, we stayed onboard and rested while the masses played on the near perfect boating Sunday.

When peace returned, we moved south towards the very exclusive Eastern Suburbs. 

There were loads of WW2 gun emplacements along the rocky and steep shorelines as we headed further into the harbour.

We spied Clifton Gardens Bay and were disappointed to see a large crane and loads of workers doing work on the wharf in the bay.

It was the one spot we really wanted to dive in the harbour as it is a popular macro site, but that wasn’t going to happen.

As we rounded the corner and crossed the harbour, we were able to see the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the first time onboard Lorelei.
It was very exciting – but busy with peak hour commuter ferry traffic.

 

Its pretty sad to see such an amazing city offset buy a large navy vessel.
Oh the sorry state of the world....

As we arrived at Rose Bay, we fortunately were able to get one of the 4 public moorings.

With a strong southerly blow hitting at around midday, we decided to quickly put the tinny in and head to shore and get some much-needed fresh food. It had been almost 4 weeks since out last shop so we were hanging out for fresh fruit and vegies.

We found a small woollies metro, but around the corner, found and incredible Italian run food market with massive amounts of fresh food and Asian groceries.

We were stoked!!!

By the time we got back to Lorelei, it was 20+ knots of wind.

30 minutes later it was a solid 30 and gusts to 35 knots and not at all pleasant.

The only ones enjoying it were the private school kids (who were on School Holidays a week earlier than the public school kids) sailing around the bay.

 

Sadly for Paul, kiteboarding is banned within the harbour and he was not happy about it as Rose Bay had a perfect beach to launch from.

To make up for it, we brought some Sushi and had in in the cockpit while watching the dingy sailing.

The harbour bridge went from being easily seen to hazy to a complete white out.

All night it blew and the next day as well.

We did get one break to look at the city and bridge at night.

But on day 2 it rained as well.

Not super heavy, but just annoying drizzle.

But after the last month of no rain and Lorelei caked with coal dust, bushfire ash, spider webs and dirt (see the last episode for that saga) it was welcome. 

Frustratingly, it poured rain overnight when it was too cold and dark to get outside with a scrubbing brush and clean the deck.

At least we were able to top up the tanks with nice fresh rainwater. 

On Wednesday morning we got up early, moved Lorelei only 50m from a mooring to Lorelei’s anchor and pulled it in hard to make sure it was set well.

We looked out across the harbour to find one of the Tasmanian Ferries travelling down the harbour.

We were perplexed as to what it was doing up here instead of down there??

Then another weird incident.

A Rose Bay Seaplane taxied out past us, turned and accelerated as if to take off.

Then it turned at full power and headed straight down the channel (which was into the wind as is required to take off), but it meant they were heading straight towards all the moored boats, the floating wharf and the foreshore.

When it hit full speed and was about to take off, it suddenly aborted (as it was damn close to the shore and we were thinking it didn’t have enough length to lift off).

It then glided at speed though the boats and came to a stop just near the wharf.

Maybe it was a planned test or maybe it was an aborted take-off – we don’t know.

But watching on, it was damn scary and we though we were about to witness an aviation disaster.

We both discussed it later and were thinking exactly the same thing as it happened.

 

We then got ready and headed into the city for a day outing.

Unbeknown to us, the Rose Bay ferry wharf had closed the week prior and would be closed for 4 months while it underwent a major renovation.

We did discover it was open during peak hour commute times only but was closed from 9:30am to 4:30pm weekdays and then all weekend. 

Oh well – we got on a bus instead and headed into Town Hall.

Our stop was opposite the famous QVB Building (Queen Victoria Building) which is right next to Town Hall.

Despite working only 200m from there in the 80’s and 90’s, the area had changed a lot, and we had never seen the new light rail system that runs through town before.

We hoped on the light rail and caught it to Pyrmont and walked a short distance to the new Fish Markets.

This new building was opened in January 2026 at a massive cost of $836 million AUD.

It was started in 2021 and was estimated to be $250 million to build.

5 years later it was finished at a significant increase in build price from the 2018 proposal. They cited complex underwater engineering challenges and construction delays as the cost blowout.

Either way, it is an incredible building and we were in awe at the size and style of it.

From the markets, we could also look across the water to the Anzac Bridge.

Inside was a hive of activity considering it was 10am on a Wednesday.

 

The range of seafood was just staggering!

Whole rows of different species of crabs, oysters, prawns, fish and crustaceans.

The preprepared seafood like sashimi, sushi, oysters and cooked seafood was also in abundance.

We even saw some fish we had never seen before - and they were supposedly products of Australia.

There is also wine stores, fruit and veg, boutique food outlets, Asian groceries and the list goes on.

What really stuck us, was the elevated price of seafood.
The price of live crayfish (lobster) was an example.

And to think Paul would get around 80-100 lobster every day while working on the small expedition cruise ships out at the Abrolhos Islands back home in WA.

