{"id":1406,"date":"2025-03-22T20:56:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T09:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/?p=1406"},"modified":"2025-03-25T18:13:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T07:13:43","slug":"onwards-to-port-macquarie-and-trial-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/onwards-to-port-macquarie-and-trial-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Onwards to Port Macquarie and Trial Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

16-22 March 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last days in Port Stephens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were waiting for the light NE winds to change and we knew from the forecast that a fairly strong southerly change was approaching. So we were waiting, and preparing ourselves and the boat, for the next leg of the trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
winch service while waiting to depart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A walk in Salamander Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Port Macquarie<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the 17th the southerly change came through in the early hours of the night. We waited until mid day when the most windy part of the front had passed and we left in 20-25kn S wind, although the swell was then up to around 3m. It was a bit of a wild ride, but at least the wind was blowing from behind. The East Australian Current (EAC) was quite strong with, at times 3-4 knot against us! Especially around Seal Rock the current kicked in and it made the sea state very uncomfortable. As the night fell the seas and wind calmed down a little. For the first time since we left Sydney it was a little chilly in the early hours of the morning, but soon warmed up again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Blurry picture of instruments at night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Sanna thought it got a bit cold in the morning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Sunrise as we’re coming into Port Mac<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Vanetta and Rara side by side in the Marina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Around 8am we arrived in Port Macquarie after a 20 hour passage (we only motored the last two hours as the wind died). We timed the bar crossing well and there were no big breaking waves so no issues at all this time. In the marina we met up with friends we made in Port Stephens, Sanne and Stuart on their boat Vanetta. We also met Brian and Mel on “Go”, a 43 ft Leopard cat, which unfortunately got severely damaged when they left Camden Haven and a huge wave hit their boat<\/a> whilst crossing the sand bar there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We didn’t do any longer on-land adventures in Port Macquarie, but got a few long walks in and also did shopping and washing clothes etc. One less fun job was for Niclas to clear a blocked head (toilet), but good to have it perfectly working again. It seems all cruisers have recurring issues with their toilets. Sanna was installing mosquito nets on our front hatch which was really needed – The mozzies are getting feisty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
walking in the area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
shopping time<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
fixing a blocked head \ud83d\ude41<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Coffee with friends after a walk to the city beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After three nights in the marina it was time to move on, and we left and picked up a public mooring just inside the inlet to Port Mac late afternoon just in time to hunker down as a storm passed over us. The dinghy on the foredeck almost flew away in the 35kn gusts, but was rescued at the last minute. It certainly needs to be better tied down in the future. After the storm we were treated to a beautiful rainbow and a calm sunset and night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South West Rocks<\/strong> \/ Trial Bay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the 22nd we woke up around 7 am and quickly got ready to set off. The bar crossing again went smoothly and we headed north with some engine assistance in the light southerly wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We choose not to go all the way to Coffs but instead stopped in Trial Bay after lunch, where we anchored partly sheltered from the swell in about 3m depth. The afternoon was absolutely gorgeous and we had several swims in the warm (27 degrees) clear water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The Gaol of Trial Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
catching up with diaries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16-22 March 2025 Last days in Port Stephens We were waiting for the light NE winds to change and we knew from the forecast that a fairly strong southerly change was approaching. So we were waiting, and preparing ourselves and the boat, for the next leg of the trip. Port Macquarie On the 17th the…<\/span><\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-1406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-port-macquarie","tag-south-west-rocks","tag-trial-bay"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1406"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1434,"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions\/1434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlingfamily.com\/rara\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}