Escape Velocity

Towards the end of our morning paddle the breeze built up making the upwind return to Escape Velocity a little more effort than I generally like. I retreated to the boat while Jack poked his nose up the other arm of the bay and with the strengthening breeze he had a very wet paddle back home. We spent the afternoon reading and anticipating a coming thunderstorm that hit right on time about 3:30. Lightning is never fun on a sailboat with that big metal pole sticking up in the air but luckily the strikes didn’t come too close and by 6:30, just as I was baking the last of a big batch of English muffins, the rain moved on and we were treated to a brilliant double rainbow. 

And later, as the sun dipped behind the hills and the sky turned to gold, the lovely sound of bagpipes floated across the water. We stood on deck in the fading light trying to determine where it was coming from but sound does funny things on the water and besides, it’s nearly dark. Lights are coming on in the houses up on the cliffs. A cabin cruiser just made a beeline for the last public mooring in the bay. Escape Velocity is swinging slowly in the gentle current. The day is done. 

A quiet morning in Sugarloaf Bay, only about six miles from downtown Sydney. 

As adventures go this one seemed doable. In video production, my former hobby before becoming a yachtsman, we used to call it a 101: Loving couple enters elevator, they embrace, doors close, music up, fade to black, and credits roll. Easy peasy.

Life is good here in Bantry Bay. We’ve even learned what all those strange numbered rustic buildings lining the western shore are…or were. Explosives storage. Normally I feel drawn to do just what signs like NO ADMITTANCE ON LAND say not to do, but knowing the Aussie love for mischief I could just see some bloke snickering about how surprised somebody someday is going to be when they step on the exact spot where he buried this little hand grenade. It dampened my own enthusiasm for pushing my luck. 

So, where were we? Oh yes the adventure of the day. Well, it’s a 101 with a twist. M, our crack activity director found a few trails that wind around through hill and dale ending at something called The Natural Bridge. I’m thinking Utah! Yeah, I’m up for that but it’ll be a stretch so we’ll have to see how tough the trail is and there’s always the option to stop at the mountaintop viewpoint. As if! 

First thing in the morning, before it gets too hot, we tie up Catnip to the park dock and immediately run into a couple of older gents that are hiking the upper trail. Turns out it’s 440 steps to the upper trail. As luck would have it the Bay Trail bifurcates just before the stairs get serious. Ah, this is more like it. A well-prepared path with gentle undulations, reminiscent of a New Zealand park trail. Ya see that’s how they suck you in, just like the frog in the water pot. 

Before long you’re climbing rocks, reaching for anything to keep from tumbling down a precipice and sweating like Nixon at a debate! Do you have any water left? Maybe we can call it a day at the mountaintop buena vista view del mar. Are you sure you don’t have any water left? I mean the Natural Bridge was always intended as a kind of bonus goal if things were easy. 

The viewpoints on the way were really spectacular and finally we arrived at the top of the mountain on a huge domed rock with hollowed out sandstone features. Other worldly. They like their rocks large and strange down here in the land of OZ. We could see downtown Sydney off in the hazy distance.

 
It was still a bit of a hike to the Natural Bridge on a trail called the Engraved Trail which is supposed to have Aboriginal Art carved in stone but it seems they would prefer to keep it to themselves. 

Of course Marce had to curb my curiosity by grabbing my tee shirt as I headed over the fence. Real Stone Age Art meters from where I stood. What kind of a person doesn’t want to see that? It soon became obvious why this area was sacred to the aboriginal. Large strange rocks. Large strange rock formations. Not a large pile of rocks but the whole damn mountain top was as near as I could tell, one huge rock. 

The path down to the bridge was steep and torturous and really a bridge too far. I suppose it didn’t help that as we reached the bottom of the ravine I noticed that a stream passed under the trail and I must be standing on The Natural Bridge. It was a Spinal Tap moment. When Nigel, not good with figures, confuses inches for feet and a tiny Stonehenge trilithon descends to the stage. Let’s just say it loses impact, even though it’s beautiful. Rocks big, bridges small. 

Like most adventures, it’s all about the journey.

It takes about half an hour to walk from our anchorage in Blackwattle Bay, in the shadows of Sydney’s ANZAC Bridge, to the four story Broadway Mall which has just about anything a human could need. Farm markets, supermarkets, food courts, theaters, clothing of every conceivable style except half-off sailor stuff, and a genuine Apple Store. I have a collapsible wheeled cart that makes it possible to lug it all back to the dinghy and home, but I never relax until I see Escape Velocity bobbing at anchor right where we left her. Generally Blackwattle has good holding in mud but there are areas where there’s nothing but silt, and a cubic foot of silt over your anchor means that it’s only a matter of time until you come around that last corner to find nothing where your home used to be. 

We’ve really enjoyed the buzz of Sydney and charm of Glebe Point and the convenience of the fish market but we’re both getting that restless feeling. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the dead pig just drifted past the boat.

I’ve been hard at work scraping the hull and props which requires a lot of free diving in Blackwattle’s water which can only be described as a kind of seafood chowder with periodic infestations of jellyfish and whatever this effing thing is.

The pull of many pleasures, including good friends, has kept us here but moving day is upon us and we’ve decided to try the other end of Sydney Harbor, past The Sound, around Middle Head into Hunters Bay if things go well. 

My efforts seem to have earned us an extra knot or two so when we raise Hunters Bay it’s still early enough that we decide to keep moving across The Bar looking for something…homey. At Middle Harbour we had to slow down to accommodate the bascule bridge at the spit for their 10:15 opening. 

