The next leg to Eden was the challenging one. The first day was one single tack East, with a NNE wind at a steady 16 knots. Very unusual to have such fine and constant conditions. It was sunny, the sea sparkled, and it was just lovely. We skipped along at 7 knots and it was what the brochures call “champagne sailing”. We were waiting for and watching the developing front come through. We could see it all gathering on the horizon behind us and prepared inside and outside the boat for what we could see would be quite a front.

It came through at night time and brought strong winds and driving rain. Hard stuff to sail in and really difficult to manage the sails without the usual visual cues such as sail shape, wind direction, land marks. It was absolutely pitch black. We only had the headsail up but at 1am, with the wind shifting and waves building, the sail kept changing all over the place. We had decided to have two up on that watch, anticipating the change. All the action woke Dennis so he got up too. Just to add to the excitement, the AIS alarm went off to warn us that a ship had turned in front of us and was going to cross our intended path. We furled the headsail and turned on the motor until the gusts had stabilsed from a constant direction. It was all a good lesson about how to manage sails in the dark.

The next day was lumpy and stormy and the sailing difficult with cross-swells to the wind. We motored for a lot. Saw wonderful displays of whales and their young, quite close, and wandered around in circles having a look at their antics, trying not to get too close in case we bothered them. One whale kept rising out of the water, tail first, and slapping his tail on the water repeatedly. We took this as some sort of warning to keep away, so we did exactly that. Dolphins joined us also. It was spectacular!

“During the night we continued to motor, with lumpy seas, swell going across our beam, and not a lot of wind to enable us to sail well over the swells. But the moon created a white blanket over us, through the clouds, and at 4am it was a beautiful sight. I could see so clearly and thought about how glorious it was feeling like I was the only person awake at that moment anywhere on the east coast.

Dolphins joined us again for the two hours leading up to dawn.  The bright navigation lights lit them up as they played in the bow waves and so we had red and green dolphins dancing in front of us.” – Christine

We had slowed down in the last few hours in order to arrive at Eden in daylight.  The Marine Rescue people were already up and about and called us by name as we motored into Twofold Bay to welcome us to Eden and to offer any assistance we needed. They guided us to a fishing jetty where one of the locals living on his boat was waiting to take our lines.

It was a great welcome to the town and very typical of the friendly help that was extended to us everywhere – from the NSW Port Authority officer who welcomed us, gave us his mobile number and charged $5 per night, to the local supermarket staff who offered to drive us back to the boat and go via the laundromat to pick up our washing.

Dennis got his plane home to Melbourne on Friday morning. We were sad to see him go. He was such a great help and was always uplifting company. Having a third pair of hands was always welcome. As too were the wonderful meals prepared for us in advance by Gaye.

“Eden was beautiful. A fishing village, where people are very close and supportive. The weather was warm and I finally felt that the bone-chilling cold of Melbourne was being burned out of me.” - Christine

We stayed on the jetty until Saturday afternoon, then went to the other side of Twofold Bay (where Eden is) to get protection from a southerly front and thunderstorms coming through. Had a lovely afternoon fishing and getting the boat ready to leave at 5am the next day to head to Bermagui. Caught our first fish, a flathead, and we filleted it and had it for dinner that night. Wonderful storms came through, with lots of rain and thunder and lightning, and we were very protected. Felt safe and snug.