April 2021
The morning we left Jervis Bay we were actually aiming for Port Hacking just south of Sydney, but it turns out the East Australian Current was a lot closer to the coast then we thought. That morning we were up at four O’clock and sailing out of Jervis Bay heads just as the first light of the morning was lighting up the clouds. As usual we were under a weather related time schedule and had to be in Port Hacking before midnight as we were due for a strong westerly change. Exiting Jervis Bay this seemed like an entirely achievable goal, we had perfect sailing winds of 10-15kts off the land, no swell and seemed to be riding a counter current to the EAC. We were moving in the right direction at 5-6kts giving us an estimated time of arrival of 8pm, well before we were expecting the strong winds to arrive.
However only a few hours later as we were rounding the last of the Beecroft peninsula and passing the Beecroft heads our luck changed. Based on the water passing the boat we were sailing fantastically at still 4-5kts but we had lost the counter current and the EAC was in full force, pulling us south. Suddenly our GPS was telling us we were doing 1-2kts, sometimes even less as the EAC was running at 3kts from where we wanted to go.With such dismal speeds we had no choice but to find an alternative anchorage as there was no way we were going to reach Port Hacking, still 60nm away, at 1-2kts. Even if we managed to get out of the current we had already lost precious hours on an already tight weather window. So with this in mind we decided to aim for the Crookhaven River, a mere 8nm from the Beecroft Peninsula. This was the longest, slowest sail of my life. The water passing by the boat still suggested we were doing 4-5kts but the GPS said otherwise. It took nearly 4hours for us to cross the 8nm to the entrance of the river simple because we had the current pushing us back the entire way.
To get into the Crookhaven River we had to complete our very first bar crossing, however our cruising guide suggested that this was one of NSW’s safest bars and it wasn’t wrong. We crossed the Crookhaven bar without any trouble, no breaking waves in the channel and depths over 6m the whole way. However once inside the river our long slow slog to find an anchorage continued. We were only going two miles but it might as well have been 10 as it took nearly two hours to make that distance. The tide was due to change to incoming only an hour after we entered the river, so we thought it would be basically slack. However due to the recent flooding in NSW the rivers were still running fast and we had 3kts of current against us as we made barely a knot up the river. We had tinny’s flying passed us the whole time and were passing channel markers seemingly in slow motion. But finally we made it to the anchorage area and dropped our anchor, although after three attempts we just about gave up. The anchor just wouldn’t grab, it almost felt like there was nothing but bare rock beneath us and so nothing for the anchor to grab into, leaving us to think the floods may have washed all the sand and mud away. However after some research we found out there was a public mooring available off Greenwell point which we decided to use for the night, grateful something was finally going right that day.
The following morning we decided to go ashore keen to get a look at the town we had unexpectedly visited. So we launched the dingy, attached the outboard (as the current was too strong to row against) and found somewhere to go ashore. For this we decided to go up a small tributary called Shaws Creek and found the local boat ramp to tie up at. Once the dingy was safely tied up though we headed off, walking along the foreshore admiring the water front and enjoying the chance to stretch our legs. The town of Greenwell point seemed to be mostly a holiday town with many cafes and take-out shops along the foreshore and plenty of fishing platforms available for those that wanted to fish. While ashore we scoped out where to get water, groceries and fuel before heading back to the dingy and Allagai.
We spent the remainder of that day on the public mooring, however the following morning with our 24hr limit up we decided to find somewhere to anchor. Although instead of anchoring in the main channel, since that didn’t work last time, we decided to check out another one of the side creeks. Our cruising guide suggested that we could anchor on the southern side of Orient Point near the local boat ramp next to the mangroves. When we arrived this seemed like the perfect spot, protected from all directions and easy access to the shore.
With such easy access to get ashore we decided we would take this opportunity to go for a walk to the Crookhaven Heads. Supposedly that day there was a swell event so we were keen to see what the bar looked like on a bad day. The walk to the heads was about 3km and took us through the small township of Orient Point. When we arrived we were amazed to see that the bar was still completely calm. However we later learnt that this bar is only really affected by north easterly weather and swell events. While out for our walk we also passed by the Crookhaven lighthouse which had several viewing platforms out to sea, showing some rather uncomfortable looking water conditions. Following this we decided it was time to head back to Allagai, returning along the foreshore and cutting through a forest via an old 4WD track.
We spent another two nights anchored in this little creek off the Crookhaven River before heading off. Hopefully this time we would make it to Port Hacking with the end goal being Port Stephens, 80nm north of Sydney.
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