Albany has been very pleasant. Some great cycle rides, walks and shops (though once again the large supermarkets were not open on Sundays!).We cycled out to the Gap and Natural Bridge which were both impressive. On the way back we stopped at the Limeburners Whisky Distillery and did the tour, then stopped in at Alkoomi wines in town to sample and buy. A total of 38km out and back.The next day we cycled up to Emu Point and back. Another 20km ride.The grain silos are nicely painted with a leafy se

Another short update - just a 26nm hop from the Waychinicup river to here. We had a peaceful night in the river, and awoke to no wind. This was good as the forecast was for headwinds, so we made a hasty exit and motorsailed in the light NW winds to Albany where we’ve gone into the marina for a couple of nights.

Just a quick blog as data is hard to come by here (had to haul my big aerial up the mast to make this work). We had an interesting run from Dillon Bay. Lots and lots of lightning, some very close to the boat - so close that it made Laura and I jump!However, we seem to have survived unscathed and the day has improved enormously. We came into the 50m wide entrance for the Waychinicup River only to find another boat there! Don’t see one for weeks, and you find it anchored just where you want t

Long day under sail, all downwind. Started off light but we knew it was forecast to build, and build it did. It seems to be the afternoon thing here, wind increases quite a bit as does the sea state (much to the chagrin of the crew!).We rounded the headland into Dillon Bay in the last of the daylight, which was nice as we could see the rocks and cut the corner a bit closer than we would in the dark (with no moon). Used the satellite photos to get up close to the beach as no chance to see the bot

After a lovely meal out 2 nights ago, and a BBQ onboard Duplicat with a goodbye-cake for Ben last night, we were done with Esperance. We did sample one of my home brews last night and it was pretty good but we stopped at one as we knew we were sailing today.So early this morning, we pulled up the stern anchor, then the main anchor and headed around to the jetty to drop Ben off. He grabbed a taxi to Esperance airport (a surprising distance away) and flew to Perth, then back to Melbourne. He’s o

We left Lucky Bay this morning and motor-sailed around to Esperance. On the way, we couldn’t resist a bit of photography by the large cave on the far side of the bay.The whole coast here is stunningly beautiful and we saw a large waterfall on our way around Cape Le Grand headland. Its delightful that we can cruise this a bit more slowly than our route across the bight.On arrival at Esperance, we anchored close to the shore south of the marina, with a fore-and-aft anchors to keep us out of the

After a morning of rain and drizzle, we finally managed to get ashore in the afternoon to explore Australia’s whitest beach. The sand is very hard and very white and with a bit more sun, the contrast between the sand and the water would have been stunning. Instead it was merely great.Flinders based himself here for a while whilst mapping the coast and Recherche Archipelago and there are a couple of plaques ashore about this.Once back onboard, the sun finally came out and we could get some nice

We had a lovely sail downwind from Middle Island to Lucky Bay, under headsail alone the whole way. We caught a mac tuna pretty quickly, and threw it back. Later on we caught a nice sized bluefin tuna, from which we got 1.8kg of meat. Thats tonight’s dinner sorted with the rest going into the freezer!The wind steadily built up to 33knots with some pretty large seas, which made the gybe up into the bay quite interesting. We had planned to anchor west side of the bay, but due to the wind, we deci

We spent yesterday relaxing and a nice walk along the beach to the pink lake. We also moved the boat to tuck in tight to the corner of the bay, as the wind was due to increase. I’d got the photo I wanted, of Duplicat in front of the pink lake :). Its been very comfortable tucked into the corner, but we can see the bigger swell and wind outside the bay.Today we attempted Flinders Peak. We had very little information on the route, just that it was marked with survey tape. We guessed it was from

A couple of hours ago, we dropped the hook off Middle Island in the Recherche Archipelago. We need some time to recover (and do laundry!). Everyone is quite tired but happy to have made it across the majority of the bight. From this point, its just day hops with a couple of overnights. No multi-night jobs. Phew!Its a stunning spot, with a very vivid pink lake just over from the beach. To our west is Flinders Peak, which we’ll try and climb whilst we’re here. Reckon we have a few days here to