We always had at least a dozen of them in the fridge or freezer at home and ate them when we couldn’t afford red meat or there was nothing else to eat.

I guess we are just so spoilt for seafood both at home and onboard Lorelei that the market retail price scares us.

After a lot of looking around the markets, we decided to get some unusual seafood nigiri to have for entrée before having lunch in Chinatown later in the day.

Overall, we just loved the experience of walking around the entire place.

We caught the light rail back towards the city and stopped for a walk around Paddy’s Markets in Haymarket.

These markets started almost 200 years ago in 1834 as a simple gathering of colonial fringe traders.

It has now grown into the city’s largest commercial market network.

Today, the area is filled with a mix of tourist souvenir shops, cheap clothing, phone and tech outlets and lots of food ranging from fruit and veg to street food and fine dining restaurants.

The markets also back onto Chinatown and the Convention Centre /Entertainment Centre areas so it all melds into one big precinct.

For lunch we ended up in a large Asian food hall and feasted on traditional Chinese meals. 

At 2:30pm we walked out to find the forecasted afternoon NE seabreeze was non-existent and instead was a very cold, dark and rainy afternoon coming in from the south.

We decided to call it a day and head back to Rose Bay – and beat the peak-hour public transport rush.

Once in Rose Bay we could see Lorelei and the tinny from the bus, so we went a little further and had a walk around town to explore.

With more time we went back to the fruit and veg market to have a better look.

They also had a whole wall of amazing cheeses from all over the world.

Back on Lorelei, we had the young kids in 2 groups sailing the small Optimist dingy’s in race courses either side of Lorelei.

One set were racing at sunset between us and the Harbour Bridge with the setting sun, which made for some great photo ops.

It was our first bridge sunset too.

The glow behind Lorelei on the luxury homes overlooking Rose Bay looked great.

Just after sunset the other group of girls were still racing.

They had 4 boats and the 2 at the front were fiercely competitive with aggressive sailing and ended up in a very close finish.

The two at the rear were sailing side by side singing loudly the Frozen song “Let it Go” and as a twist were singing “Let it Blow” while just cruising around the course. They came in tied last a long way back.

We joked they probably smuggled sunset drinks onboard.

We laughed and figured the front 2 were future Sydney to Hobart racers and the back 2 were future cruising yachties!!!

The alarm was set for 5:30am the next day to get up early to catch one of the first ferries into Circular Quay to enjoy another land-based day.

That was until we looked out and couldn’t even see the bridge because of the thick morning fog.

So we waited – and waited – and waited.

By 10am it was still hazy, so we aborted and instead motored over to Athol Bay around noon when the NE afternoon winds kicked in and cleared most of the haze away. 

We motored past the HMAS Sydney Memorial on Bradleys Head.
Geraldton where we live in WA has a large HMAS Sydney memorial and the local museum has a section on it too as it was sunk off the coast of WA and Geraldton is the closest largest town to the wreck site.

Athol Bay is very popular for boats in the afternoon and evening as it is directly opposite the city, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, giving awesome views across all three.

The added bonus is, it’s directly below the world-famous Taronga Zoo and you can clearly hear the animals and the themed animal shows that are on throughout the day.

At first the anchorage wasn’t too crowded, but at around 4pm it got quite busy when the charter boats of all shapes and sizes turned up and anchored in the bay.

We predicted this would happen and chose to anchor off to the side of the mooring field and had uninterrupted views.

We relaxed in the cockpit and watched the sail training boats cruise around the harbour and the chaotic amount of ferries and boat traffic.
 

The sun set was great. Not a lot of cloud for colour, but the orange glow from the little bit of haze certainly helped.

After dark, the lights of the city lit up from North Sydney, across the bridge, and all the way to the Eastern Suburbs.

Then the party boats turn up – lots of them.

The harbour has a well-known party boat culture but we didn’t expect this amount on a Thursday evening. 

There were multiple dinner cruise boats with mellow music.

Then the louder 80’s themed disco boats and even an ABBA tribute show boat!

Then the ruckus really started when the dance party boats motored slowly by with their colourful array of party lights.

They had hundreds of ladies dancing – no jumping around on the front and top decks singly loudly to the latest dance tracks.

It was certainly a spectacle.

When the ferry wash and doof-doof music subsided around 9pm we headed to bed to be ready for an early start.

At 4am Paul was up to photograph the city skyline - hopefully without any wind chop or boat wash.

Fortunately, it was glassy and he got the shots.

Then at 5am first light, the animals started up.

The primates were going nuts!

There was a lot of loud yelling, screaming and things banging around.

We felt sorry for the other animals in the enclosures near them.

Then the birds kicked and the Lions too.

It was pretty awesome to sit back, enjoy the view and hear the sounds.

At 6am the city was a warm glow with the first morning rays of light.

North Sydney was the best lit up from where we were.

