Yamba - Coffs Harbour - Newcastle

Squeak!!!

Departing Yamba marina & associated channel was less fraught, as was crossing the bar outbound on the second half of the flood. A good breeze and our ever-helpful East Aussie Current had us making a steady 8 kts SOG which made short work of the 60 nm to Coffs Harbour.

The only incident of note being a visit by a large pod of extremely frisky dolphins, including some youngsters that became increasingly friendly (belly up) under the bow until 'clunk', the falling bow connected with one. A single "Squeak!", and the entire pod vanished in the blink of an eye. Hopefully without any serious injury.

Coffs' famous Big Banana

Our Friday night supper at Coffs was a fish & chip takeaway from the local cafe - a treat we'd been discussing all day as the alternative to actually catching the promised tuna. Or mahi-mahi, or anything frankly. Also nice to receive a visit from more of Matt's family, who appear to be spread in their hundreds throughout the eastern seaboard!

The plan was to spend the weekend here, but the weather had other ideas. The forecast was shaping up for a spell of strong southerlies, which would trap us in port for 5 days. We could either weather the shift in Coffs Harbour (and after the Big Banana, there ain't a lot to do there) or bite the bullet and depart immediately for an overnight all the way to Newcastle. A quick check with the crew and we agreed we'd go for it.

Slowing down by this stage...

We just had to wrest Matt back from the bosom of his family (sorry, Matt) and refuel, which involved a couple of hours' delay after a queue of trawlers and a Police launch. Then we were off for the 200 nm hop down the coast to Newcastle.

Welcome to Newcastle

The welcoming 'Destiny'
(marking Newcastle's
bi-centennial)

About 7 nm off the coast we found the EAC, with the sea temp shooting up from 19 to 25 degs C. And for hour after hour we enjoyed a 'magic carpet' ride of 10-11 kts SOG. This was whilst motor-sailing at 5-6 kts. No surprise then, that we covered the 200 nm in 24 hrs, allowing birthday-boy Steve at the helm to playfully beat the last few miles into harbour in beautiful sunshine.

Arrival alongside at Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club (NCYC) was snag-less, well in time for the next day's celebration of Australia Day, and to take Steve out for his Thai birthday dinner. Happy 52nd, Steve!