Following our Christmas in Recherche Bay it was time to get moving again, especially if we wanted to be in Hobart for the New Years Eve fireworks. We had seen the fireworks the previous year and were so awed by the show that we wanted to watch them again this year. But to get there in time we had to leave the day after Christmas while the weather was favourable. That morning we were up bright and early having decided we wanted to enjoy one more short walk on the beach before leaving the beautiful Recherche Bay.
The day we left Recherche Bay the weather was forecast to be in a favourable direction but a little light, however as usual we ended up with something less then ideal. That day we decided that we only wanted to get to Southport which from Recherche Bay was only a short 11nm. The forecast suggested that we would have a nice ten knot breeze to sail to Southport. However that breeze was allusive and so we spent the better part of the morning motoring, our sails hanging limp above us. As usual when the wind finally did arrive it was coming from directly where we were going, not from behind which was what had been forecast. But having been motoring all morning we were sick of the noise and so decided we wouldn’t let such a good wind go to waste. The wind was blowing a steady 10-15knts so we turned the engine off and set a full main sail, staysail and jib, it wasn’t long before Allagai was racing. Although we had to throw in a few tacks to make it to the anchorage it was worth the few extra miles for some peace and quiet and a lovely sail. We dropped the anchor just off the Southport Jetty and spent the rest of the day enjoying an easy afternoon on the boat.
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The following day with the wind direction due to change we were no longer going to be sheltered in our current anchorage. So with this in mind we decided that before the wind arrived to weigh anchor and head over to the other side of the bay and anchor behind Pelican Island. When we arrived in the anchorage the place was quite empty with only two other yachts. However no sooner had we dropped the anchor that quickly changed when a small flotilla of tinny’s and small fishing boats arrived, later followed by many big power cruisers. It turned out that this was the prime spot to catch the salmon which had escaped from the aquaculture nets the month before. When we had sailed in we had noticed many splashes as fish launched themselves out the water, it seemed that all the splashing was the large salmon. The fisherman around us seemed to be quite successful at catching them as it seemed as soon as their lures touched the water they had a fish. Hugo decided that he didn’t want to miss out on the fun and so launched our little dinghy and went to try his luck at catching one. It was about two hours later that he finally rowed back to the boat. He had caught not one but two of the biggest fish I had ever seen. The only problem with so much fish is that I’m allergic to seafood and yes I’m told this is very unfortunate given my life on the water. This meant that Hugo had to eat all this fish himself, which I don’t think he was complaining about. However there was no way that that was going to happen in one sitting, or even in one week. This left me turning the freezer upside down to find space to store about 4kg of fish. Thankfully in the end they all fit, with space to spare for our upcoming reprovision.
Not long after Hugo got back on board the flotilla of fishing boats also left, apparently they had all bagged out on salmon. However it was as they were leaving the anchorage that the place was inundated with the much larger power cruisers all seeking shelter from the incoming wind. We went from three boats in the anchorage to about seven in the space of an hour. However thankfully it was quite a large bay so it didn’t feel too crowded and no one anchored unwind of us.
The following day the wind had abated and was once again forecast to blow in the right direction to get us to Hobart. However before leaving we wanted to take at least one stroll on the beach, which we hadn’t been able to do yet. We had been to this anchorage previously and done the other walks offered but with another full day of sailing ahead of us we just wanted to get off the boat and stretch our legs. But as usual while we were walking the wind arrived so with no time to dawdle we were back on the boat and weighing anchor after doing only a short lap of the beach.
That day we weren’t really sure where our destination to anchor that night would be. We wanted to stop into Kettering on our way down the channel to top up on fuel and water at their fuel dock. But other then that little side mission the goal was to get as far north as possible. For once the winds decided to play the game and we had a wonderful downwind sail to Kettering. However as usual in the channel this did involve the odd becalming and 180 degree wind shift which involved us watching other yachts sailing at us downwind while we were also sailing downwind. But in the end we got to Kettering with only using the motor for the last mile.
It was once we had finished our detour into Kettering that we realised the time, it was late afternoon and we still didn’t know where we were anchoring that night. Feeling exhausted from the day we decided that it was about time we find an anchorage. So after much consultation with the cruising guides and Navionics we found a small bay near the entrance to the channel called Kilora Bay. That day we travelled a total of 30nm and decided we’d finish the final 12nm into Hobart the next day. With that said we had a very calm night on anchor and woke up early to a completely glassy bay. We knew that day we were forecast to have very light northerlies so with that in mind we decided to weigh anchor and start motoring towards Hobart. The idea was that this would stop us from having to tack our way into Hobart, esspecially because Allagai does not like going upwind. But as usual the wind Gods didn’t look upon us favourable that morning. The total glassy conditions ended just as we started moving and of course as usual they were right from where we wanted to go. However to start with they were light enough that we could motor though the them. Although this didn’t last long as by two hours into our trip we had barely made 4nm and were tacking back and forth along the same line with moderate northerlies and a building sea state. To make things worse we were watching the finishing yachts of the Launceston to Hobart race fly past us, making us wish that we had their upwind capabilities.