We decided to do a harbour cruise while the weather was nice.
There were storms forecast over the next few days and being a Friday, we didn’t want to be in the popular areas with all the masses of boats like the previous weekend.

By the end of the day, we wanted to be well up into the Parramatta River system where it was much quieter and more protected than the eastern parts of the harbour.

Before the peak hour ferry traffic hit, we decided to cross the busy ferry lanes and headed from Athol Bay over to Farm Cove, which is right next to the Opera House.

On the way over, we went past the Naval dockyard and Fort Denison which is in the centre of the harbour.

Farm Cove is surround by Sydney Botanical Gardens and the city skyline directly behind it.

It has the perfect view of the Opera House and the Bridge next to it.
We put the anchor down and had breakfast while admiring the view.

After a drive-by of the Opera House, we travelled under the Harbour Bridge and around to Blues Point.

There is only one public mooring at Blues Point and we couldn’t believe it was vacant. So, we picked it up and sat looking back towards the famous entrance at Luna Park, back under the Harbour Bridge and across to the old Walsh Bay wharves with the new Crown Tower in the background.

After working out some routes, we decided on a cruise up to Blackwattle Bay where the new Fish Markets are.

That involved a drive right past the Crown Tower and down into Darling Harbour.

There were some pretty unusual sculptures in the water near the new tower.

We could see the new hotels, museum and the restored tall ship, the James Craig down at Darling Harbour.

We proceeded down past the restored Woolloomooloo Wharves and past the new White Bay Cruise Ship Terminal which is still under construction.

Further down, we headed towards the old Glebe Island Bridge and next to it, the new ANZAC Bridge.

The old Glebe Island Bridge was a bridge that swung open by rotating the central section 90 degrees and allow tall ships to transit through.
The bridge is now not operational and has been permanently left open.

The ANZAC Bridge has a 27m vessel height clearance so we could get Lorelei under easily.

Under the bridge we could see all the party boats from the night before safely berthed in the protected waters of Black Wattle Bay.

We motored up to the Fish Markets but decided not to anchor as there is no where for tenders to get ashore safely to access the markets.

A bit disappointing….

On the return leg we took a short cut inside Goat Island and headed up the Parramatta River past Cockatoo Island.

The area is very industrial with a lot of commercial wharves, naval areas, bulk carrier terminals and marinas.

Further up we transited under the Gladesville Bridge which has a clearance of 40m.

The areas of Abbotsford and were much quieter and the shorelines were replaced with residential homes, apartments and rowing clubs.

The surrounding waterways are packed with rowers early each morning.

There were only 2 public moorings along the Cabarita straight near Hen and Chicken Bay and we were very fortunate to get one of those.

They are reportedly not used all that often (like the more popular ones in the Harbour) so the plan to get one had paid off.

Finally, we had calm water on the Friday afternoon and we were able to do 4 loads of clothes washing.

It had been so rolly in the harbour, we couldn’t even think about using the washing machine.

Paul used the discard washing water to pour over the decks and finally break out the scrubbing brush and get rid of the dust and dirt that had been inground into the non-slip on the decks for the past 6 weeks.

That afternoon we had storms building up to the west and it looked really ominous, but we only received a little bit of light rain and a few 15 knot wind squalls.

Saturday morning was nice and warm and glassy flat.

We launched the kayaks and decided to do a long paddle around the bays of Abbotsford and Cabarita.

Additionally, we were looking for spots close to the ferry wharves where we could safely leave either the tinny or the kayaks if we wanted to head off for a day trip into Circular Quay or Manly.

We paddled past some lovely houses, marinas, stacks of wharves & jetties and stopped to have a look at the rowing club launching facilities.

By the time we got home, it was over 32 degrees and a really hot day.

 

That arvo, we had a BBQ in the cockpit before watching the AFL Grand Final.
Whilst we are not die-hard fans, we did want to see Fremantle (a Western Australian team from where we live) win their first ever Premiership. 

Sadly, they lost in a nail-biting thriller that was so close all game.
They only lost in in the last few minutes.

For days we knew the there was going to be a change on the Saturday night and a southerly was forecast of around 20-25 knots.

There was even a strong wind warning out on the Friday but it was cancelled at Saturday midday.

After to footy was over we went upstairs to watch the clouds forming to the south. 

We could see a bit of rain of to our side but it went down past us.

At dusk, the clouds really started to form up with really weird orange and brown colours in them

Then we started to see lightning and Paul spent ages trying to get photos of it.

With the landing flight path to Sydney Airport directly over us, we could see planes all day coming in.

Then all of a sudden we saw a plane coming down, then aborting and heading back up and banking hard to the right.

That’s weird we thought and checked the wind forecast to find that Sydney Airport and the southern suburbs we copping a 40 knot hammering.

We were already prepped for a strong blow, but not 40 knots!

So with minutes to spare, we prepped the boat, packed down heavily, put all the nav gear on, lighting and set the engine up ready for an immediate start.

If it was SW we would be offshore and very protected.

