Anchoring at Waratah Bay

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The sail to Waratah Bay was cold, wet and grey but thankfully uneventful. We had left Phillip Island about 8am and it rained the whole sail only stopping at about 4 in the afternoon as we were entering the anchorage. This was a relatively short sail compared to the last couple as the distance between Phillip Island and Waratah Bay was only about 45nm so for once we were able to get in before dark.

It was during this sail that we discovered some drawbacks to the design of our cockpit and wet weather gear. First off we realised that the wet weather gear doesn’t work quite so well when sat in it for a long periods of time, especially when the surface you were sitting on was continuously wet. But we also found that where ever the water could puddle on us it would also tend to soak through the fabric. This problem was particularly noticeable on the arms, generally when steering, and the thighs particularly when sitting. Our second discovery that we made was that we couldn’t keep the main hatch to get down below open as we normally do. However this was only because we were sailing downwind and so the rain kept being blown down below, getting the nav table and all its equipment and charts wet. It wasn’t too big of a problem but it did mean one of us couldn’t sit in the companion way under the dodger and out of the weather like we normally would. It was late afternoon when we arrived in Waratah Bay and the weather had finally started to clear up a bit. Coming into anchor we were greeted with the start of a stunning sunset and also had a several beautiful views of mountains shrouded in clouds.

Our stay in Waratah Bay was set to be another short stop of just one day. Originally the night we’d got in I’d promised Hugo that our day here would be a rest day on the boat as the last few days had been crazy and we hadn’t really stopped and had a break. But waking up the next morning we were greeted with blue skies and a white sandy beach with a green mountainside in the background. I just couldn’t resist and with a little encouragement I got Hugo to agree to go ashore for a “short” walk. It was short by my standards at least, we ended up spending the better part of the morning exploring the the beach and the surrounding mountainside. When we had got ashore it was low tide which created plenty of rock pools to look at but also a few of the “islands” were exposed revealing several small sea caves for us to explore. On the mountainside behind the beach was also several short walking trails through some sparse rainforest to various points of interest. One particular path went along the top of the cliff face above the beach to the topside of an old limestone kiln. Originally there had been six kilns but only this one had stood the test of time and remained mostly whole but if you looked in the right places you could still see the rubble of another two or three nearby. These kilns had been abandoned long ago having operated between 1880 and 1930 turning limestone to lime which was then used as quicklime in Melbourne. We finished our morning ashore by walking along the beach and noticed already that the tide had come back in, to the point the furthest island out was once again surrounded by water.

Back on the boat we had that half day of rest that I’d promised Hugo while also getting ready to sail out of Waratah Bay at first light. Our next destination was Refuge Cove on the eastern side of Wilsons Promontory.

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