April 2020
We left for Port Davey in the early hours of the morning well before the sun even thought about rising above the horizon. The distance from Recherche Bay to the entrance of Port Davey was about 63nm and we wanted to be in before dark that night. This meant leaving early and keeping up a good speed throughout the day. Surprisingly though we weren’t the only boat leaving for Port Davey that morning as we had found out the day before that there was three other boats heading round. However as usual we were the slowest of the pack and even leaving with a huge head start one by one each of the other boats slowly overtook us.
The morning started off perfectly we had an awesome sailing wind and comfortable seas. However as we were passing Maatsuyker Island around about midday things took a turn for the wet and miserable. It started out as a gentle drizzle but slowly as the hours progressed it built into a continuous rain shower. Thankfully the wind stayed steady so we didn’t lose any boat speed but everything quickly became wet, even the wet weather gear was struggling with the constant deluge of water.
We reached the entrance to Bathurst Channel in the early evening and were so relieved to have a working radar. As the rain had dropped the visibility of the area to only a few hundred metres, islands and rocks which we knew were there from the charts were barely visible. Passing between Breaksea Island and Shanks Island on entering Bathurst Channel was an amazing moment. After over a year and many months in Tasmania we had finally come back to the place that our dream for coming to Tasmania had all started. That night we pulled into Bathurst Harbour just as the last of the light was fading and so decided to anchor in the first bay in the channel, Bramble Cove.
The following morning we woke to the breathtaking scenery of the rugged west coast of Tasmania, which we hadn’t really seen in the dying light of the night before. The bay we were in was surrounded by huge rolling mountains, capped in white rock and huge trees with button grass all the way to the waters edge.
We decided to weigh anchor about mid-morning to continue further up Bathurst Channel to find a safe spot to wait out an incoming storm. Along the way we passed a huge freshwater waterfall falling off the cliff into the channel. According to our cruising guide this was a spot you could collect freshwater if you didn’t mind the tannin colour and button grass taste. There was even a hose and pontoon to tie up to to make collecting it easy. However we were full of water and so only came in for a look before we kept on moving. Moving along it wasn’t far before we took a right turn leaving Bathurst Channel behind and entering Horseshoe Inlet to anchor in Casilda Cove. This was a cute and cosy little anchorage, with space for only three boats and only if they anchored conservatively.
When we arrived we were the only boat in the little cove and so spider webbed ourselves in place using two of the available onshore tie points. However it wasn’t long before we were joined by another boat, one that had been in Port Davey for a few days and was looking to head back towards Hobart after the bad weather. Luckily we had left them enough room and some other tie points to use and so didn’t have to move or untie ourselves. That afternoon we decided to go ashore and stretch our legs before the storm arrived.
Our cruising guide said that there was a walk to the top of the hill on the opposite bank, Balmoral Hill. With a little searching we found the trail head, indicated by a cairn and a small opening in the button grass. The walk to the top of the hill was about an hour and gave us amazing views of the channel and our little inlet. After enjoying the view we headed back down but weren’t ready to head back to Allagai just yet. Instead we did a little exploring of the inlet by dingy. Rowing around the inlet was quite nice, there were several small islands covered in vegetation and small rivers running into the inlet through dense scrub. We even found a small creek to row up which we found led to a mini waterfall, it was during this little exploration that we realised that Port Davey was a very wet place.
For the next couple of days we were bunkered on Allagai waiting out the storm. Our little cove was incredibly protected and other then the rain and odd gust we barely knew there was a storm raging beyond. However it rained continuously and occasionally hailed so hard it looked like the deck was covered in snow, so we weren’t too fooled by the pleasant conditions. We were quickly coming to realise where all the waterfalls and rivers got their water. It rained that much that we put a tarp over the back deck and start collecting rain water, in only 24hours we caught a staggering 30L. But finally the storm did pass and we were ready to keep exploring, weighing anchor and leaving Horseshoe Inlet behind.
Although we didn’t go far, only passing through the narrow section of the channel and anchoring in a little bay called Frogs Hollow. This bay was under the imposing figure of Mount Rugby, made all the more dramatic as its peak was continuously shrouded in cloud. We spent that afternoon on Allagai however the following morning before any wind arrived we launched the dingy and went for an exploratory row to the other side of the channel to a little unnamed bay. In the light misty rain we rowed to the other side in hopes to get a closer look at the waterfall we could see on the mountain above. Unfortunately the waterfall soon disappeared from our view the closer we got but the creek it fed into slowly appeared although too small for us to take the dingy up. Before the mist turned to rain we decided to return to Allagai and continue up the rest of the channel having thoroughly enjoyed our little row around.
That afternoon we dropped the anchor in Claytons Corner in Bathurst Harbour and wasted no time going ashore. There was a small jetty here which offered rainwater and had a old homestead from the days when people used to live here. Although we only stayed long enough to quickly check out the homestead and enjoy a short walk through the gardens.
The following day we woke up to glassy conditions which caused breathtaking reflections on the dark water so that morning we decided to launch the folding dingy for an expedition up Melaleuca Inlet. We had heard that at the airport, which was about 3nm up the river, that there was a wi-fi hut which would allow us to get a detailed weather update and contact family, as there was absolutely no signal in Port Davey, not even on the tops of the mountains. The scenery on the way up was absolutely amazing, we still had glassy conditions and the reflections off the water were stunning.
Once at Melaleuca Inlet we did what we wanted with the internet and then went for a short walk on the trails around the airport. Although we didn’t stray too far because we wanted to get back to the boat for lunch. After seeing and sounding the the inlet with the dingy we decided we would take Allagai up. There was another storm coming and the river would offer the perfect protection.