Due South would put us parallel to the shore and still fine.

But SE would have us on a lee shore with the rock wall only 25m behind us.

And the waterway was stretching SE in front of us for about 1 mile meaning the wind would whip up the waterway and make it pretty rough by the time it hit us.

Additionally, on the other public mooring was a stunning old timber J - class yacht that was fully restored and in immaculate condition.

Like Lorelei, it was around 60ft (18m) long and probably over 20 tonnes.

And in a SE blow, it was directly behind us and very close. 

With all the moorings in the Harbour rated at maximum 20m length and 20 tonnes, we were right on the limit, and not really prepared for wind for in excess of 40 knots.

And hit it did.

SE and winds 35-40 knots.

We started the engine and Paul stood at the wheel ready to go.

If we broke off, we would have about 5 seconds before we hit the J-class and about 20 seconds before we ran onto the rock wall.

Like most storms, we knew the initial boof at the start would soon go through and then things would settle down hopefully back to a manageable 20-25 knots.

An that’s what happened – for a little bit.

We were just about the shut the engine down but Lisa decided to check the wind strengths down south and was shocked to find it had smashed back through again and the airport was recording 50 knots!!!!

Sure enough, 3 minutes later it smashed us with 40-45 knots constant and gusts to 50 knots!

The poor J-class was hobby horsing so much that its bow was going under the waves with salt water all over the deck.

And it blew like that for about 2 hours - with us on standby for all that time.

It did get quite cold and we were rugged up, but fortunately, there was no rain.

In our 20 years of owning Lorelei, it’s the 4^th time we’ve had a weather situation like that and we can vividly remember the other 3 which were in The Kiribati & Palau in the Northern Hemisphere and The Kimberley in Australia.

Fortunately, the mooring held and by 10pm it was back to 35-40 knots and by midnight it was 25-30.
And it stayed like that until daybreak.

But the evening had taken its toll across the city.

We could here sirens all night, private boats and party boats trying to anchor in the protected channel near us and a lot of screaming and yelling going on.

By daybreak the reports were not good from around the Harbour.

Sadly, one boat was smashed onto the rocks at Manly and destroyed.

The people had to get rescued.

Several other boats capsized and water police reported a very chaotic night on the water.

The Carnival cruise ship delayed leaving port.

15,000 homes were without power and there were numerous trees and powerlines down.

At Wedderburn, the authorities were conducting a controlled bush fire burn off and with the wind, it got out of control, destroyed 2 fire trucks and 19 people were treated by paramedics.

And amazingly the bloody BOM (government run Bureau of Meteorology) completely stuffed up by cancelling the strong wing warning at 2pm and not putting it back up until 7:30 that night as a gale warning – 2 hours after the carnage had started.

The BOM Facebook page had to block comments on their posts after they were flooded with loads of very nasty comments.

BOM has a lot of explaining to do after this latest debacle….

In the FB post they called it an “Atmospheric Tantrum”!

Bloody idiots! 

After a relatively sleepless night, we woke to find it miserable.

20 knots of wind, raining and cold. 

And the poor rowers were still out – and using Lorelei for cover….

 Monday morning when the weekend mayhem had passed, we motored back down the Parramatta River, under the Harbour Bridge and back to Rose Bay.

It was the first day of school holidays and we decided it was safer to leave our kayaks ashore at Rose Bay rather than the tender for any extended shore-based activities. 

Additionally, due to the big high tides in the morning and the low tides in the afternoon, it was easiest to kayak ashore each day and leave them up high on the beach.

The first trip was a bus ride into the city.

We hopped off at Hyde Park and walked around both parklands. 

The ANZAC Memorial was excellent.

From there we walked over to look at the Barracks and St Mary’s Cathedral.

Lisa really wanted to look around the Botanical Gardens.

After an entire loop around we decided it was a nice walk, particularly the old large trees.

The highlight was definitely the succulent garden.

Overall, we thought the floral displays were average and didn’t compare to the gardens at Singapore, Kuala Lumpa, etc…

When we enquired about Orchids at the info centre, they said they have a large green house full of them, but they are not open to the public!
Seriously…?? What's the point of having it then?

What was really annoying was the thousands of runners that swarmed into the place around lunchtime and treated the pathways through the gardens as their own personal running track.

Whilst it’s nice to see people getting out of the office and getting fit, to see them weaving at speed around the elderly, young children and tourists on masse in their matching corporate banking clothing was a safety hazard.

We got bumped into and pushed past dozens of times.

We moved away from the mad rush and went to the quieter Art Gallery.

For lunch we decided to do something different rather than Asian food, but after a lot of looking, found ourselves in a small Asian restaurant in a back corner of Circular Quay.

We were the only non-Asians in there!

The food was authentic, very tasty, and reasonably priced.

After lunch we braved the Opera House.

Fortunately, the runners and corporate lunch goers had disappeared which left just the tourists.

