We left for Refuge Cove at first light and could just make out the mountains of Wilsons Promontory in the distance. The morning showed promise for a nice sunny day but we weren’t fooled we could see clouds forming in the distance with the forecast predicting rain. For once the forecast was right and by midmorning the rain had caught up with us and we were back into our wet weather, thankfully it had dried out from the last sail.
Refuge cove is located on the eastern side of Wilsons Promontory while we were on the western side so we had to sail all the way around the outside of the peninsula to get to it. However this wasn’t that big of a deal because the distance between Waratah Bay and Refuge Cove is only about 35nm. But we were still in a race against time as off South West Point on Wilsons Promontory lies a group of islands known as the Anser Group. The Anser group lies within what is known as the inshore traffic zone and if we wanted to use this and not the main shipping lane we had to time our passage between these islands with the tide. This is because the tide rips through this narrow passage on its way in and out hitting peak speeds of 4-5kts. So we needed wind and tide in the same direction to have flat seas and a comfortable sail, for us this meant catching the outgoing tide which we had up until about lunch.
As usual with a time schedule the weather didn’t want to play the game and we had to motor sail for most of the morning to keep a good average speed. It was important that we didn’t dawdle because a huge low pressure system was set to arrive in a day or two and the only place with adequate shelter was Refuge Cove, meaning if we missed the tide we had no good alternative anchorages nearby. Thankfully though we got to the Anser Island group just in the nick of time and caught the last of the outgoing tide. But mother nature really was in a fickle mood that day and just as we were passing through the islands the wind started to pick-up. We’d started the day with a first reefed main and staysail but with this wind it quickly became apparent that this was too much sail and so without delay I was at the mast putting in a second reef. But no sooner was I back in the cockpit when Hugo asked that I go back and put in the third reef as the wind was still building, so back to the mast I went. Although the drama didn’t end there, the wind just kept on building blasting us with horizontal rain which caused a white-out and turned visibility to zero. By this point we were also past the last island in the Anser Group and so the sea state was starting to build dramatically, Bass Strait was starting to show its true colours.
That day memories of Apollo Bay came rushing back except this time it wasn’t a somewhat pleasant sunshine and flat seas sail, instead we had angry seas and horizontal rain to go with our gale force winds. Once again we were turning Allagai up into the wind to de-power her and this time seriously contemplating dropping all remaining sail because we had another looming problem. As mentioned earlier just off the southern end of Wilsons Promontory is a regulated shipping lane or traffic separation scheme and our current course was taking us straight across it. These lanes are designed for large and fast cargo ships and much like a highway there are two lanes with an invisible median strip up the centre. Generally smaller, slower boats stay outside and use the in inshore traffic lane but are allowed to cross and can use the shipping lanes if they don’t impede traffic, which is exactly what we were about to do. Our AIS showed that a large cargo ship was barrelling towards us at 20kts in the west bound lane, which was the lane closest to us. At this stage it was a long way away but at 20kts it doesn’t take that long for them to catch up. However as we were deciding what to do the wind disappeared just as fast as it had arrived and suddenly we were becalmed. We couldn’t believe it we had gone from 30-40kts to less then 10 in a matter of minutes and once again we were forced to start the engine. With the engine on we quickly turned around and got back on course heading for Refuge Cove and with no wind we felt it pointless to unreef the main, so the motor was our noisy companion for the rest of the day. Not unreefing also gave us some peace of mind as should we come across another squall we would be prepared with sails reefed and ready. This was a good call because although we never got another squall quite like the last one we were blasted by many gusts that afternoon which seemingly came out of nowhere while becalmed.
However the rest of the afternoon passed relatively calmly. It was still raining and only the occasional gust caught us during our drift up the coast under engine, third reefed main and staysail. With the mountains of Wilsons Promontory looming over the top of us we knew that we were nearing our destination. From articles we’d read online we knew that Refuge Cove was small and secluded and as we got closer we began to truly understand how distant from anything it was. We could tell by looking at the charts and Navionics that we were near and theoretically that the entrance should’ve been just ahead, within site even. However we just couldn’t see it and it wasn’t until we were basically adjacent to the entrance that we actually saw the opening into the cove. Refuge Cove is barely recessed half a mile (800m) in from the open ocean but is shaped a bit like the top of a mallet, with the widest part about 500m and as such it’s basically an all weather anchorage. Sailing into Refuge Cove was an amazing experience and probably on of my favourite spots to stop. The cove is protected on all sides, except the entrance, by granite mountains which rise right from the waters edge to great heights. Topping these mountain are huge pristine looking green eucalypt forests with fern rainforests in the valleys. The whole place seemed to be teeming with wildlife, we could hear multitudes of different bird songs as we came in and meet many other creatures during our stay. We dropped the anchor less then 50m off Refuge Coves beautiful white sandy beach in 10m of crystal clear water.
