We set out this morning for day sail to Newcastle, on our way for a few weeks North , hopefully as far as Yamba (weather permitting). We left Bobbin Head at 7.25am and radioed in off Lion Island at 9.10am, as we headed out to sea.
There was little breeze, about 3-4 knots NE so we motor sailed for the next 4 hrs awaiting the promised shift to the East and increase in strength to around 10 knots. The only positive was that the seas we also slight.
Not far past Box head we had our first whale sighting.
At around 1.30pm the wind had shifted and strength built enough for us to turn off the motor and we had a good sail doing 7.5 to 8 knots but right on the wind all the way to Newcastle. We had a good sail in small but bumpy seas.
Carole at the helm doing her "shift"
We were greeted by a pod of dolphins off Swansea, but had no further whale sightings. We entered the heads at Newcastle at 4.30pm and berthed at the Newcastle Yacht Club marina soon after.
Steve Smith (from Wilparina)called from Port Stephens where they had arrived earlier to check our progress and see if we wanted him to book us in at D'Albora marina tomorrow. We plan to set out at around 8am tomorrow to sail to Port Stephens to catch up with them, and then head off together to Camden Haven Sunday night.
We headed up to the Newcastle Yacht Club for dinner, only to find it was packed (standing room only) with what appeared to be several functions booked for dinner. We wandered off to find somewhere else to eat and ended up at The Albion Hotel, not far from the Yacht Club on the other side of the road. It was a great find, with an excellent restaurant and very good service.
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