Thursday morning began with Silver Fern flying out the gates of hell herself, with 3 knots of current behind us. Navigating Macquarie Harbor is not for the faint-hearted, to the point where when we arrived at Port Davey, we found the Bathurst Channel to be rather spacious!

Our sail down to Port Davey turned out to be nothing of the sort, motoring the whole way as we were racing against yet another big weather system expecting to arrive that night around midnight. It was all rather uneventful, the crew taking turns in watches at the helm, slowly watching the miles pass by. There were a few moments of excitement when a pod of dolphins would join us, or a family of seals would all wave hello. We managed to make it to Port Davey just before sunset, the mountains standing guard at the entrance to Bathurst Channel welcoming us in! Port Davey and Bathurst Harbor are truly fantastic, especially when arriving by sea. We all sat on deck for the pilotage into the harbor, oohing and ahhing at the sights as John told tales of summiting Mount Rugby and sailing onto anchor in Schooner Cove. We managed to arrive at our anchorage just south of Kings Point during the last light of the evening, safely tucked away in time for our expected weather front to come through.

Tracey and Christ on watch coming into Bathurst!

The next few days were spent hunkering down waiting out the wind and rain, recovering from our long trip down. There was a break in the weather Friday afternoon, and John, Bel, Tracey, Chris and Susan all ventured out to climb Mount Beatie, the hill that sits overlooking our anchorage. The next morning there was a dinghy mission up the Melaleuca river, as the dinghy was much more navigable up the river than Silver Fern, and a visit to the Clayton Cottage, which sits at the base of Mount Beatie. We spent the afternoon resting up as we had an intended departure time of 1800, to catch the last of the wind that came with the system passing through to sail back to Southport.

Silver Fern at anchor in Bathurst Harbor.

Coming out of Port Davey, we found ourselves motoring into seas averaging four meters, with a stunning sunset and what looked like thousands of seabirds out playing in the swell. The first couple hours of our journey down towards the Southwest cape was spent motor sailing, as we were just shy of the wind angle we needed to properly sail. But right after the 2200 watch change, we were able to unfurl the jib, ease the main and finally turn the engine off. With a few impressive jibes through the Maatsuyker and De Witt Islands by Denise, Bel and Susan, we sailed East with a steady 25 knots of wind behind us, nothing but the sea between us and Antarctica. We turned the corner around the Eastern cape just after sunrise, and were anchored in the peace and quiet of Southport by 0800.

We all had a well deserved nap, then in the early afternoon ventured to shore for a leisurely walk to the Southport lagoon. Unfortunately, the most Southern Pub in Tassie, an absolute favorite of John and myself, is shut for renovation, which really ruined our plans for the day. Instead, we had a beautiful evening onboard, with chips and salsa and sundowners and mumus!

A crew selfie walking around Southport Lagoon

It’s not a party until Tracey puts on her mumu!

The next morning, we all ventured into the big town of Southport for coffee, ice cream, and a little wander around town to stretch our legs. We found ourselves at the most beautiful beach, which was sprinkled with kelp forests and tide pools we had the pleasure of exploring at low tide. Tracey, Bel & Chris even spotted the endangered Hooded Plover playing in the waves. What we all expected to be a short little trip to shore turned into the most wonderful morning enjoying the sunshine.

Back in the protected waters of Southeast Tassie, Silver Fern is looking forward to spending the next few days exploring all that this side of Tasmania has to offer.

Cheers,

Liv

The Perfect Jibe: feat. Maatsuyker & De Witt

Through Hell’s Gate and Back Again