For the late afternoon we decided to walk along Circular Quay, past the Contemporary Art Museum, cruise ship terminal, under the Harbour Bridge and into The Rocks precinct.

The next day we decided to head the opposite direction and head away from the city and out to Watsons Bay and South Head.

We started the walk at the infamous Gap (where lots of people have died over the years by falling, jumping or being thrown off the high cliff top).

From there we headed around the headland, past the light houses, old cottages and WW2 gun emplacements.

The secluded beaches at Watsons Bay were lovely.

Sadly, over 80% of the attractions along the walk are fenced off with ugly and rusting temporary fencing, that by the looks of it, has been there for years.

Even most of the lookouts are covered by rusting 10ft high fencing strapped to the nice 4ft high timber one.

Additionally, the paths are uneven, full of potholes, overgrown and not well marked.

No wonder so many people jump off the gap, if they lived on the north side and had access to the amazing facilities at North Head, maybe they wouldn’t feel like jumping…….

We walked back towards the ferry terminal and the famous Doyles restaurant and bought fish and chips from the takeaway section.

For the final day of exploring, we took to the ferry system.

We caught the ferry around the harbour which was much less stressful than taking Lorelei, and we could enjoy the scenery.

In the early morning the Carnival cruise ship was being refueled at Circular Quay.

We contemplated taking Lorelei to Manly, but the 5 public moorings are right next to the ferry wharf, and the wash from the busy waterway reportedly makes boats on the moorings rock and roll violently all day – especially monohulls.

So, we took the ferry instead.

We walked along the Corso over to Manly Beach and on the return, walked around the other laneways and parts of the town.

On the way back into the Circular Quay, the cruise ship was leaving and the tug boats were blocking the entry into the wharves.

The ferry had to sit off and wait for about 10 minutes as it departed – much to the excitement of all the holidaying kids onboard the ferry. 

We were able to get the peak hour ferry back to Rose Bay - it was the only time we were able to get the ferry there due to the ferry terminal being renovated.

The ferry had to berth at an old public jetty, which we could see was a bit stressful for the crew and not set up for a vessel of that size.

That night, the weather forecast confirmed what we thought would happen – a strong wind warning the following day from the north and a week of overcast days and rain. 

We contemplated taking Lorelei up through the Spit Bridge and into the protected areas of Middle Harbour and Castle Cove, but in the end, we decided to brave the strong winds and use them to head south down to Jervis Bay 85nm away.

However, after 3 big days of tours and 10 busy days in the Harbour, Lorelei was not ready for a bumpy overnight trip offshore. 

In the morning, we spent 2 hours packing away the kayaks, hiking gear, cameras, cleaning up and locking down.

We also headed into Rose Bay in the tinny for a quick last-minute shop to top up on fresh food. 

By 11am we were packed and ready to leave Sydney Harbour. 

After setting sail, we went out through the heads and down past the lighthouses along South Head.

To get away from busy boat traffic and the bounce back of the waves on the cliff faces we headed offshore, but we could still see Bondi Beach in the distance. 

As the arvo went on, the wind increased, and by 5pm we had 27 knots of wind and were flying south.

We were already off Wollongong by sunset.

But it was really cold and we ended up in full wet weather gear.

Lisa secretly brought some Sushi for dinner and pulled it out at 6pm, much to Paul’s excitement as it is his favourite food.

With all the commercial marine traffic off Port Kembla, we put the radar on.

We haven’t used the new B&G digital radar much yet, so for Lisa it was a chance to play with the settings and get familiar with using it.

It has some great features that we didn’t have on the old one and made tracking other vessels around us, so much easier – and ultimately safer for everyone.

After a bumpy night, we rounded Point Perpendicular at 1:30am and motored up in Jervis Bay, putting the anchor down at Long Beach at 3am. 

For Lorelei it was a big moment.

She was built in the Sutherland Shire in Sydney and launched at Port Hacking.

From there she has only ever sailed north – and when in Australia, lived most of her time in Queensland.

This was the first time she had ventured down into the 35-degree latitudes – and we were very excited about it!! 

We are no strangers to Jervis Bay – but we had not been there in over 25 years.

In our 20’s we had a trailer boat called Under-C, which as the name suggests, was set up for scuba diving.

For holidays, we would tow it down from Terrigal to Jervis Bay to dive in the area.

We had a friend who had a few acres down there and it was not built on, so we would camp for free on the block which made for a great but cheap holiday. 

Despite the cold, the area has some spectacular and varied scuba diving.

And we were itching to get our new gear and wetsuits into the water and test them out.

But that would have to wait until the right weather – and that’s was days away.

Our route in Jervis Bay doing the "Jervis Bay Shuffle"

After our 3am finish, we slept in until 10am and decided we should get up and pack away the sails properly and tidy up Lorelei.

We went outside and were horrified to discover thousands (literally) of Bogan Moths all over Lorelei.

Being nocturnal, they hate sunlight, and were tucked under and behind anything that would give them darkness.