Under 100nm to go now, so we’ll definitely be in tomorrow. With any luck, tomorrow morning which would be nice. Wind is still quite light, but is due to pick up a bit. We thought that yesterday though, and it didn’t pick up for long.Not much else to report. We’ve settled into a reasonable watch routine, as well as managing the other boat jobs (such as making water). We managed some decent sailing under spinnaker yesterday but today its been mostly screecher on its own. It may be worth putt

Day 4, and we’re still plodding along. Today has been spinnaker day, with winds not getting above 11 knots and almost directly behind us. We bumped north a bit overnight to try and avoid a very light patch, which may have worked - but its still pretty light where we are. We’re making a good enough speed to reach Middle Island on the 28th (Sunday). We continue to see very few boats - 1 fishing boat overnight, which was about 6nm away. Visible by its lights, and on radar but never close enough

Just after I sent the last blog, we hooked a decent sized southern bluefin tuna. Got it to the transom, then lost if off the hook! We did get another smaller one today which made lunch, but hoping for a big one again! Though we do have to try to decode the rather Byzantine Western Australia fishing rules about what we can keep and how!Other than that, all is well. It continues to be pretty calm in the sea-state department. Light winds in the morning, building to 15-20 in the afternoon sea breeze

We knew today would be light on the wind front, and it really has! We’re heading NW to skirt around the bight, mainly to avoid the centre of the high pressure that sits right on our path. Thats the cause of today’s light stuff... Fortunately, the wind has now filled in, and we’re making progress under sail again which is always better!Not much to report. We’ve made use of the day to do a few little projects but otherwise generally relaxed watching TV (or in my case doing some programming

A slightly delayed departure, but we got underway having sorted the fridge issue. Next up we had to dodge the Regatta fleet which seemed intent on chasing us down past Taylor Island. They went west of it, we went east - then they came back at us up the east side. Was great to see them powered up and absolutely flying!We had a bit of a washing machine ride down past Williams Island, with plenty of current against us - but we bashed through it fine. Since then we’ve had pretty light winds, so ha

Flinders is a big deal around South Australia. He explored the coastline and got to name large chunks of it. When we went for a walk ashore at Reeves Point, Kangaroo Island, we met a couple of guys who explained a bit about things.Reeves Point is where the first settlers arrived on Kangaroo Island. The original plan was for Kingscote to be the capital of South Australia but conditions were tough and it wasn’t long before they relocated to what is now Adelaide. Reeves point still has the mulber

We were doing pretty well, reefed down for the night, made some good progress and when the wind eased, shook the reefs out around 2:45am. Alas we made it to the Backstairs Passage a little late just as the wind turned on the nose. Motoring in 3knots of current was painful!To compound things, the Kingscote anchorage and docks are not easy for us to resupply, so back to the original plan - over to Port Lincoln which is mostly on the way anyway.Except for another wrinkle - it turns out to be the Ad

Today was one of those days. The seas were flat, the wind was just right, the sun scorched, the sails trimmed and we just glided along in the company of thousands of dolphins. And one seal.Ok, maybe it wasn’t thousands of dolphins, but it sure felt that way. From my watch overnight, when I had torpedo streaks of phosphorescence aiming at the boat, to a breakfast display which cried out for the drone. We’ve been in their company all day.We had fun with the timezone too. Ben arrived late to ta

After a rather windy and lively night, we made it safely out of the roaring forties. The wind has moderated quite a bit, and with it the sea state (which may also be because we’re easing north of the Bass Strait influence now too).All continues well onboard. Some weather conundrums - a front coming with a brief period of northerlies before the wind clocks back to the south. We may head west along the south side of Kangaroo Island to avoid the worst wind, or we may tough it out over the top. Th

The lot of the sailor - its either no wind, or too much. We had no-wind earlier and were motoring along on glassy flat seas with a slight swell from the south west. Now we’re in the Bass Strait with up to 30knots of wind on the beam and its quite lively, to say the least! Quite the contrast to our sail across the Bass Strait on our way to Tasmania - under spinnaker on my birthday.All good onboard, making reasonable progress but the gourmet cooking is on hold for a night.Hoe about a joke. Mothe