Swansea To Nelson Bay
Doing Pilates on the tramp while on passage is challenging but fun
May 8th 2022 Nauti Time 063
I was up before the sun today to get ready to leave as soon as it was light enough. Got Rick a coffee to get him moving as early mornings are not really his forte
There is quite a current flow but very little wind at the moment and on checking the live web cam at the entrance all looks good for our departure. Normally if there is quite a swell and some breaking waves the best time to cross a bar is on a flood(in coming) tide about an hour before high tide however given todays conditions with little wind or swell we are leaving about 2 hours after high tide so the tide is going out but there are no breaking waves so all is good to go.
We dropped the mooring at about 6.30am heading directly into the sunrise as we head for Port Stephens. It is freezing cold so we can’t wait for the sun to get up to warm us up a bit. I made us thermoses of tea so that is helping a little.
What an awesome day on the water. When we left we were motoring and thought with the forcast we would need to motor virtually all the way. As it ended up we motor sailed for about an hour but the wind picked up so off went the motors and we were charging along doing 8 knots with 15knots of wind. Who says a fat arsed cat can’t go fast!
The sea conditions were calm enough that we could sit out on the front deck in the sun which we needed to do to thaw out. I even got in about an hour of Pilates on the tramp while Rick helmed.
Sand dunes of Stockton beach
Unfortunately no dolphins or whales sighted but still a perfect adventure day.
We got into Nelson bay and we’re all moored up by 12.40pm an hour and a half ahead of schedule so we celebrated Mother’s Day with some wine and cheese out in the beautiful sun in the cockpit. It was so warm I even got my bathers on for an hour or 2!
Entering Nelson Bay
Finished this amazing day with a wonderful family zoom get together for Mother’s Day. It was great to see all the kids but I missed all the usual hugs. It’s the first Mother’s Day we haven’t been together ever I think! 😢