Eden
17 July 2008
This is the end of our seventh day at Eden and I must stay that it has been superb. We arrived at Eden at the end of a period of high winds and at the beginning of what has been a week of calm and peaceful conditions.
On Friday the 11th Arnold and I motored to the proximity of the small marina at Quarantine Bay and elected to drop anchor outside of the breakwater and on the edge of the mooring area. I commented to Arnold that the anchor trip line would be good insurance because these mooring areas tend to be littered with abandoned moorings and there was a risk that the anchor would be fouled on a ground chain or piece of mooring junk. This turned out to be prophetic.
Brenda had traveled to Eden from Sydney the previous night and had taken a room in a chalet in a small holiday village next to the yacht club. We met her on the beach in the late afternoon when the wind had calmed down and brought her to the boat for the first time since Esperance. The next day David and Barbara, friends from Canberra, arrived to stay at one of the chalets. From Saturday until Monday we enjoyed each other's company and got a lot of practical help from them with transport, showers in their chalet, and access to the complex's wireless Internet facility from the comfort of Pachuca! In the second and third mornings at the anchorage I was forced to dive in the water to free the trip line float and line that had become wrapped around the propeller. Fortunately I did not follow through on my threat to cut the trip line and instead solved the problem by adding an extension to the line and making off the bitter end off at the Samson post.
We waved goodbye to David and Barbara just after lunch on Monday and thanked Barbara for the Mississippi mud cake, muesli bars, and other treats that she had given to us, and began to discuss moving the boat to the public jetty closer to town. We had been having chronic battery charging problem due to the cloudy weather and calm wind, and we were running a little short of water. On Wednesday morning we weighed anchor and it was weighty indeed. The anchor stopped rising no matter how much force we put on the winch handle. I had a closer look below and saw that the anchor had broken out of the bottom and was suspended with what appeared to be a dark line across one of the flukes. Yes, it was a mooring ground chain. We were able to drop the anchor and back it out using the tripping line which is connected to the crown of the anchor and allows one to pull the anchor “head first” to free it from snags. This saved us what probably would have been a day-long drama because we would have had to engage a diver to free the anchor. This experience has ensured that a trip line will always be part of Pachuca's anchor management protocol
We motored to the “skinny jetty” at the aptly named Snug Cove and found ourselves in the best public jetty situation that we could hope for. We've got power, water, and a strong steel ladder next to the boat. There is a nearby modern toilet block with free warm showers open 24x7. The immediate area is serviced by cafes, restaurants, wholesale fish outlets, and a small boat shop. The centre of town is a kilometer accessed by a very scenic walk. All of this for a princely sum of $5.00 per day!
Yesterday afternoon a yacht named Beatrice from Hobart pulled up behind us. On board were Erryn, his wife Joss, and friend Dan. Erryn and Joss were moving to Sydney and decided to visit New Caldonia “along the way”. (“Along the way, huh?” Any excuse to visit a tropical island!) They had motored most of the way from Tasmania due to the light winds. Beatrice is a 35-ft Adams with a steel hull. A previous owner had circumnavigated the world in her over a three year span, of which one year was of actual sailing. They left this afternoon after a stay of only one day to get to Sydney before some bad weather that has been forecast on Sunday and Monday, which is expected to bring 40-kn winds.
At this point we plan to depart for New Zealand on Wednesday morning after the winds and seas have calmed down.
In the meantime we have been enjoying ourselves with plenty of good coffee, fine fish lunches, and (for me) plenty of wine. Yesterday I purchased an MP3 player so that I can listen to music during my nights at the helm. Today we purchased a steel trolley that we load tested out by bringing a case of beer, two casks of wine, and several bags of groceries from town.
Tomorrow we will visit the customs office in Eden and lodge our papers for departure. We all must present our passports and I must present the ship's registration and description along with an inventory of her electronic equipment. It is fortunate that Eden is a Port of Entry and we are able to do this here. Also I will visit a Medibank Private agent and attempt to have my Medibank insurance suspended without prejudice using a statutory declaration that I will present attesting to my bona fide overseas travel.
We did investigate the possibility of avoiding the rigors of the Tasman Sea by sailing farther up the East Coast of Australia and then proceeding East to the South Pacific along a warmer latitude. Unfortunately the book indicates that we would have a difficult time because the winds and current would tend to be against us. The recommended route to the South Pacific from anywhere on the East coast of Australia is via the Westerlies at the latitudes of New Zealand or even higher (i.e. farther south) in the summer. We will therefore “bite the bullet” and cross the Tasman Sea which we think that we can do in less than two weeks.
We might watch a movie tonight. Two nights ago we watched The Big Chill which neither Arnold nor Brenda had seen. Neither was very impressed by it. So much for my attempt to fill in gaps in their cultural life with a seminal and influential classic film.
Attached are photos of (in reverse order):
Beatrice and her happy crew: Joss on the left, Dan in the middle, Erryn on the right.
Anchorage at Quarantine Bay with one of many visiting dolphins
Pachuca at the jetty in Snug Cove (middle boat)
Our favourite eating place (with wireless internet!)
Million dollar shack at Eden
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