Chris and Suzanne Daly on Reliance spent the October long weekend taking their boat, Reliance to Port Stephens, just so they could walk up Tomeree Head. Here is their account, accompanied by some terrific photographs.
Reliance headed North on Friday in anticipation of 10-15 knot NW winds, which did not really eventuate. Instead we worked into light N/NE most of the way up the coast with a persistent 0.5 to 1 knot EAC against us, in spite of hugging the coast.
Near Lake Macquarie in the afternoon
The only respite from the current was in a small eddy just south of Red Head. We passed on the inside of about 45 ships anchored offshore between Lake Macquarie and Newcastle at sunset and were treated to a superb red sky.
Red sky and seas near Red Head
We dropped anchor at Shoal Bay around 2130 hrs on Friday night, setting over 40m of chain and rode in readiness for the forecast southerly, which did happen. The next morning we went ashore to find the walk up to Toomeree Head, the southern headland guarding the entrance to Port Stephens, Yacaaba being on the northern side. The walk is a must-do for anyone visiting Port Stephens and is easy to locate. The pathway has been well constructed and maintained and the views from four different lookouts at the top are spectacular, even on an overcast southerly day – as it was. The complete walk including side tracks to the old gun emplacements and lingering at the lookouts takes about two hours. There are also other coastal walks close by that we will reserve for another visit.
Reliance at anchor in Shoal Bay
View North from old gun emplacement
View East to Boondelbah Island
View from the top towards Hawks Nest
View south across the peaks to Fingal Bay
Shoal Bay is an comfortable anchorage during a southerly and we slept well in preparation for the Sunday morning passage back to Pittwater. Strengthening NE winds were forecast, but we started off into a light morning SW breeze, which faded towards the middle of the day. Our course was SSE for a few hours to get offshore and into the current. We picked up about 1-1.5 knots of curent heading south.
The NE wind kicked in at around 1430 hrs and gradually built to 20 knots by 1800 hrs. Running goose-winged with poled-out headsail, the wind behind us, we averaged speeds of 8 knots peaking at 9.5 knots as we entered Broken Bay at 2000 hrs. We headed straight for America Bay for a quiet night’s sleep.
Chris and Suzanne Daly
Leave a comment