Gone Cruising

Spending the night at Swan Island rocking and rolling with the swell and wind we left Swan Island at 2am in the morning. The wind was between 5-15 knots and we motor sailed. Near Eddystone Point the wind dropped, Dolphin III was anchored there last night but we saw their sail ahead of us on the horizon, they had left at 3.30am on thier way to Wineglass Bay. Our average speed was 4.9 knots during the trip.

We were going to anchor at Skeleton Bay but with the prefect conditions decided to enter into George's Bay over St Helen's Bar.

The anchorage guide states " A significant number of vessels have been lost over the years whilst entering George's Bay and great caution should be used if there is any lift or break on the bar", our other book states " The bar at the entrance to George's Bay is unpredicatable and should not be attempted under unfavorable conditions." We contacted the St Helen's marine rescue asking for an escort over and into George's Bay. We were so glad we did as it was quite tricky navigating the shallow sections. The Marine Rescue guys had a new boat and were extremely friendly and accomodating escorting us both (Azure and us) right into and up to the town wharf.

The river is beautiful and the township is pretty. The girls are enjoying a bit of retail therapy in the numerous shops available. It is very touristy with a large number of coffee shopps outnumbering the retail outlets. A large IGA foodstore offers a wide variety of supplies.

We have also joined the Tasmanian Library Service as there is a lovely library here. Our membership means that we can use every library in Tasmania and return items to any library.

We anticipate waiting out gale force winds here at St Helen's - heading off Thursday(over that bar again! YIPES!)

Oh by the way Tracy and Samantha won at Canasta this time.