A Broad Reach to Sceale Bay

/

How many beautiful sunrises is any one person entitled to? We've probably witnessed more than our share in the last 14 years aboard Nine of Cups and definitely more than most people have in a lifetime. The sheer natural beauty of it is always a gobsmacking WOW!  

waldegrave sunrise

 

Yes, up early again. This is the price we're willing to pay for no overnight passages. The wind howled 25-30 knots till around 0200, then quieted down for the night. The change woke us from a light sleep and we dozed till the alarm went off at 0630. We're pretty coordinated and efficient in the mornings. All chores are done the night before. Then it's up, dress, quick wash, engine checks, instruments on and we're away. Hot cuppas even wait till the anchor's up.

 

hauling anchor

 

S/SE, 15 kt winds true were lighter than anticipated, but we had a great broad reach across Anxious Bay en route to Sceale Bay (pronounced Scale). David had the fishing line out early in hopes of catching dinner. The number of birds and dolphins we had seen yesterday would attest to the fact that these are good fishing grounds. That said, we didn't see any dolphins all day and birds were scarce. It wasn't till we were anchored that we figured out it was a Saturday and all the critters were probably away enjoying the weekend in some other bay.

 

waldegrave to sceale

 

Internet signals have been spotty in the anchorages, but reasonably good when we're at sea. Sending daily posts and pics to Gentry has not been as difficult as we'd imagined, but the Great Australian Bight (GAB) will be quite a different story, I think.

It's cold traveling these days. The strong south winds from behind us seem icy cold in the mornings before the sun warms us up. We're both wearing two shirts, sweatpants and our heavy foul weather jackets, hats, socks and I'm even wearing gloves.

All and all, it was a pleasant, but unremarkable day. David puttered around and did some chores aboard. I did some writing. We caught no fish. We saw no dolphins and very few birds. Neptune has been saving the adrenaline-rush for the end of each day. Two days in a row, we've anchored with 30 knot winds on our nose. Once anchored and tidied up though, we're good as ...