A Gam in Streaky Bay

 

It doesn't matter what kind of boat you have, your age, your race, your nationality, your gender … when cruisers get together, there's bound to be a gam. Cruisers, yachties, sailors … whatever you want to call us … are prone to sharing sea tales (some tall, some not), special anchorage notes and anecdotes about interesting characters and places. So here we are in Streaky Bay with three other cruising boats and things to talk about… important sailor things.

It seems there are some locals with sailboats, too, and we all got together aboard the catamaran, Urchin, for mid-morning tea today. It was a lively group. Everyone talking, asking questions, providing input. We received lots of good information about favorite places to stop on the other side of the Bight. Heather and Geoff, local sailboat owners, suggested a special place to stop, St. Francis Island, which is part of the Nuyts Group conservation area and is along the way … only a daysail away from Streaky Bay. There are reportedly penguins, sea lions and lots of birds in residence. How can we pass that up? Add St. Francis to the “must-stop” list. On the other hand, we provided information about anchorages for them heading east. Everyone was happy.

Mid-morning tea lasted till lunchtime and we headed ashore in the dinghy to reconnoiter the little town of Streaky Bay. Beaching the dinghy is necessary here and watching the 3-4 foot swing in the tides is important. Otherwise, we're high and dry and have to drag the dink or it's floating in deep, deep water.

We found the local i-Station (visitor's info) first to get our little town map, local brochures and the lay of the land. It's in an historic building, previously a Masonic Temple built in 1926 with walls of Mount Gambier stone. The town is so small, we're not sure we really needed a map, but the woman there helpfully pointed us in the right direction to find fuel, food, water and a laundromat. Our cruiser friends had also provided input on places to eat and shop.

The Streaky Bay Roadhouse is a Shell station (diesel) and also has a 24-hour laundromat … two birds with one stone. But wait … there's more. This roadhouse sells take away food, some souvenirs and snacks (think 7-11), AND the sign says there is a full-sized replica of the world's largest great white shark caught by rod and reel. Now we're talking BIG reason to come back here. Ah, but not today, said the Captain.

We wandered through the two small supermarkets and determined we could get everything we needed for provisions between the two. We wandered along Alfred Terrace, the main road along the shore, and checked out Eliot's Bakery and the fish factory (bait) and ended up on the long jetty in search of a fresh water tap. We have the watermaker aboard, but we thought we'd top up with local water and the water tap we found midway up the jetty will make it easy. There's another protected swim area here, keeping us ever mindful of the great whites. Tomorrow, we'll return to town to get going on to-do list.

We found out how Streaky Bay got its name, by the way. Thanks to Captain Matthew Flinders, once again. On his Voyage of Discovery in 1802, the was inspired by the bands of color in the water which he thought was a sign of a river entering the ocean. It turned out that the “streaks” were oils given off by the seaweed and thick grass on the sea bottom, but the name stuck.

And, sorry, I just couldn't resist another beautiful sunrise.

Sceale to Streaky... a fine, fine day

 

Another beautiful sunrise in Sceale Bay, but I won't bore you with the details. A small pod of dolphins, six to eight of them, gave us a royal send-off. Beautiful sunrises … dolphins … there must be more to life … but honestly, who cares?

A short run today, ~40 nm from Sceale to Streaky Bay. David's fishing lines were out early. 15 knots of SE winds had us broad reaching once again. We sailed well offshore watching huge rollers pound the reefs and coastline. This is a good surfing area, but not for sailboats. Even two miles away, we could hear the thunderous surf as it crashed ashore. A haze of mist surrounded the little indented bays along the coast, a residual spray from the combers that died there.

Today was an “I don't really care if I get there” sort of day. Though the winds were light, the following seas kept us moving along fast enough to insure we'd be anchored in Streaky Bay by dark. Just being out here, sailing along on a brilliantly sunny day was such a joy. No hurry … no worries … everyt'ing irie, mon! It was warm in the morning sun. We shed our layers of clothing piece by piece. Saying goodbye to our heavy foul weather jackets was particularly satisfying.

As we turned the corner into Streaky Bay, the winds disappeared and the engine came alive. We wended our way along the circuitous channel to the anchorage at Blanche Port avoiding well-marked shoals, rocks and reefs.

We passed Pigface Island to port, much to my delight, and I wondered if perhaps the name came from the native flower. We still haven't figured out the “Streaky” in Streaky Bay, but we'll ask when we get ashore.

We thought we might have arrived in Eden … very close to heaven. The water is aquamarine blue, clear to the bottom and duckpond calm. The town spreads out nicely along the foreshore with a long jetty extending out that seems to be popular with local fishermen. The breeze keeps the wind gen spinning and it's pleasantly cool. Everything we've heard about Streaky Bay has been positive. Other cruisers have loved it here. We're anxious to go ashore and explore. The four must do's are fuel, water, laundry and food. The engine needs some attention and then there's sightseeing to be done. That's three days and then we're looking for a weather window to cross the Bight.

We anchored just off the jetty, near two catamarans and a monohull and we were wondering who else was visiting Streaky. It didn't take long for a dinghy to stop by. All three anchored boats are traveling together, it seems, and had just come from Perth … across the Great Australian Bight. Maree and Brian on “Urchin” came aboard for a quick, friendly chat. They're heading east … we're heading west. Sounds like lots of stories and information to share in the near future. “Morning tea” is set at 1030 tomorrow on their cat. You're invited. We thought we'd bring brownies.

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!  

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.

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.

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 ...