We left the zippered sail bags open on the boom overnight and the moths had nestled in clumps within the folds of the sails.

We had to raise both the main and mizzen and shake then to get all the moths off before packing them away.

It took ages to clean them off, and we were still finding clumps of them days later.

After doing a bit of online research, we discovered there was a massive migration of them from Sydney to Ulladulla and we were right in the middle of their path.

There were loads of Facebook posts of people talking (and complaining) about them.

It was supposed to be a calm night with light & variable winds the next day but the sunset didn’t really suggest that.

At 4am we woke to the wind generator really starting to spin quickly and that meant 20+ knots of wind. Then it soon went to 30!

We got up to find us on a lee shore and the wind hammering the 5 miles across the bay and onto us.

Soon the waves picked up and it became really rough.

We sat and waited bouncing like a cork until 1^st light when we could move over to the other side of the bay for more protection.

Yet another BOM forecast disaster!!! 

We anchored out the front of the town of Vincentia and were able to go ashore to the shops, which were only 100m from the waters edge and get some fresh milk and veges.

But 24 hours later the wind swung around again, and this time we motored an hour to the NW corner of the bay to the town of Callala Bay.

As we were motoring up, we were stopped by the local maritime authorities to do a safety check on Lorelei.

It turned out that Mick the officer was a local bloke and we picked his brains for diving locations and where we could and couldn’t anchor with all the new marine reserves in the area.
He was a top guy and said he’d look out for us in the area while we were diving which was really nice.

Thank goodness we were able to anchor in a protected corner of the bay as by midday a severe thunderstorm warning was in place. 

By 2pm the clouds rolled in – and they looked ominous.

There was yellow haze under the clouds that we assumed was dust and dirt kicked up from the high winds.

There was a local sailing regatta out of Callala Bay and we couldn’t believe they were still racing as the storm came in over them.

We thought they were coming in but they rounded a buoy and went straight back out into the centre of the bay. Crazy!

We could see the rain south and north of us, but we were in a little corridor that missed most of the initial blast.

Parts of the lower clouds then became a wild blue/green colour and we were hoping it wasn’t going to be hail.

Then the rain hit – and it poured.
 

The worst thing though was the visibility was down to only about 200m and we were very worried the sailing dinghies wouldn’t be able to find their way back to Callala Bay. The sailing club support boats were running around trying to corral and guide them back to the beach.

Fortunately, we didn’t get anything over 20 knots of wind.

But there were some wild reports from both north and south of us – and a Tornado that ripped through Ulladulla.

We could see water spouts starting to form south of us before the rain hit, but didn’t expect them to be that destructive!

For the next day 10 days, we did what is know and the “Jervis Bay Shuffle”.

It was crazy.

Virtually every day we enjoyed the morning conditions suited to that anchorage, and then as the wind direction (or swell height) changed that afternoon, we were forced to moved to another location in the bay to suit that weather, then ride it out overnight, enjoy the morning and do it all again that afternoon.

For the 10 days the weather came in every direction and every wind strength from flat calm to multiple strong and gale wind warnings, and some big swells.

We bounced and rolled and moved and rolled and moved and moved and moved……

We did however get some small pockets of goodness.

When at Long Beach, we were able to head down to the entrance of the bay to an area on the north side known as Long Nose Point.

We rigged up all the new scuba gear and wetsuits and were finally able to go for our first scuba dive in a loooong time.

Our dive locations in Jervis Bay

We decided not to take cameras and just concentrate on the new gear.

The big issue was getting the weights right.

We spent almost 45 minutes playing on the surface in the new thick wetsuits getting the weight perfect.

Considering the last 500 dives we have done were all in the tropics and wearing only light wetsuits or board shorts and rashies, the thick wetsuits, hoods and gloves were a bit of a shock.

What we failed to consider was the extra bulk of the wetsuits (and maybe a few extra pounds on our body weight too) which meant we also had to adjust all the straps on our backplates.

But finally, we were in and diving.

It did feel a bit weird at first with the new regulators, but we soon got back into rhythm and enjoyed a great dive of 74 minutes. 

We did see a lot (over 100) Port Jackson Sharks all huddled together on the sandy bottom in between the rocks.

A lot of the females were heavily pregnant and we saw stacks of their eggs rolling around the sandy floor in amongst the weed beds.

On the way back we found an anchor and chain that was in excellent condition so we brought it back.

It was only when we got it back and gave it a clean, we realised it was a genuine SARCA anchor and the same brand as the new one we had brought for Lorelei – just a lot smaller.

After some research online, we discovered it was for vessels 4.5m-6.5m and suited to all bottom substrates, making it perfect for Fand-Angler our tinny.

At over $300 each plus chain, we had scored a great find.

With a wind changing again, we moved from the north of the bay down south to a great anchorage called Hole in the Wall.

On the way down we stopped to have a look at some whales and calves that were inside the bay.

