We made it to Broken Bay! We had a 35nm sail from Jibbon Beach in gusty but not too scary tail wind and 3 to 4 meter swell – something we probably can do without in future! By early afternoon on Saturday we picked up our friend Sue at Patonga and promptly headed up the Cowan Creek into Refuge Bay for the night. Broken Bay gives access to four major waterways: North into Brisbane Water, South into Pittwater, and West into Cowan Creek and the Hawkesbury River. Whichever way you go, it is well protected, with lots of public moorings. In the off-season you can enjoy stunning bush settings in uncrowded anchorages where the only sounds you hear are the forest birds.
One of the pleasures of cruising is sharing time on board with our friends and other yachties. Sue has been on many of our adventures, notably to Lord Howe and to the Bass Strait Islands. Lindy and Phil, who keep their yacht Frangipani in Pittwater, and who we met a few years ago, came to raft up with us. So we celebrated being all together. It was a happy affair: any excuse to drink French Champagne and eat tasty treats was used that night. There was our arrival here, Chris’s belated 60th birthday, Lindy’s and our retirement, the fact it was sunny, not cold, and no big wave was in sight…
Lindy, Sue, Phil & Wade… and Ella the Bengal kitten
Mexican stand off
Sv-Anui 
You are getting really good at shooting the waves Chris. You write of the difficulties of capturing their height: but there have been some stunning images in the last few posts that have conveyed a real sense of energy and power in the swells. It could become your speciality!
There were some spectacular ones, which we could have done without! Fortunately the feathering ones in the previous post were at a distance over a reef, and the ones in this post were breaking once past us. Thanks for the nice feedback though.
French Champagne? ummm, what a life! I’m happy for you guys, time to relax all that tension. We are waiting under lots of rain and gusty winds for the hurricane Irma that it is way North West and we are supposed to get some rough time at 2:00 am. it has been downgraded to tropical storm. Category #1.
See you later! 🙂
Why does the horrible weather always come in the middle of the night. Stay safe HJ.
Fantastic journey, love the photos, funny cats, it’s all happening!
More to come! Great to have you on board for this little interlude. Not much sailing but plenty of 😎
Those rollers look darn scary! I love the cats! The fur is beautiful. ❤️
Yes the waves were a bit daunting, John. Nice to get a break from them! And yes the bengals were fun to watch.😺
We had a lovely time there at Easter! Cottage Point restaurant is gorgeous if you feel like spoiling yourselves.
Nice part of the coast, especially mid week in winter or spring. We would hate the summer crowds!
So glad you are having some warmer weather whilst here. Lovely to meet Sue and Bengie. Hoping the winds & sea are friendly for your trip north & thanks again for a wonderful catch up at Refuge. Lindy & Phil
We were really pleased we finally caught up with you and were delighted to meet gorgeous Ella. Thank you for your company. Hope to see you again somewhere along the coast. Chris &Wade
It was great to catch up with you both and your friend Sue over the weekend. Thank you for the wonderful photos of Ella Bleu. Have a great 60th Chris and I am looking forward to retiring from work early next year and spending more time on our boat. Kind regards Phil
You won’t look back when you do, Phil! More pics of Ella coming via email. She is a good looking ship’s cat! Thanks for your company and hope to see you again on the water!
Great pics of the waves Chris, but very glad to have not been amongst them. Glad you are enjoying calmer water and catching up with friends. I assume there are no play dates arranged for the pussy cats!
Hi Ann – yes the swell was big and it is so nice to be in flat water for a while! It’s beautiful up here and warm during the day, so a great break for us with Sue’s company. Ella was a bit spooked by Bengie and her loud miaows set off the growling and hissing! Bengie looked all fluffed up! They would eventually work it out, but for the isolated meetings, it is not worth risking fisty cuffs!