On the water again

The captain - in his favourite place ... lounging in the bunk with a magazine just before passing out for an
afternoon nap!

Before I begin this blog I just want to take a quick second to acknowledge that today marks the 1 year anniversary of our departure from Yorkey's Knob on the way to the Louisiades Rally.  What a magic trip and time and group of people that was!!!  In some ways it seems like it happened long ago and in other ways it seems like it was just last month.  To our lovely friend and crew Catherine and to all the friends we made along the way - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!  I know I'll remember September 14, 2013 for the rest of my life.  It was a life changing and beautiful month.  Thank you to Guy Chester for being the ultimate organiser and for introducing us to what must be some of the most beautiful islands in the Pacific as well as beautiful people.

Right now - as of yesterday at 10:30am we're finally on the water again.  It seems like it's been forever since we committed to sail down to Jervis Bay. 

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of "things" ... work, social events, work again, cleaning the boat and yard work.  Life takes over when you least expect it ... knowing our departure for the 2 week cruise to JB was getting closer and closer there were so many things both of us wanted to do or finish before leaving.   We just went into busy mode.  Unfortunately the hard thing is knowing how and when to the limit the 'to-do' list.   So as we approached the departure date it seemed like we were running around like headless chooks.

The yard at home was the worst I think it's ever been.  In fact when Stephanie (she and Bladen stayed in the house and took care of Molly when we went away last year) came over last week and saw the yard and her first words were, "Wow, this is worse than when we lived here!"  Yes, it was.  So George promptly mowed the grass and we manically trimmed and fed everything.  There is now (probably) more dynamic lifter (chicken poo) on our yard than in most commercial chicken yards!  Hopefully on our return things will have picked up.

I went into provision mode.  The boat freezer is now stocked with cryovac  chicken breasts, salmon pieces, casseroles and frozen prawns.  At least I know we won't starve on the trip.

Trusty cryovac machine.  It really keeps frozen things tasting fresh and close to normal.
Apologies to my vegan friends .. I've not eaten any mammals for a long long time but being a Southerner I find it hard to give up chicken. 
At least I only buy certified free range organic and that way the poor animals have a good life first .. I hope.

We took the life raft in for its two year service ... that's mandatory, every two years the raft must be serviced.  We were expecting it to cost around $600-$700 ... but George and I both got a shock when the bill was over $1,400!  Shit!  I guess you absolutely want it to be perfect if, God forbid, you have to use it but that was a shock!

George picking up the raft after bill shock.

We're now, finally, on our way to Jervis bay, on the boat, and back into cruising mode.  The weather has been a bit flukey ... from the south, then north, then east .. and all at 10 to 15 knots.  The trip from Broken Bay to Jervis Bay is 100 nautical miles so its best to get a weather window that allows for sailing most of the way. 

Yesterday we moved from the RPAYC club down to Sydney Harbour.  A distance of 34 nautical miles.  The trip down to the Harbour was great.  We motored at first because the wind was right smack bang on the nose.  About a third of the way there the wind moved around to about 60 degrees and we sailed the rest of the way down doing about 5-6 knots speed.  Magic.  We rounded North Head at Sydney about 3:00 and moved around to Quarantine Bay where we pulled up a mooring.  There was a wedding on the beach so we had our lunch and a beer and watched the ceremony and then went below for a beautiful nap.  We woke to an annoying rolling at that mooring so, at 6:10 with the sky darkening George decided to move way down the harbour, past the bridge and into Balls Head Bay.

Not a great shot ... but you can just get the idea how wonderful the sight is when you turn to run toward the harbour bridge in the night.  The city skyline and Opera house are more than fabulous!  Always magic being on the harbour.
 

Ships in the night.  Being overtaken by the Manly ferry coming up to Circular Quay next to the Opera House.
Dodging ferries is one thing I don't miss about being on the Harbour!

We had a peaceful night last night.  This morning we upped anchor and moved to Blackwattle Bay where the fish market is and where the other boats from the yacht club were meeting for lunch.  We had a good time catching up at Doyles Restaurant - the food isn't exactly top or even medium notch but the company more than made up for the food.

The Jervis Bay cruise crew at lunch - two boat's crew are missing, Hypnotic and Celay.  We'll be catching up with them today or later in the cruise.  A good time on our first day out ... many more to come I'm sure!!!

The plan is to stay here tonight at the Rozelle/Blackwattle Bay anchorage and leave early in the morning for Jibbon Beach in Port Hacking ... about 20 nautical miles from here.  There we'll wait for the big North-easterly blow that's supposed to happen on Tuesday which should get us down to Jervis Bay by 4pm that day.  The wind on Tuesday is forecast to blow pretty hard so I'm not particularly looking forward to that trip but George is and the boat is more than ready and capable so I'll just hang on for the ride.

We're anchored near the spectacular Anzac Bridge.

The harbour foreshore around here used to have classic home after home along the edge....now there's apartment block after apartment block ... everyone after that magic harbour view.  I guess I don't blame them one bit but it is hard to see so much history torn down to make way for the masses.  I guess that's life in the 21st century.

It is good to be out on the water again!