Island Head Creek - one of my favourite anchorages on the east coast

 We had a light wind motorsail from Middle Percy Island about 50 miles south to Island Head Creek.  The winds were very light from out departure at 06:00 until mid-afternoon.  As forecast the wind picked up to 8 to 10 knots for our last few hours of the sail.  Wizard of Oz followed us in to Island Head Creek and anchored just behind us.  The entrance to the creek has in the past been quite shallow and I had to be careful navigating over the bar without running aground.  Yesterday we were near the top of a 12 foot or 4 metre tide and the sandbar appears to be washed out so we had a minimum of 25 feet or 8 metres under us.  We anchored just behind a large sandbar which provides excellent protection from any swell.

True North at anchor facing towards the mouth of Island Head Creek



Our friends anchored behind us

Once anchored we took the dinghy over to our friend’s yacht for a sundowner drink.  They invited us to stay for a delicious pasta carbonara and we had a very nice evening.  The anchorage was as usual extremely calm so a good nights sleep ensued.  We departed for Great Keppel Island at 06:00 in light winds but with 12 to 15 knots from the northeast forecast to come in a bit after 10:00.
Departing Island Head Creek at sunrise


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Russell

Image
 It was finally time to head to civilisation and leave the islands behind for a few days.  We sailed the short distance to Russell where we could find good shelter from a forecast strong wind.  We dropped anchor outside a large mooring field filled with yachts.  That evening we took the dinghy into the Russell Yacht Club dock and had a very good roast pork dinner at the club.   The next day we headed over to the Russell town dock in the dinghy to see the picturesque town and then take a hike up to the flagpole above town.  The flagpole is a very famous site in New Zealand because it was built as a signal flag by the British but the Māori kept cutting it down because they were unhappy with their treatment by the British.  These events caused a long war between the Māori and British.  When peace finally came the Māori cut a large tree, carried it up the hill and replanted the flagpole symbolising the peace between the groups. A poinsettia in a garde...
Read more

Fremantle Sailing Club

 Still on the dock at Fremantle Sailing Club We arrived at the Fremantle Sailing Club Friday April 7 2023 after a good sail north from Mandurah.  We docked at the fuel dock, topped up our diesel tanks and placed a call to the harbourmaster to see if they had a dock available for the night.  Jason, the harbourmaster came out to True North and told us the docks were all full but he would works something out.  Eventually we were accommodated at the shore end of the fuel dock.  We stayed on the fuel dock 2 nights and after looking at the weather reports determined that we should stay at dock for the upcoming week.  The weather showed two bouts of high winds with 5 metre swells accompanying the second blow. Jason found us a slip where we tied up True North tightly with many lines.  The forecast turned out to be accurate with winds up to 44.8 knots during the first blow and 47.4 knots during the second.  We felt very comfortable at the dock and kept bus...
Read more

Binalong Bay / Bay of Fires Hike

Image
 Its our second day at Binalong Bay and we are still waiting for better winds to head south. Andrew and I decided to get off the boat and for a hike around the point between Binalong Bay and Lady Barron.  The walk ended up being about 15 kilometres with shoreline views, many woodland micro climates, beaches, boardwalks, dirt tracks, paved roads and even sidewalks. The map of our hiking route.  The distance is a little short because I forgot to turn on the tracker for a bit at the start of the hike  🙄 We were able to take the dinghy to a good dock in a very protected little man made harbour.  The hike started on the waterfront trail right at the dock. True North at anchor taken from the dinghy dock The hiking trail started right from the dinghy dock and headed around the point. After we rounded the point we were walking along the entrance to the river that leads to the town of Lady Barron.  We had planned to visit Lady Barron but when I called the volunteer...
Read more