Weirdly, the area is within the Australian Capitol Territory (ACT) National Park and boundaries and not in NSW.

So, we were now anchored in the ACT.

Considering that the ACT is located a significant distance inland from the ocean, it is a bit weird to say we’ve been to the ACT in Lorelei.

But that’s another area of Australia ticked off the list – only the states of VIC and SA to go for Lorelei.

It is the best anchorage in the area for southerly winds and is a stunning location with 5 public moorings and close proximity to Bowen Island.

We spent an entire afternoon working on scuba gear and doing modifications and improvements.

For our second dive we planned to head over to the northern points again – but we never got there.

On the way we stopped to have a look at the rock formation that gives the area its "Hole in the Wall" name.

We then motored up to Bowen Island.

It is closed to the public and you cannot go ashore.

Additionally, you cannot anchor close to the shore, which we assumed would make diving the area difficult.

We did find a few commercial moorings in a bay so we pulled up to stop and have a look.

There was a lot of bird life along the shoreline.

As we travelled further up along the island, we came across 4 large commercial moorings.

They were not for public use but there was nobody there and we figured there weren't even 4 charter boats in the region, so we pulled up on one of them and started our dive on the northern point of Bowen Island from there.

With the drone, we could also see across to Point Perpendicular.

Again we didn’t take the camera and concentrated on getting us and our gear just right before introducing another new item.

It was an excellent dive with a wall of sort corals down deeper which held stacks of Nudibranchs.

Further along we found 100’s of Port Jackson Sharks again and this time, about 25 very large Wobbegong Sharks, most of which were also very fat and most likely pregnant.

After an 80-minute dive and swimming about 2km, we vowed to return to this spot and bring cameras.

The stay at Hole in the Wall didn’t last.

It was over to Vincentia for a day.

Paul had a dentist appointment so we went ashore in the tinny.

As we were anchoring the tender on the shore, a very large shark came right up to us.
It was only meters off the shore and heading towards 2 families with young kids swimming.

We screamed at them to get the kids out of the water, and the shark glided by for everyone to see.

Needless to say, the parents were very grateful to us for the alert when we went and chatted to them.

 The swell was invading making it very rolly overnight, so the next morning we headed back up to Long Beach to ride out the northerly winds for 2 days.

With the strong afternoon NE winds, Paul decided to try out some new kiteboarding gear.

He had a brand new 12m kite, bar & lines and board all waiting for their maiden run.

Sadly, as we got to shore and pumped the kite up, another really big shark swam right along the shoreline.

Once again, we were running up the beach alerting families who were enjoying the Saturday morning and had kids in the shallows swimming. 

This time it was a race as the shark was moving towards them very quickly and Paul was screaming to them as he was running along the beach.

Once they saw it too, it was a mad rush to get everyone out as it cruised by. 

We couldn’t believe it.

Two really big sharks in just 3 feet of water in two days and different parts of the bay and both with young kids swimming.

Needless to say, Paul aborted the kite session - and the gear still sits unused!!!

Frustrating….

 

With the nice conditions the next morning, we were able to get the SUP’s out and have a great SUP in the shallows along the beach and out around the adjoining headlands.

Lisa was excited to have a dolphin come right up alongside her while she was paddling.

The area borders the military training and bombing area.

We put the boards on the beach and were ready for a swim, when Paul spied a massive amount of white water coming across the bay.

We aborted the swim and paddled as fast as we could to get back to Lorelei before the 30 knots of SW wind hit.

Paul made it by about 2 minutes but Lisa was slower and got back about 90 seconds after it hit. Fortunately, she predicted she wouldn’t make it and headed to the front of Lorelei so when the wind hit her, she could paddle downwind to the back of Lorelei.

We made it – just.

Oh dear – yet another unforecasted BOM strong wind warning F#@kup. 

It was brutal!

By the time we got the SUP's back onboard and secured, Lorelei had spun around, the beach was only 40m behind us, we were in only 1.5m of water depth under the keel and there were breaking waves on the beach and over Lorelei’s bow.

There was saltwater going everywhere! 

It took us a bit to get the anchor up – and we were still dripping wet in our paddling rash tops. 

Finally, we were able to make headway across the bay.

With the ultra-quick start of the engine, Paul went downstairs into the engine room to have a look over everything (as he had done some servicing the day before) when a wave smashed against Lorelei and knocked Paul over.

His long sleeve rash top sleeve got caught in the spinning engine parts and dragged him into the engine.

He smashed his head in two places on the engine before the rash top was ripped from his body and was shredded to pieces.

Paul was a mess, dazed and covered in blood. 

He managed to walked upstairs to Lisa in the cockpit and she was horrified at the sight.

Fortunately, he was able to sit there for 20 minutes while Lisa got the boat into the protection of Callala Bay and put the anchor down.

The next hour was spent fixing Paul up, cleaning up the copious amount of blood that was everywhere and removing the shredded material out of the engine and double checking it was ready to go again if necessary.