We knew our stop in Refuge Cove was going to be isolated and secluded but it didn’t truly hit us until we got in. When we arrived there were three boats anchored, two day cruisers and the national parks boat but by the following evening we were all alone. However before leaving the park rangers were quite nice and had come to see us telling us we where welcome ashore and could use the nearby walking trails if we wanted. They also gave us some good advice pointing out where we could get fresh water, if we boiled it first, and that to get phone reception we could walk to the top of a nearby mountain or if we were lucky it could occasionally be found on the beach.
Our stay in Refuge Cove was a truly eye opening experience. We had thought that we were fully prepared for our stay away from civilisation, and we were mostly. But this was our first truly off the grid stop and it brought a few things to our attention. First with only 150L of water on board we were so grateful for the water maker we’d installed before leaving as without it we would have been left boiling creek water. But even with it still no drop of water was wasted, we only used freshwater for drinking, cooking and the smallest amount to rinse the dishes. However all dishes were first washed using our salt water tap in the galley before being rinsed. For all our other water needs we were lucky that the hikers camp just in from the beach had a tap connected to a nearby stream and it was this water we used for showers and laundry. Had we needed to though this was an option for drinking water as its what the hikers used but only after they’d run it through a filter.
The second issue brought to light was our need for power to run our water maker. Our water maker makes roughly 5L an hour and we used about 10L a day .So to keep up with consumption and keep the tanks full we had to run the water maker for at least two hours each day. Although looking back we were never really in any danger of running out but at the time we didn’t know this because we didn’t know how long we were staying for. Running the water maker for just two hours sounds simple enough but to run the water maker it uses a lot of power which we generate through solar and wind and both were in short supply. This was mostly because Refuge Cove was surrounded by mountains affecting the behaviour of the wind and blocking sunlight. Of the two solar was much more reliable and so generated us the most power the only issues were cloudy days and due to the mountains the sun rose and set a little later and earlier respectively then usual but still most day we were left fully charged. Luckily Hugo had thought to pack a tri-folding solar panel kit that he used to use on his car, they were a life saver and without them we would have struggled for power. However even with these three extra panels on the dark and stormy days we still didn’t have quite enough power to run the water maker and had to play catch-up later. The other option we had was to run the engine to charge the batteries, which we did a few times when they were really dead. But we only have 100L of diesel and since our last refuel had used 20-30L so not knowing when or where our next refuel might be we really couldn’t afford to be wasteful. So this was option was avoided whenever possible.
Our third worry which became more pressing in the second week when we realised we were staying longer then expected was food and gas. The last time we had shopped was in Portland and we’d bought enough food for about two months which sounds like a long time but time flies when your cruising and the food quickly gets eaten. By the time we’d arrived in Refuge Cove it had been two and a half weeks since our shop so we had plenty of food, although by the time we had left it had been just over fours weeks. The next town with a decent shop was either half way down Tasmania’s east coast and even that was not for certain as it was behind a bar or up the Derwent River. Whilst we still had plenty to eat in Refuge Cove we were quickly coming to realise that with all the delays due to the weather two months provisions goes very fast and that we were still many weeks from our next resupply. Gas was also a pressing matter. We had two 4kg gas bottles on board which between the two usually lasts about 6 weeks. Again while we weren’t at risk of running out in Refuge Cove it was the danger of staying here too long that had us worried. At our current rate we were probably going to run out if gas before food although we had several backups for cooking. This included the trangia with plenty of fuel and worst case scenario we could always cook on the wood heater.
However our time in Refuge Cove wasn’t entirely stressful we had a lot of time to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet, especially after that first day when everyone left and we had the whole place to ourselves. Like the park ranger suggested we made use of the walking trails and on the second day we went for a walk around to Horn Point which offered some nice views out to sea and into Sealers Cove. The next day though we decided to walk in the opposite direction and walked to the summit of Kersops Peak which was only 220m high and about 5km return. This offered stunning views of the surrounding area and an aerial view of Refuge Cove. However this walk was not a once off event and instead basically became a daily ritual. We found the walk to the peak invigorating and it wasn’t overly intense so a good way to exercise, it had a beautiful view and also awesome phone signal which allowed us to get the latest weather and call family. Although we didn’t actually need mobile signal to get weather because we have a HF radio which can also receive weather fax, but it gave us a good excuse to get off the boat each day.
So every day we made the trek to the top of this peak to get the weather, however I haven’t been entirely honest, I actually had an ulterior motive which wasn’t weather related. During our sail so far we’d been watching movies via Netflix in the evening and as mentioned earlier Refuge Cove lacks signal at water level. But we found that we could download movies to watch later when we had signal and the top of Kersops Peak offered us the best reception. So each day we took my laptop to the peak and sat up there for an hour sometimes more if the signal was bad to download a movie to watch for that evening. Why go to all this effort you ask because really its not like we had anything better to do on the boat and most days we took a picnic and sat up there enjoying the view and wildlife.
