Port Lincoln to Streaky Bay

We decided to round Cape Catastrophe in calm weather and keep going to the unfortunately named Seasick Bay. It was a lovely morning. The sun was shining, the sea was calm and I had fresh salmon cooking on the stove. After lunch the clouds started to gather and the barometer began to fall. We kept motoring. At dusk the clouds covered most of the sky and a thunder storm passed over us. Lightning forked down to the sea and heavy rain fell. We checked the radar and altered our course to skirt the storm. The wind increased and shifted from SSE to SSW.

Seasick Bay

The navigation bow light failed to work, so Jeremy went up on deck to replace the bulb which had blown. The BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) forecast had issued a strong wind warning for after midnight. We hoped the wind would not start blowing early.

Just before midnight, we anchored in Seasick Bay, using our chart plotter, GPS and radar to guide us in. A moderate wind was blowing. At 0100 the strong winds arrived. If we had to get out quickly, the deathly named, but safe anchorage, at Coffin Bay, was about 15 miles away.

Rocky shore, Pearson Islands

We stayed for two nights. Seasick Bay is an attractive half moon bay backed by a white sand beach and sand dunes. The reefs at both sides keep out most of the swell. Surf was breaking on the beach so we did not go ashore. We had limited phone coverage but enough to book our flights to the UK from Perth.

Rocky cliffs, Pearson Islands

Perhaps we should have waited another day as the swell was still quite big when we left on 19^th February for the Pearson Islands. As we approached and saw the waves breaking on the island, we thought both anchorages would be untenable. The one in Anchorage Bay was exposed to the SSE wind. The one on the north east side of the island was protected from the SE and quite sheltered once inside the little bay. We anchored in 9m and looked at the rocky shores that surrounded us on three sides. Seals were lazing in the sun and wallabies hopped across the scrubland. Wind funnelled down from the high cliff above us from time to time.

The wind was very light but it turned toward the east and we were too close to the rocks. We re-anchored further away and put the anchor drag alarm on. We stayed the night. Jeremy woke early disconcerted that we were now on a lee shore, although there was very little wind. We weighed anchor and left in the dark at 0510.

Small settlement, Sceale Bay

We had a good sail in E to ESE winds all morning on our way to Sceale Bay, where we anchored in 1.8m. A white sand beach stretched in a gentle curve for miles, backed by sand dunes. There was no swell. We slept well.

Sceale Bay

The next day we set off for Streaky Bay. Dolphins joined us for part of the journey. Once we had rounded Cape Bauer, we started our approach to Streaky Bay, about 15 miles away. The light wind increased as we reached the anchorage and was blowing from the south at 22 knots as we anchored in seagrass off a long jetty. A sports fishing boat was anchored in the only sandy spot we could see. The anchor dragged. After the third attempt it held securely.

The anchorage, Streaky Bay

We stayed for two nights completing the usual chores of doing laundry, food shopping and filling up with diesel and water. The people were friendly and the food was reasonably priced at the hotel on the front.

 Streaky Bay Hotel

We checked the weather for our crossing of the Great Australian Bight and had a 6 day window with favourable winds and with the swell less than 3m for most of the trip. We left on Sunday 23^rd February. Jeremy phoned VMR (Volunteer Marine Rescue) Esperance to let them know our plans.

Five days later, we arrived in Esperance Bay in strong NE winds, which gusted to over 40 knots as we struggled to take down our reefed mainsail.

More information on the Great Australian Bight and our stay in Esperance follows in the next blog post.