It is with mixed emotions that we move to the final stage of our 11 weeks cruise and the shared adventure with Greg and Ann over the past 12 days. In our last post the weather was deteriorating and we were unsure whether to stay put at Roydon Island or move onto Killiecrankie at the northern end of Flinders Island. After much hesitation we decided to “suck it and see” – and were rewarded with the calmest of passage along Cape Frankland that we have ever experienced. It looked grim and misty, and it rained a bit, but the sea was flat as a tack, and it was yet another different experience for all of us. We were brave and took the short cut through the Sentinels, a group of rocks that guard the entrance to Killiecrankie Bay.
Killiecrankie Bay
Today, as we post, we are underway, bound for Lakes Entrance on the Victorian coast. We have about a 120 mile passage across Bass Strait ahead of us and hope to reach The Entrance at dawn on Thursday. No rush to get back home though! We will eventually make our way home over the weekend. We have lined up our two hourly night watches for the overnighter. Greg and Ann will take one together, Wade and Chris will each take theirs. This too will be a big first for our friends, who already have enjoyed a range of new experiences. We are hoping for calm conditions, and there is a request for phosphorescence, a milky way and shooting stars.
We will post again in a couple of days once we have reached the safety of the Gippsland Lakes.
For now here is a gallery of our last days on Flinders Island with a fiery sunset to top things off.
Sv-Anui 
Nooooo it can’t be coming to an end already!? Hope the passage goes well.
Afraid so – motor sailing across Bass Strait right now in very sedate conditions!
Safe crossingTake It Easy.
Thanks Guys! Very calm in Bass Strait… we are motor sailing.
Hope you have a safe passage and I so don’t want this to come to an end! Xx
Neither do we, Susan but there will be quite a few smaller trips over the next few months, so will keep entertaining you with more sailing stories and nautical photography😊 💕
Wow, that scenery is really spectacular–love your shots. Stay safe!
Thanks Mike – nearly back!
Welcome back, you made it after. 9 weeks away, adventures, fun & friends, what a way to go. Hope settling into home is not too bad. Again lovely pics.
Thanks Sue and in actual facts it’s our 11th week on board as we started in the last week of November! Ann summed it all up this morning when we woke up at Flagstaff surrounded by boats! ” From splendid isolation to suburbia”. We have escaped from there and gone to One Pole to be on our own away from crowds for a couple more days!
Well done; welcome back to the Lakes. Have much enjoyed your voyage and pictures ! The time seems to have flown by.
Hi Doug – glad you enjoyed our cruise posts – a couple more to come. Yes you are right, time has gone quickly and yet at the same time we have seen and experienced so much that we seem to have been gone forever!
Some cool images here! Kind of fun to read this sequence in reverse as I catch up with the story.
Quite fun to go back to the posts and see what we were up to!