Although we may have taken it to the extreme some days, maybe cabin fever got to us as I still don’t know what possessed us but come rain, hail or shine we made the trip. We’d been in Refuge Cove about four days and it had been raining on and off all morning when finally it had stopped. So during this break in the rain we decided to make our daily hike to the peak to get the “weather”. Therefore off we went in light rain jackets and the laptop in a water proof bag, just to be safe because we were positive the rain had stopped, but mother nature had other ideas. We were about half way to Kersops peak when it started raining again but we decided to push on as it was only light and sure enough it stopped soon after. But really it was just lulling us into a false sense of security. Once at the peak we did what we came to do, got the weather and downloaded our movie for the night with not a drop of rain. But just as were were packing up it started to pour, the heavens had literally just opened up and we were quickly becoming drenched our light raincoats which were no match for this deluge. We were still on the peak and although there was plenty of vegetation there was no shelter only small trees and shrubs. So we decide to get out of there and fast which entailed us running. I don’t mean a half-hearted jog either I mean actually full on running like your being chased, down the mountain side in the pouring rain. It was a truly exhilarating experience and had anyone seen us they would have been questioning our sanity, I was at least. Anyway the rain continued and we kept on running only stopping about 500m away from the hikers camp because we really didn’t want to make total fools of ourselves running like lunatics through their camp site, it was bad enough we walked through looking like drowned rats. That day we got back to the boat dripping wet to the point we probably would have been drier if we’d swam to the boat.
Now you would think that we had learnt our lesson, and we did sort of. The next day it was still raining and we needed exercise, weather and our movie marathon couldn’t be stopped. Today however instead of light raincoats we put on our full offshore wet weather gear, pants and jacket. They keep us dry when sailing so why not use them on land too and so we took them for a 5km hike in the pouring rain. We were victorious we made it to Kersops Peak and we were still dry, so time to download that movie and get the weather forecast and get out of there ASAP. Turns out during a crazy low pressure system the wind on top of a mountain is even more intense then at sea level, we had 40-60kt, horizontal rain and occasionally hail. If anyone came upon us sitting there in full wet weather gear under our make shift tarp with stronger then gales force winds hail and horizontal rain they would have really thought we’d lost the plot. Looking back at this experience I still can’t work out what possessed us to go out that day in that weather, but no harm was down and I look back at it and still have a good laugh. Most importantly though we succeeded in getting our movie and of course weather and about 3hours after setting off we were back on the boat and completely dry. Thankfully this was the end of the madness, we still climbed to the peak everyday but we didn’t have to do it in the rain again.
Originally we had hoped to only be in Refuge Cove for seven days but the weather had other plans. On day seven the weather looked promising to leave and if we had a faster, bigger boat we could have. But Allagai really isn’t known for her speed and with only a 24hour window to cross Bass Strait before another huge low pressure system arrived the schedule was a little too tight for our liking. So we decided to stay put in Refuge Cove for what was looking like another stormy week based on the forecast. Turns out we weren’t the only boat to make this decision and our solitude came to an end when the catamaran from Portland showed up. What a coincidence, he was on his way to Lakes Entrance and had also decided to wait out this storm in Refuge Cove and was just a surprised as us to bump into each other again. While waiting out the nasty weather we had a few pleasant catch ups on each others boats sitting down to a cup of tea sharing sailing stories and getting some advice on good anchorages.
It was actually quite funny, amongst the stories he told us was one about some guy once picking up his anchor float thinking it was a mooring. This was such a coincidence as not a day later this exact same thing happened to us. While in Refuge cove we had three anchors out to hold us in position because the wind was so unpredictable coming in the form of bullets down the valleys from every direction, causing us to spin continuously. Each of these anchors had a buoy attached to them so that if we had anyone else join us they could see what we had out and wouldn’t lay their anchor over ours. This nearly turned out to be quite detrimental for us. We had just woken up and were about to sit down to breakfast when we heard an engine sounding rather too close for comfort. So we went out on deck and too our surprise there was another yacht, practically touching our bowsprit. To make matters worse someone was hanging off the front of said boat with a boat hook trying to grab our anchor buoy. Hugo quickly went to the bow and proceeded to try and talk to the other boats skipper and work out what in the world was going on and it was really too early in the morning for this sort of thing. After going to and fro multiple times Hugo finally managed to get the skipper to understand that no that wasn’t a public mooring buoy but instead our anchor float. Finally understanding dawned and the other skipped quickly apologised and proceeded the leave Refuge Cove and headed straight out to sea, to where we still don’t now, having apparently decided it was best not to stay.
Finally 13 days after we’d arrived in Refuge Cove we got the forecast for the weather we’d been waiting for, a 72 hour period of nice winds. At last it was time to jump the gap of Bass Strait and finally achieve the goal and get to Tasmania. Although even this window wasn’t the greatest the sea state was still forecast to be a mess of short sharp swell and the wind direction that was continuously changing. But we weren’t complaining because we really couldn’t afford another week in Refuge Cove or food and gas really was going to become an issue. However we could easily work with the forecast to at least get us one step closer and anchored somewhere on Tasmania and on the bright side it was a much better forecast then last week. When we left we decided to aim for Launceston planning on anchoring overnight at Deal Island and then Prime Seal Island but as you’ll find out in the coming posts sometimes sailing doesn’t always go to plan, nevertheless next stop Tasmania.