LEAVING THE NAMBUCCA RIVER FOR THE COFFS HARBOUR MARINA

There was a light SW breeze blowing when we woke at 5.00am, ready to cross the bar to head to Coffs Harbour. It was freezing cold so as we waited for the sun to rise, we rugged up in our winter woollies which had been in storage for the past couple of years. Being in Indonesia & Malaysia certainly didn't warrant warm clothing of any description so to find a couple of jackets still on board was a bonus. As you can see, Rees's head was still cold so on went the balaclava to keep his little ears warm! Good look!!

With NSW going back to Eastern Standard Time, instead of Daylight Savings, it seemed ages before the sun rose to actually shed enough light to see clearly. Rees had checked out the bar the previous day & was happy to see that it was quite flat so without any wind throughout the night we were nearly guaranteed an easy crossing. After sitting on anchor for so long, we both had a few nerves about moving on so as we approached the opening in the breakwall, we were relieved to see that there weren't any breaking waves on the bar. In fact, Robert, our friend, who had been anchored in the river with us, had motored out behind us in his tinny to say farewell.

Once across the bar, we had light SW winds still blowing so up went the sails, off went the motor & we sat back to enjoy the ride.

The trip to the Coffs Harbour Marina took around 4 hours but unfortunately we'd only been able to sail for two of those hours. The wind dropped out, leaving a very calm sea & no choice but to motor if we were going to arrive in daylight hours but better that, than the alternative. It'd been years since we'd had our yacht at the Coffs Marina but we still had friends there so it was good catching up with them & being tied up safely with the knowledge that there were strong winds on the way. We'd certainly picked our day well but didn't know at the time that we'd be stuck at the marina for nearly 3 weeks due to bad weather. Oh well, that's what you get with yachting...we really are at the mercy of Mother Nature!