After Nana and Papa had waved us off from Jemmys point lookout in Lakes Entrance we had a wonderful sail until later that evening.
We are all savouring these overnight passages as they will be our last ocean passages for a little while. And by savouring, I mean the kids are enjoying getting to read books all day and not have to do any homework! It was a quiet night and we arrived at Refuge Cove early the next morning and anchored in the pretty bay.
Though it looked beautiful, the kids swam to shore in the afternoon and said the water was freezing! We took the dinghy over and G went for a hike to find an cell signal to check the weather and tides for our upcoming passage to Port Philip bay, while P sat on the beach and read her book. When G returned and the kids had had a nice play on the beach, we hopped in the water for a quick swim, and it was freezing!
The next morning H and J woke us up while playing Nerf wars, holding us up dressed like bandits.
The weather was wet so we spent the day doing a jigsaw puzzle together and watching a movie. We spent Saturday completing the 1000 piece jigsaw as it was still raining and cool.
After checking the weather again, we decided it best to leave on New Years eve, as there would be some strong winds about to come through. This would keep us in Refuge cove for up to a week, and we had a deadline to get home for Grandmas 80th birthday. Not an occasion to be missed, we upped anchor on the last day of 2017, and headed home. Once we rounded the bottom of the prom the waves picked up to about 3 metres but it wasn’t too uncomfortable. In the evening the wind picked up so G decided to hand steer for a while to take some pressure off the auto helm, and make our passage a bit more comfortable. P lay in bed listening to the banging and crashing of the waves against the hulls trying to get some sleep. By the time she took over the watch it was almost midnight, and the waves and wind had dropped a little. P enjoyed watching some fireworks along the coast as we sailed into the new year. The night was bitterly cold, and she had several layers on, including wet weather gear and shoes. Welcome to Victorian sailing! We're looking forward to winter, NOT! G took over the watch at 0445hrs and when P got up we were nearing the rip at Port Philip bay. We had timed our entry to arrive at slack tide and as we motored across the notorious rip a seal waved up at us, and it felt like a special welcome home.
Once we had entered the bay we made our way to the pier at Sorrento, where Dave and Ian were waiting. After coming up close to the pier and Ian doing an impressing jump onto the boat, we made our way to Capel Sound.
Just outside the sandbank poles and anchor dropped, off to shore we went. The kids went ahead and ran down the driveway at the shack to meet Grandma. After our catch up with Grandma we went and visited with Sammy and Gerry, and the Gonnuts. Before too long Tommo was driving past in a friends car and the look on his face as he recognised us was priceless. The car stopped and he jumped out and ran to play with his cousins, reunited after a year away. We returned to the boat in the afternoon and spent time catching up with Robbie and Vicky before having an early night. It was lovely to see the family and spend time together, and it was like no time had passed at all.
After a couple of nights anchored off the beach in Capel Sound and hanging out with the family we picked up anchor and headed a course for Melbourne. En route we stopped at Parkdale and dropped the dingy into the water. G,S,E and J headed to shore while H and P stayed on board and kept Be and Be idling away from the shore. The dinghy crew arrived back with the addition of Sally and were all soaked. The waves they motored into had breached the sides of the tender, drenching them. Poor little Sally, not a great welcome aboard, but we quickly got her dry and warm and pointed towards Brighton, Be and Be’s new home.
A short time later we navigated our way into the yacht club and the professional crew that we are after a year on board, tied up alongside the dock. Now for the fun part of moving back into our house! We took as much stuff off the boat as we could pile into the two work cars that we would use for now. Thanks to Dave for lending us his car and organising G to have his car back! As much as we could have kept sailing for several years, for now it is time to return to land life. Back to school, work, after school activities, play dates and birthday parties.Though now we will continue to have adventures on Be and Be, and make her a priority in our busy lives, and share her with our family and friends. Perhaps its time to follow new dreams, and plan more exciting journeys, while finding a work/school/boat life balance that caters to us all.
I cant put into words the love, joy, frustration, challenges and excitement of 6 people living together 24/7 in a floating home for over a year, but suffice to say it was the best experience of my life, and I’m pretty sure G’s life too (after all it was his dream to buy a boat and sail the Pacific). We also hope that it was the best experience for our beautiful children and may it inspire them for the rest of their lives to be their own person and follow their own hearts and dreams.
Some stats:
Days Overall: 385
Longest Passage: Maupiti, French Polynesia to Niue - 1,140 Nautical Miles (7 and a bit days)
Photos: 17,000!
Videos: 500
Nautical Miles: 6,800 (12,600K's)
Smiles: Countless : )