After another hour of this hard slog we were ready to give up. Although not wanting to turn around and lose ground we decided to duck into nearby Ralphs Bay and anchor behind The Spit. This gave us some welcome relief from the wind chop, anchoring in just over two meters of water it was lucky Allagai has such a shallow draft. We were astounded at how much shelter this little anchorage gave us. With a narrow entrance through shallow water and sand bars the anchorage offered amazing protection from the wind chop.
After spending the early afternoon decompressing from our frustrating morning sail we decided to do some exploring. According to our cruising guide there was a short walk ashore. With this in mind the dinghy was launched and we rowed ashore to investigate. The start of the trail was a little overgrown but otherwise we had a very pleasant walk. The track led us to the other side of the spit which gave us some impressive views of the Derwent River and the distant city Hobart, before circling around and leading us back to the beach we had started at.
The next morning we decided to take the morning a little easy as it was Hugos birthday and I was determined to bake a cake. With a little Google searching I had found a delicious looking chocolate cake recipe which luckily I had all the ingredients for on board. However I probably should have paid a little more attention to the amount of cake the recipe made. As all I had was a relatively small round baking tin and had decided to bake it in the BBQ opposed to the pressure cooker. At first it seemed that everything was going to work because the batter miraculously all fitted in the tin. But it turns out you need to leave a gap to allow the cake to rise and as I’m a rather novice baker I didn’t know this small fact until later. It didn’t take long for this rookie mistake to become apparent when after ten minutes I went outside to check the cake only to find batter dripping on the deck. My batter was overflowing out of the tin and running out the air vent in the bottom of the BBQ, I had made a literal lava cake. This left us in stitches laughing so hard we were basically rolling on the deck all while the batter continued dripping. Finally when the laughter cleared we began cleaning up the mess and to stop more batter leaking out we scooped some of the excess batter off the top. This event taught me a valuable lesson which was to not overfill the cake tin and to read the recipe. Thankfully this didn’t effect the rest of the cooking of the cake and half an hour later we had a delicious looking decadent chocolate cake.
Once the cake finished cooking we realised that the temperature that day was quite hot and the water was surprisingly warm due to being such a shallow spot. This seemed like the perfect day to finally have our first swim in Tasmania. In the whole year we had been living and travelling around Tasmania we had never felt the urge to go swimming, even on hot days as the water only ever reaches around 12 degrees. So before we could talk ourselves out of it, or the weather changed, we changed into our bathes and plunged into the somewhat cold water. Luckily we hadn’t dallied with this decision because no sooner had we got out the water and dried off we had a moderate wind pick up. It was just our luck to that it was blowing straight through the entrance of the bar causing the wind chop to quickly build. With less then a meter under the keel we were in danger of hitting the bottom so this left us with little option but to weigh anchor and sail onwards to Hobart.
It was a good thing we left as the wind that day gave us a lovely sail up the Derwent River, unlike the day before we were flying, eating up the miles with no tacks necessary. This meant that we were at the Sandy Bay anchorage before we knew it, handing sail and anchoring well before lunch. After our busy morning we spent the rest of the day relaxing on Allagai, gorging ourselves on the birthday cake that I had baked earlier.
The following day it was finally New Years Eve and we had achieved our goal of getting to the perfect anchorage to watch the fireworks that night. Which left us with a whole day of relaxing on the boat. However we did row ashore after lunch for a short walk along the beach to stretch our legs. That night we were rewarded for our efforts of getting to Hobart with not one but two fireworks shows. The first like last year was at nine thirty, the family friendly edition which was enjoyed by everyone. Our relatively quiet anchorage from the day before had been inundated with yachts, large power cruisers and medium sized tinnys, all packed with people wanting to watch the fireworks. However after the first fireworks show most of the smaller boats peeled off leaving only the yachts and power cruisers behind. At midnight we were reward with the main show of fireworks and they didn’t disappoint. We greeted 2021 watching fireworks over the Derwent River hoping that this year would allow us to leave Tasmania for an adventure further afield. The first adventure being a lap around Bruny Island, which we were due to leave for the next day.
