Port Stephens to Camden Haven...no wait, Crowdy Head

Looking ahead at the adverse wind directions up the coast we estimated that it was time to top up the tank with diesel. The tank had been filled up in Pittwater before bringing the boat down to Sydney the first time but our engine hour meter was not working; we had being doing a lot of stopping and starting and we didn't really have a good handle on our per hour or per mile consumption anyway. The internet, always an accurate source of information, suggested that we should be doing somewhere between two and six litres per vertical kilopascal.

On the morning of the 10th of February, we dropped our public mooring and coasted into the tranquil sun drenched aquarium-like waters of the Nelson Bay Marina. This is generally regarded as the best time and environment in which to pay $1.92 a litre for fuel. From this point forward, we logged our engine start and end times and approximate revs. From time to time, the engine hour metre would stop rolling around like a poker machine and we would get an updated engine figure off it for cross checking.

Later in the day after returning to the mooring, we made a new Zodiac Assault on Nelson Bay in order to provision. Under the influence of the Acting First Mate, we also scheduled a visit the second hand book shop. A lucky visit - because we were able to pick up a copy of the Whitsunday cruising bible "100 Magic Miles" for next to nothing. These cruising books tend to hold their value and are hard to pick up cheaply anywhere - even second hand. So this was quite the find - except that being the sixth edition, it was 97 editions out of date. This placed it after the World War II mustard gas experiments but before significant plate tectonics had shifted the orientation of some of the islands. None the less, in the words of the First Mate's father: "good buying".

The Rear Admiral putting new crew member to the test

With the arrival of the 4pm coach from Newcastle (at a jaw shattering $4.60), our newest crew member disenbussed to join the voyage North. Specialist Sail Trimmer Richard brought with him his considerable yacht racing experience. The Rear Admiral, never one to accept things on face value, grilled the Specialist Sail Trimmer for some time - querying his experience and popping taxing questions on asymmetrical sails before stepping back satisfied that someone else on board knew how to pole out a headsail.

The next morning dawned very early. Finally, timing on the yacht had adjusted to the need to get going early. With an unfortunate daylight saving conversion, the Specialist Sail Trimmer found himself arising at 4am in his home timezone. A disturbing start but rewarded

Sunrise off Hawks Nest

with the sight of the sun rising briefly between the horizon and clouds out past the islands off Port Stephens as we pulled out through the heads. This area of the coast has just been established as a major great white shark breeding ground and there was a noticeable tendency for the crew to remain safely within the cockpit area for the first few hours.

The planned course today was to make our way up to the Camden Haven River and moor for the night at Dunbogan or Lauriton behind the river bar. This was a significant number of miles and with low winds early on we motored under engine for several hours. As the winds rose and with some distance out to sea to help our approach angle, we hoisted the sails on a close reach to try and pick up some boat speed or cut the engines. With the sails up, the Rear Admiral and Specialist Sail Trimmer both had important tasks to fulfill. The

Untidy sail bag

Specialist Sail Trimmer examined the shapes of the sails, the angle of the boom, the position of the telltales and various other indicators and explained that he was not happy with the trim. This was music to the ears of the Rear Admiral. These were precisely the issues he had and had been trying to communicate to the Captain for weeks.

Despite the apparent looseness of our leechlines, good progress was being made late in the afternoon and we radioed in to Marine Rescue as we passed some miles off Crowdy Head confirming that we were on track for Camden Haven. Marine Rescue holds a mobile phone number for contact on board as a back up and the vessel was surprised not long after by a call from a rather nice gentlemen at VMR (Marine Rescue) Camden Haven. VMR Camden Haven was monitoring our progress and was just calling to discuss a few matters concerning the bar crossing, the depth of the river, the winding nature of the river, the impending fall of night and generally to just have a chat.

A word should be said here about river bars. River bars like Camden Haven or the Hastings or for that matter, the Regatta or Storey Bridge, can be turbulent meeting places. There are special regulations in both NSW and Queensland about crossing bars - it is a legal requirement to wear a life jacket when crossing a bar. There are also strong recommendations - generally the bars should only be crossed on a rising tide or at happy hour in the case of the Regatta. With a falling tide and any significant sea or swell, the bars become turbulent and can launch, roll or generally mishandle boats.

There were no particular indications that the Camden Haven River bar was going to be too difficult to cross - what with a relatively low sea, wind and swell. The timing was good for the earlier stages of the flood tide. However, our friend at VMR Camden Haven was keen to point out that with our draft and coming in at night and the timing of our arrival and the uncertain nature of the channel if one had not negotiated it before in the dark...well no direct advice was given but a strong suggestion was made that the entry would be difficult. With Crowdy Head less than four nautical miles off and considered a very good all weather anchorage with no bar, we elected to run in for Crowdy Harbour instead.

We dropped the main and furled the headsail and made a triumphant entry through the seawall into Crowdy Harbour under the mighty growl of the diesel so all might know of our magnificent arrival into port.

All certainly did know of our arrival into port. This was for several reasons. Firstly, most of the population of Crowdy Head was either fishing in or swimming in the not particularly massive harbour area. Visiting vessels are required to tie up alongside the public jetty at Crowdy Head. The harbour is not big enough for swing moorings. The public jetty was bristling with fishing rods and lines stretching out into the only maneuvering area. Our presence was noted - although no one moved their lines or swam out of the way. Secondly, as we pulled in through the seawall attempting to steer through the "Entrapment" style net of fishing lines while still maintaining our depth we let out a number of loud unsavourable sailing curses as we realised that the depths in the harbour were much less than indicated on our charts. Everyone looked on wondering what the reason was for our uncouthness. Thirdly, there were basically only two boats in the harbour. One of them was us, and the other one was sitting on its side at least 30 metres from the water.

Strangely, the only people who didn't know of our arrival were Marine Rescue Crowdy Head who inexplicably did not have a view of the harbour. They seem perplexed when we raised certain questions about where one was supposed to park without adequate water depth and without dragging several locals into our cooling water intake. We eventually solved the

Arjuna (background) fighting for space in Crowdy Harbour

problem using ingenuity and a process of elimination by simply pulling into the trawler jetty. Not particularly deep, but not particularly busy either.

It was at Crowdy Head that we noted the big difference between an Alan Lucas cruising guide published in 1995 and a more recent copy. The online update to "Cruising the NSW Coast" simply points out that the co-op at Crowdy Head was closed as of 2010. The coop being the only occupant of Crowdy Harbour. Happily, it was also where one used to pay $15 to tie up at the public jetty. Unhappily for the public jetty, the lack of $15 fees has resulted in a somewhat derelict jetty in a degrading state of affair. Potentially, it also explains why the harbour depths were lower without regular dredging.

Crowdy Harbour is absolutely dense with bait fish. The Specialist Sail Trimmer explained that as a child he use to net fish like this - the Specialist Sail Trimmer being a jack of all trades in addition to a specialist in sail trimming. The Rear Admiral and Acting First Mate dropped lines over the side - but the task was hopeless, not even the hungriest predatory fish would have found their hooks amongst the teaming water. Well fed pelicans sauntered around simply opening their mouths briefly to eat. The odd dolphin pod wandered in through the seawall to coral the fish into bait balls.

Crowdy Head lighthouse 1879

So all in all, Crowdy Head being somewhat in the decline as a boating harbour, was also very lovely, protected and serene. Except if you were a bait fish.