Norfolk Island Day 2

Anson Bay beach

Yep, that was one rocky night.

Rocky, as in rock-and-rolly that is. Not the other rocky - the anchor was reassuringly solid all night, despite the constant pitch & roll of the swell.

Speaking of swell, daylight brought a clearer view of the beach at the head of Anson Bay, and it was obviously going to be a bit of a bitch landing there with the dinghy. To say nothing of getting off again. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained...

Mt Bates looking SE

 First Mate John had woken with a knackered knee (alcohol obviously hadn't cushioned the impact of a twisting fall into the dinghy from Cascade pier), so he wasn't going to play. And Yann was pretending to be asleep. That left Tiny & Jim to make this particular viking raid.

All went swimmingly at first (you know where this is heading), successfully timing the breakers for the final run into the beach, until the last one caught the dinghy very convincingly from above. Not behind or below, but above! The shore party were already there to help gather up the remains, while two bedraggled vikings scrambled ashore to dry off.

Norfolk pastures

After a couple of hours, and copious application of WD40, it was clear the outboard wasn't going to start again, so only two options remained:  paddle out through the breakers, or portage everything up the cliff behind the beach. Including the dinghy, outboard, repaired windlass, and all the provisions. Everyone seemed to prefer the former option.

Matt was elected to lead the charge, being a serious paddler back home in Oz. Jim felt like another swim, so volunteered to come along for a laugh. Or several laughs, actually, as it took 5 or 6 attempts to get past the breakers. Each time being beaten back, rolled, spun, submerged, and generally rinse-cycled. If there was anyone watching from the top of those cliffs they would have been on their knees, laughing so hard. We were.

Happy days...

The sun was shining, we were having fun in a perverse sort of way, and finally, just before we felt we really should call it a day, Neptune decided to give us a break. Maybe he had an appointment elsewhere. Anyway, we made it back out to Harlequin, quickly fitted the windlass (the dry bag had worked, amazingly), and weighed anchor for Cascade Bay.

The shore party were now to cart the outboard & provisions back up the cliff to the waiting hire-car, have the outboard fixed in town, then meet us back at Cascade Bay. With some fish & chips. By now, we had worked up one hell of an appetite!