Eyre Peninsula Cruise
Cruising the Eyre Peninsula - January 2004
Port Wakefield is about 100km north of Adelaide. Although the manager of the caravan park was a real grump, the place looked ok, but as I slowly drove to the allocated site I heard a terrible grinding noise coming from the back of the Landcruiser. The 800km trip from Melbourne had been easy but Lyn and I were looking forward to a meal and a G&T … but it was not to be. Had I blown the diff or was it ‘just’ a dead wheel bearing? As the light faded, off came the wheel, the disc and the brake calliper. Luckily it was only a chunk of gravel that had wedged next to the brake pad and was grinding into the disc.
The 400km drive up through Port Augusta and Whyalla then way down the Eyre Peninsula was spectacular with the pale blue Gulf waters on one side and the red iron mountains on the other. The plan was to stock up with food and supplies at the supermarkets of Port Lincoln and check out the launching facilities there before driving the 40km across to Coffin Bay to check it out. We wanted to try both sides of the peninsular but were unsure which one to do first.
Coffin Bay is a small holiday and fishing (crayfish and oysters) town with a couple of shops and a pub. It was late afternoon when we found the ramp and luckily met a few locals as they hauled out their 25 foot trailer sailer. They suggested we rig up but wait till the morning for the wind to drop and for slack water because the current runs across the ramp. This also gave us a chance to fill up with water from the wash down area (and good toilet block) at the ramp. The launch in the morning was easy after we waited for the rugged oyster boats to launch. This was worth watching anyway. Why did each of these workboats have a young blonde girl in a wetsuit as crew? We motored the few hundred metres through the town moorings to the Coffin Bay Yacht Club jetty where we met a guy who was putting on snorkel and fins to dive for his car keys. Yep, typical trailer sailors, they had just finished a two-week holiday with a couple of other Adelaide boats when the crew dropped the keys overboard! Keys retrieved, they spent a fair bit of time with us explaining the good places to go and how to get the key for the yacht club showers ($20 for the week from the shop across the road) and also what nights the yacht club put on a meal. They also suggested that we move the trailer to the caravan park about 1km away (5$ per night) and leave the car in the yacht club car park. I’m sure the ramp car park would have been safe but we took their advice anyway.
We headed out into the main body of water called Port Douglas, which is about 10 miles from one end to the other and 2 to 3 miles wide. It has a number of bays and it opens off Coffin Bay proper which is a large north facing bay on the west side of the Eyre Peninsular (Coffin Bay township is not on Coffin Bay). Our first night on the water was spent just inside the headland of Dutton Bay. The anchor didn’t bite at all but we stayed anyway. Luckily we did because the next day we snorkelled to the overhanging shore and took a good number of large oysters from the rocks. Champagne, oysters and a few dolphins cruising by … memorable stuff!
For the next week or so we explored these waterways, returning occasionally to the yacht club jetty for supplies, showers and a meal at the club. There we met Graham and Margaret, long time cruisers from Adelaide on their Noelex 25, Yareva IV. A wealth of information and experience, they told us that their favourite spot was Yangie Bay. Following their instructions on how to enter and where to anchor, we spent several days and nights in this beautiful but shallow bay.
One evening after Yareva had anchored nearby, I let out all our anchor rope so we could drift over and raft up to share a barbeque.
After an amazing sunset and a great meal I made the mistake of commenting on how still it was. Almost in answer a faint breeze rippled the water. Within a few minutes this had built to a 40 knot squall, sending plates and glasses flying and us to the ropes to untie the boats before they damaged each other. Unfortunately the wind pushed one boat onto the other as anchor ropes pulled them in opposite directions. I watched helplessly as our pulpit slid at ever increasing speed along the side of the Noelex, missing stanchions by millimetres and finally flicking off the solar garden lantern that Margaret had proudly explained was the ideal anchor light. Our long anchor rope was caught around our keel and the boat heeled over, broadside to the strong wind. Lifting the keel only jammed the rope so it was time to go over the side in the pitch dark. I was about to don the mask and fins when I noticed that we had now been blown onto a sand bar! Normally this would not be a good thing in a squall at night but at least I could touch the bottom while I untangled the boat.
I really wanted to try out the waters off Port Lincoln on the east side of the Eyre Peninsular, so with three days left we hauled out from Coffin Bay, drove the 40 km and then put it back in the water. Unfortunately it was a bit too far to drive with the mast up. Port Lincoln has a number of ramps but the best one, and it was very good, was a few km out of town, past the new marina complex. I had read a couple of cruising guides for the area and the groups of islands well offshore sounded fantastic. However, without another boat to go out there with, we decided to go around to Spalding Cove which is surrounded by a national park.
One of the guides, by a local sailor, had said that the only anchor that would work reliably in this area was the old fashioned admiralty (or ‘pick’). I had dutifully found one the right size (#12) but had left it in the car because of its size. We had to go back and get it because our 20 pound plough would not hold at all on the hard and weedy bottom that is common to these parts. During our few days there we plucked up some courage and, followed by dolphins, headed a few miles offshore into the real ocean (well maybe it was the Gulf) until the nearer islands appeared on the horizon. Then we hurried back to the safety of the Cove.
We are looking forward to going back to the Eyre some time in the future, hopefully with another boat to team up with for the trip out to the islands. Sir Joseph Banks Group, Thistle Island, Memory Cove … Anyone interested?
Lyn and John, Breakaway
