Sadly no Tassie

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So on the following day, Thursday 1st March we all hiked up to 3 pip rock to get sufficient signal for the weather forecast to be downloaded and of course phone home, check messages & emails. The weather was ok for tomorrow but then another change would mean we would need to wait at Deal Island until about Tuesday. John phoned Mike to see how the Searay had gone on the sea trial - it was mid afternoon but the sea trial still hadn't taken place. After considerable discussion with the other members John & I decided not to continue with the Tassie crossing, we remained sceptical that the Searay would be seaworthy by tomorrow. We would leave the cove tomorrow and spend a couple of weeks at the Gippsland Lakes. The other large yacht also made a decision not to continue and would leave tomorrow to return to Melbourne. The catamaran and other yacht will continue to Deal Island and beyond.

So all the boats in the cove begun departing from 4.30am, including the Brighton boats ( who also looked like they were not proceeding with crossing to Deal Island), with us and the big yacht being the last to leave around 9am.

An uneventful trip to Gippsland Lakes other than the sea mist and rain which effected our visibility. Thank goodness for radar and GPS. We arrived at the Bar just as the tide was coming out, so that ebb tide made for a interesting Bar crossing- the waves at the entrance were standing up nicely. We got a berth at Cunningham Arm, Lakes Entrance (as usual) and remained there for the next 3 nights. Mike called on Saturday afternoon to inform us that the Searay also hadn't gone to Deal Island - apparently now the generator wasn't working. Good call John...............

Other than catching up with John's daughter & family, washing a mountain of clothes and boat we really didn't do anything.

On Monday 5th March following a visit to the Business Centre to lodge the paperwork for our berth in Paynesville for next weekend we set off to explore more of the lakes. On route we stopped at Flagstaff Jetty and walked out to the Bar. The dredge was working but otherwise a fairly calm bar. We took the historical walk back to the boat - we hadn't done that section before and it was very interesting reading about the construction of the Bar since 1890 and viewing the small number of relics. We arrived at Barrier Landing a beautiful spot just a short sand dune walk to 90 mile beach about 3pm - it's a very short cruise from Lakes. When we arrived two other boats were here, but they soon left for Lakes Entrance. We might see them in Paynesville next weekend as they are doing the Marley Point overnight race. So we have this to our selves and it's beautiful and peaceful, full of bird life and fishes swimming around the boat.

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Photos

Refuge Cove
Looking out from Telcom Rock across southern end of Refuge Cove. We continued on to 3 pip rock for better connectivity

Barrier Landing
Arrived early afternoon, only one other boat here - a small yacht

Barrier Landing .
The stillness and peace