Made it to Oz

[rickp]

Cracking sail across from Santo, Vanuatu via Huon Reef and Chesterfield reef where conditions were sublime.

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The diving was incredible - everything was supersized! I've not seen zebra sharks before, so when one swam right up to me, it was quite a moment.

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At Huon we had turtles nesting and heading back to the sea (and getting lost). We helped this one get back to some water, and cooled it a bit - then it managed to get over the reef at high tide.

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Nice fast sail from Chesterfield to Bundy, 3 days with the last 24hour under spinnaker. Now the boat cleaning and fixing starts...

[dmmbruce]

Well done! Sounds great. Lovely pics.

What's next? a long rest in Oz maybe, or are you planning more excitements?

Mike

[rickp]

Replacing main engines and generator - that'll keep us busy for a week or two Gonna swap the dive compressor to electric - had enough of the petrol noise and hassle (having to haul the compressor on deck etc). If all goes well, down to Sydney for New Year and then onto Tasmania for a spell.

Back east next season - probably Vanuatu though there is unfinished business on the diving front in Fiji, so who knows... I'll be looking for crew this time as my wife will be skipping the longer passages. She'll take the more sensible windward option

[SteveH]

Sounds like you are going to be very busy!
Still better to be in Aus busy than in Gosport busy

[44C]

Huon and Chesterfield are awesome! Would like to spend longer there.

Are you doing all that work at Bundy?

[rickp]

Yeah, I'd have spent more time at Chesterfield but our crew had a deadline unfortunately. btw the rules have changed there, you need to give them 3 months notice now and do some form filling to request permission to visit. I believe my application is being considered soon

We're heading down to Coomera to haul out at Boatworks and do the work there. I'm looking for local knowledge for the powerlines at Jacob's Well or Canaipa to save me going outside the islands. I'm told there's more clearance than the beacon guide shows over to the sides of the channel. Any ideas?

[rickp]

Sounds like you are going to be very busy!
Still better to be in Aus busy than in Gosport busy

Heh, I dunno - the locals have some comedy pricing on some things. I asked the local Bauer agent about converting my dive compressor to electric, and he quoted A$3800 (for parts only). I've sourced the appropriate motor, pulley, taper lock and belt for under A$250.

[44C]

Yeah, I'd have spent more time at Chesterfield but our crew had a deadline unfortunately. btw the rules have changed there, you need to give them 3 months notice now and do some form filling to request permission to visit. I believe my application is being considered soon

We're heading down to Coomera to haul out at Boatworks and do the work there. I'm looking for local knowledge for the powerlines at Jacob's Well or Canaipa to save me going outside the islands. I'm told there's more clearance than the beacon guide shows over to the sides of the channel. Any ideas?

What's your air draught? There's certainly much more clearance than signposted. The signs indicate clearance at the lowest point on a really hot day, with a large margin for flashover.

In reality you pass close to the pylons in either Canaipa or the main channel. I know boats with 20m masts pass through routinely.

We generally use Canaipa, it's nicer, and has some good anchorages. Simply sticking to the marked channel brings you close to the power pylon.

In the main channel you steer close to a pylon. From memory, (It's been years) the pylons basically stick out the water, so you can get close as you want.

The Boatworks is a great place to get work done. All the trades and suppliers are right there.

[rickp]

Thanks. The book says 20.25m unloaded, which we certainly are not! However, that may not include the VHF aerial. Sounds like we should be good though.

Yeah, Boatworks looks good. Engines and drives organised, along with lift gear. Rest we can probably do ourselves. Still discussing props - the local maxprop agent is a bit hard work, so we may well change.

Any suggestions on a good site to offload old engines, props etc?

[44C]

While in Bundy, if you need it, Kenco Bundaberg is a good place to get anchors and chains re galvanised.

To sell your old engines, you could try Gumtree.

[rickp]

A load of folks have done the regalvanising thing already. I'll probably do mine next season.

Gumtree has been suggested by others - looks like its the way to go

[Jeannius]

Thanks. The book says 20.25m unloaded, which we certainly are not! However, that may not include the VHF aerial. Sounds like we should be good though.

Rick... We had the VHF and Raymarine wind instruments knocked off the mast going under a 65ft bridge in the intracoastal waterway in the US. However, we did successfully clear several other 65ft bridges before that happened. 20.25 metres sounds like the total height to me.

[Peter]

Enjoy Oz plenty of cats around.

Beware electric dive compressors. The power requirements on initial start up, not running are very high, so check your generator. You can reduce the power required by some fancy soft start electronics.

I agree our petrol one is noisy.

Peter

[rickp]

Peter - yup, familiar with that. I've actually gone down a size on the pulley which should help (and we'll fill marginally slower - big deal). Worst case, I can put the petrol motor back on, but I think we'll be ok. Motor should arrive in a few days to give us a chance to check it before we leave Bundy. Any good dive sites south of here? (will do north when we come back, or next season).

Thanks for the height check. Saw pictures yesterday showing 30m clearance over by the pylon, so I think we're good there too!

Thanks all!

[Peter]

Any good dive sites south of here? (will do north when we come back, or next season).

Thanks all!

We spent a month arriving on Christmas morning in Lord Howe Island. There are moorings in the lagoon suitable for catamarans. The diving is both different and amazing, the worlds most southern coral. You can self support in the lagoon but you need a local operator for dives on the outside. They were brilliant, picked us up from the boat, chose the site (they know the turf) and then let us do our own thing, even filled our tanks (noisy compressor). New Years Eve was real island culture, everything closes for massive beach party.

There is an annual Boxing Day race from Sydney so plenty of cruisers about as well.

You can climb the mountain, not a walk in the park but worth the effort and for a special treat sail past Balls Pyramid on the way back the the mainland.

We got hauled at Boat Works on our return, nothing gets done in the run up to Christmas. We were ready to head back to New Cal, mid May. Easy 5 days hop if you do it before the trades build.

Enjoy

Peter

Arriving Lord Howe at dawn, Balls Pyramid can be seen on the horizon to the right of the main island.

[44C]

If you want to dive on coral, it's not far from Bundy to Lady Musgrave and Lady Elliot islands.

Further south there's still plenty of diving, wreck dives, diving with nurse sharks, stuff like that.

There's a new wreck recently sunk in Hervey bay, HMAS Tobruk. It was supposed to sink right side up, but it rolled on it's side. AFAIK organised dive tours aren't happening, but I guess you can anchor near the wreck and dive.

There's an artificial reef near Elliot Heads which has all kinds of stuff, aircraft, buses etc, and some nice marine life.