Inca and the High Seas - part 2

The intrepid sailors managed first day to Bruny, and there to alight on shore to test the sea legs. They took us to the fridge at Dennes Point, and after a fine reposte of the strongest beer available to humankind, and sausages, salad and potatoes, Don, Stephen and Phil we then ready to take Inca to a safe haven for the night.

 That safe haven was just down the d'Entrecasteaux, in fine sunny weather, 20 degrees, and little wind. We found a perfect place to hide out at Woodbridge.

 That doesn't mean there weren't moments when levity invaded the cockpit. Called that for very good reason.  Much to laugh at - without the fear of the teeth of a storm - more later.

 Dover provided a very calm anchorage at the mouth of the Esperance river behind Rabbit Island. Early morning the mist sat lightly on the water, awaiting nothing in particular.

 Looking up the Esperance, as they say in Dover, across the top of a fishing vessel, to Pinders Peak or Hartz Mountain or another mountain with a name like that.  Stunning sharp point on the top. One can imagine detention for misbehaviour in first year high at Taroona under the iron dictatorships and oligarchies would have involved sitting atop that peak for the whole lunch time.

 More of that strong beer, but only at the end of the day.

NB: these graphic images all supplied and copyright claimed by Don Church of the Blue Mountains (correct name of his suburb oft misstated by either Stephen or PK) - also hence no images of the Don - more to follow when I capture Stephen's disc of memory.

 Cuisine, properly so called, was our daily fare.  Does that mean we had to pay that to get on a trolley bus? No it means that is what we ate. Evenings around the hob, the gas safely warming the cabin, dark outside, rum in glass, onions being stripped for mutilation, the kryovac steak, or hamburgers (the best) and corn or potato boiling away

 Rounding the Horn, as we say in Tasmania. Well, around the south east corner of Bruny, the Friars, after a tumultuous crossing from West to East, and snitching through close to Bruny, rather than going all the way around the southern most Friar. Boiling bubbling, toil and troubling water - made the eyes open quite widely

Evidence of two cameras on board. See the Friar rock with the gaps, like teeth, or legs below the cassock.

And so, our journey translated from the Port Davey possible, to the Circumnavigation of Bruny in fact. The stage from Southport commenced at 6am, and we were around the base of Bruny by 10am. Little wind, but plenty much swell and rocking and rolling, bubbling.

Then a calm cruise with a 7 knot headwind up the outside of Bruny. We could have tacked, across Storm Bay to Nubeena and back, but the wind would probably have changed when we got half way there.

So, we motored and chatted, and looked at Sarah's fish pens after Adventure Bay, past Trumpeter, and Variety Bay, thence to Bull Bay, and round the top to Dennes Point.

We grabbed our own mooring line and at approx 3 or 4pm were safely installed and hungry. A feast of St Stephen, Don and Phillip occurred, and we had a quite windy night on the mooring, until about 4am when the wind died down.

Final day, Saturday 17th March 2018, we had a lazy start, and then headed off with a firm northerly on the nose, back to Hobart and the RYCT, with the thought that the difficulty getting the gear into reverse was going to make putting Inca back safely into the marina, a potential nightmare.

However, that was not to happen, she went in nicely, and Marshall K and Timothy Oxley - congratulations on your birthday son, assisted with rope and snake handling. Twas a hot sunny day, and a couple of final beers at the club sealed our fate. We were addicted.

And it was St Patricks Day, so after cleaning up, we headed to Preachers for a couple of libations, then to the Red Shed, then to Irish Murphys, and so now to Sunday breakfast.

Cheers to all.
PK