Done Dreamin' 12/15/05: Moving on to Sydney
#81 NOW December 15, 2005, 1040UTC +11 hours (New South Wales, Australia)
Tied to a courtesy buoy in America Bay, (S3335.6 E15114.6). Temperature 79
Hello Again,
As you can see, I am back in America Bay again.
Actually, this has been a week of wonderful
cruising in the backwaters of Broken Bay and its
many tributaries. This area surrounded by the
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, provides a
natural wilderness area to enjoy. All this and
its only a short distance from Sydney.
After spending a couple of days in America and
Refuge Bays, I slowly worked my way up Cowan
Creek. I was planning to spend the night at
Lords Bay (with a name like that, how could you
go wrong), but the courtesy mooring was limited
to boats 11 meters or less, and it was too deep
to anchor properly. So I continued up the creek
to Bobbin Head. This place has a large marina
and mooring buoys that were all full. I found a
good spot to anchor and took the kayak in to
explore the area. There was a nice park and a
small store at the marina from which I satisfied
my craving for ice cream. It seems I am easily
tempted by civilization.
From Mark who lives in the area, I received the
suggestion to visit Jerusalem Bay. This was good
advice and I picked up a courtesy mooring in this
five star location. It was a quite place with
good protection from the wind. The surrounding
rocky cliffs gave it an appealing character. I
should point out that these courtesy moorings may
be used only for 24 hours. This is no doubt a
good policy as it keeps people from hogging all
the good spots. The next morning I backtracked a
bit to Cottage Point with the plan to fill my
water tanks at the marina. However, water is
scares in the area and they said they would have
to charge me $22 for 10 minutes of water. I told
him I understood and thanked him anyway, as I
pushed off for Hallets Beach.
This water problem made me get off my duff and
un-pickle my watermaker. When back in the
States, I had stopped by the Spectra factory in
San Rafael. After discussing my air in the
system problems with these good folk, they
suggested that I put in a small boost pump near
the inlet seacock just downstream of the
strainer. In fact, they had been working on this
problem and had a wonderful little 12 volt pump
made in Sweden. I installed this little jewel
and if by magic, air in the system is a thing of
the past. In addition, the main pump runs quite
and smoother. I have it running right now and
over the past two hours, not a bubble of air has
entered the system. You have no idea how pleased
I am about this solution to a most aggravating
problem. Just hit the auto start button and
watch the tanks fill with clean pure water. Upon
completion, it automatically flushes fresh water
through the system and shuts down. The little
boost pump uses about 1.5 amps, however the
reduce load and stress on the main pump probably
compensates for that small draw.
Tomorrow, I am off to Sydney. It should take me
about four or five hours to get down there. I
have been checking on some of the marinas down
there, but everything is full due to the upcoming
Sydney to Hobart race, and of course the
Christmas season. Blackwattle Bay seems to be
the best suggestion. Here I can drop the hook
and take the dinghy ashore. We shall see.
Life is a Cruise, Larry
Larry Rick
Done Dreamin'
Nordhavn 40 #33
Site: http://gricknet.homedns.org/Dads%20Web/doneDreamnHome.htm