There was a cut above Paul's eye that would probably need stitches, 2 big gashes and a flap of skin hanging off on his scalp, but the worst part, was the multiple burns/grazes from where the material was stretched and ripped off his body.

The worst spots were under his right arm and around his neck.

To top if off, that night we had another major influx of the bloody Bogan Moths, and this time Lady Beetles also. 

Great!

Paul was a mess.

Lorelei was covered in salt water, Lady Beetles and Bogan Moth poo.

There was salt water in the bilge (its normally immaculately clean and bone dry) from where the stern gland was dislodged from the shredded material.

The sups were sitting out in the weather.

And downstairs looked like a massacre and a bomb had hit.

NOT HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!

Fortunately, we were able to stay in Callala Bay all Sunday and overnight into Monday afternoon.

The Bathurst 1000 car race was on Sunday, so Paul watched that in bed while Lisa tidied, cleaned, cooked and tried to get everything back to normal.

There were a lot of Dolphins around Lorelei that cheered Lisa up a little bit.

Fortunately, on the Monday morning, Lisa was able to get Paul an appointment at the local Callala Bay Medical Centre. He was patched up by two lovely female doctors Heba and Maddie who were amazed that he wasn’t more hurt. 

And they were right. It could have been a lot worse.

After a splurge at the local bakery for lunch, it was a busy afternoon with a 300l top up of fresh water, 7 loads of washing (particularly Paul’s sheets & towels after the accident) and a final engine check so at 5pm we could move again down to Hole in the Wall for another Southerly strong wing warning that was due to hit at 9pm that night.

Fortunately, it was westerly winds when we left and were able to motor sail and keep an eye on the motor – and get the Bogan Moths out from under the sails! 

We watched 3 warships come into the bay and anchor up near us, so we figured it was going to be a big swell out to sea.

It was an interesting sunset and an eerie calm before the storm hit.

We did get some rain to wash the deck clean of all the salt, but most of it went through north of us and smashed Sydney – which ended up with flash flooding and all sorts of dramas.

After 48 hours of storms and strong winds, Paul relaxing and Lisa taking control of everything, we were able to finally venture out and hopefully look forward to a better week than the one before – and less of the Jervis Bay Shuffle every 24 hours! 

We started off slow with Paul and did a series of low tide walks around the southern parts of the bay.

First stop was Scottish Rocks.

On Google Earth we saw a freshwater marsh area filled with lots of trees about 500m inland from the rocks, so we decided to walk up to it in the hope to see some nice birds around the perimeter. 

Sadly, it was bone dry when we got there and no wildlife.
Oh well. Thanks goodness it was only a 1km round trip.

The rocks at low tide along the beaches were fantastic, particularly now the sun was out and it was warming up.

We ventured further around the bay to Greenpatch.

This area is a popular day trip area with a designated swim beach and is famous for its birds and Kangaroos.

We had read that the bird life was not like it used to be 20-30 years ago, but we still had curious King Parrots, Cockatoos and Crimson Rosellas sitting on our table.

 On the ground, the Rainbow Lorikeets were cheekily climbing all over Paul’s camera bag looking for food.

There were ducks in the watercourse at the back of the beach too.

When the tide was at its lowest, we ventured back around to Hole in the Wall to walk out to the rock feature.

On the way home, we stopped in at the Murrays Beach boat ramp and camping area.

The new (and obviously very expensive) wharf setup for a one lane boat ramp is a bit weird.

The on-shore activities came to a halt when another strong wind forecast hit at 8pm that evening.

It bought southerly winds, rain, big seas and cold temperatures into the single digits for another 48 hours.

At least it gave the boat a proper wash and we were able to collect a bit for washing scuba gear – if the weather allowed us to dive again…..

We utilised the time onboard as best as we could by lodging our tax, cooking and cleaning.

On the second morning Paul managed to fly the drone with all the cloud overhead and before the wind picked up for the day.

So that’s it for this episode.

But we are not done with Jervis Bay yet.

As we type this, there is snow falling down to 300m in Tasmania, so we are not rushing to get down there just yet.

Additionally, friends David and Maddie on their yacht Popeye are heading this way and we’d love to catch up with them.

We are still determined to do more diving in the area and finally get Paul’s new camera into the water for the first time and photograph the masses of Port Jackson Sharks.

And we would like to do some more walks, more SUPing and hopefully for Paul, get to try out his new kites and kiteboards – if the right conditions ever present themselves – and the sharks stay away!!!!

Paul's injuries are healing quickly but he may have a few scars for a while.
At least the terrible weather has forced Paul to relax and heal - the word relax is not normally in his vocabulary!!!

It’s certainly not the best start to our Jervis Bay experience, but we will persevere and you’ll find out how it all went in the next episode.

Cheers for now from a soggy, wet, cold, windy and rough Jervis Bay.

Paul and Lisa

Yacht Lorelei