Broughton Island

Sunday 21st May 2017

We left the marina in Newcastle at the very relaxed time of 8.45am, and as we motored to the harbour entrance, four tugs were surging ahead of us to pick up their next delivery. Fortunately we were clear of the channel before the coal ship had started their entry.

There is very little breeze, around 6 knots from the SW, sometimes gusting to 10 knots. We fiddled around with a headsail while motorsail for a while, but it was a waste of time keeping it full.

A pod of dolphins decided to join us as we were crossing Stockton Bight and a few were quite energetic, jumping out of the water.

As we were getting closer to Anna Bay we could see a collection of whale watching vessel to the SE of us and we could see that there were at least 2 whales there. A few other boats went to have a look, but we kept going. I am sure we will see plenty.

The swell today has an easterly and southerly component, but they are long rolling swells.

Turning the corner at the end of Stockton Bight we can see Tomaree Head, that we climbed yesterday

Average speed was up around 6.5 knots, so we should be at Broughton Island at around 2 pm. Our preferred anchorage there is Coal Shaft Bay, but the Southerly swell has us a bit concerned. As we got closer, it looked a bit unfriendly, as the swell was not being stopped entirely by the reef on the Southern side of the bay, and we could see waves breaking on the beach.

After a quick consultation with Marine Rescue Port Stephens, we opted to continue on and anchor at the Northern Anchorage, Providence Bay. Sadly, it was affected by the Easterly component of the swell, but we decided to drop the anchor and grin and bear it. There is a fair bit of rolling, but it gives us a huge head start to get to Camden Haven at a reasonable hour tomorrow.

Anchored at Broughton Island

I decided to see if the fish were biting and within half an hour, we had dinner. A nice bream and a sizeable flathead.