I couldn’t describe what we’re looking for but I know we haven’t seen it yet. 

Quakers Hat Bay, Sugarloaf Bay…maybe on the way back down. Finally beautiful Bantry Bay nestled like a fiord cleaving a wooded mountainous national park with one last mooring ball #079 open and waiting just for us. Engines off, strange bird calls, breeze rustling the nearby trees, gentle lapping of clear bay water. Home.

We had a great view of the bridge and opera house, but the e-ticket vantage point for the fireworks is by all accounts Farm Cove on the city side of the harbour. We hemmed. We hawed. The consensus was that we were fine where we were, but in my mind we didn’t spend 4-1/2 years and nearly 25,000 nautical miles to stop just short of the goal line. So we up-anchored and motored over to Farm Cove, circled a little to get our bearings and dropped the hook. Picture perfect! 

The crew busied ourselves stringing together the courtesy flags of all the countries we visited so far so we could dress ship for the occasion, and as the Cove filled up with all manner of boats we spent the day taking selfies and warning off any boat that we felt was attempting to anchor too close. In the end we figured our US ensign and our string of international flags earned us enough respect that most boats stayed well clear. Thank goodness because it really got tight in there!

The afternoon brought an air show. We — and the rest of the spectator fleet — were convinced the pilot was going to fly under the bridge but on every pass he pulled up and we could hear the collective sigh of disappointment. 

As the sun went down the music from ashore and the anchorage cranked up, and anticipation on Escape Velocity went up to 11. At 9pm there was a preliminary “kids fireworks” followed by a lighted boat parade. 

Finally, the main event, the culmination of years of planning, learning, voyaging and perseverance to bring us to this moment, to this legendary fireworks display. I only snapped a few shots because I wanted to burn the images into my memory instead of looking at the tiny picture on the camera. It was spectacular, as advertised, and way too short. I could have watched for an hour. 

Afterwards, after the champagne toast, after the hugs and squeals of delight, the mayhem began in earnest as most of the boats anchored near us sorted out their tangled lines and headed home. We kept vigil in case anyone strayed too close, but we were safe and eventually Farm Cove was calm again. 

It’s 2017 and we’re still here. Who could have imagined back in 1969 that we’d live this long? Life just keeps getting better all the time.

You can watch the video on YouTube here. 

We dressed ship with our country flags for New Year’s. 

We tidied up Escape Velocity and stowed everything that tends to fly across the room when we’re underway in bumpy water and motored out of Blackwattle Bay for the first time since we arrived in Sydney, our destination the Taronga Zoo on the other side of the harbour bridge. Athol Bay is one of the preferred places to watch the legendary New Year’s Eve fireworks so we were eager to check it out and claim a spot before the crowds showed up. Plus we wanted to visit the zoo. We were rewarded with a rolly anchorage from the constant ferry traffic and a spectacular harbour sunset view. 

There’s no dinghy dock for the zoo so we had to do a wet landing on a tiny beach, a first for Nancy and Dave, then haul the heavy beast up beyond the tide line. The zoo is built on a steep hill and the best way to enjoy it is to take a cable car to the top, then work your way down. 

We’re not really zoo people, preferring to see wildlife in its natural habitat, but the unique setting of this zoo and being able to see close up some of the animals that only exist in Australia made it a fun visit. 

There were lots of old favorites who were used to posing for the crowds. 

We were advised not to miss the bird show so we arranged our day to take advantage of the presentation closest to lunchtime and grabbed some sandwiches and drinks and took seats in one of the best amphitheatres I’ve ever been in. What a view!

The birdman was knowledgeable and entertaining and we loved seeing the birds up close. 

It was an sweltering day, the kind Sydney is famous for and we looked forward to getting back to Escape Velocity hoping for a bit of breeze. We could see that more and more boats were moving into the anchorage for the fireworks the next night. 

When we got to the beach we discovered we’d been swamped by the incoming tide. Nearby party boats had rescued the dink and pulled it further up the beach but it was full of water and sand. Welcome to cruising, Nancy and Dave! We got back to Escape Velocity wet and sandy and needed a hose down, but we were once again rewarded by a beautiful harbour view. It never gets old. 

One of the big events that makes Sydney a sailor’s dream destination is the Sydney-Hobart yacht race that starts on Boxing Day and ends an unbelievably short time later in Tasmania over a stretch of water that’s not for the faint of heart. We weren’t sure Nancy and Dave were up for it but there’s no way we were going to miss the start in Sydney Harbour. The problem was finding where the starting line would be and how to get to a good spot to take in all the prestart maneuvers of these big beatiful speed machines. We asked around, we checked on Google, we consulted any source we could find but in the end took a stab in the dark and ferried to one of the recommended spots. 

We got to our designated overlook only to find it empty — bad sign — and only in sight of the stream of spectator boats heading out of view. This clearly would not do. I corralled us onto a nearby bus and back to a main road for a connecting bus further out in the harbour but the transit system was on the holiday schedule and the clock kept ticking towards the start time with no way to get to a better vantage point. 

Dave flagged down a taxi and as soon as we told the driver we wanted to see the race start he took off with a plan to get us where we needed to go. And it was perfect. 

The boats are big and fast and the water was packed with spectator boats of all kinds. We would love to have been on the water but you couldn’t beat the view we had up on the hill. 

As fun as it was to watch live from the shoreline, it’s exciting to watch the TV coverage, too. Here’s a link to the full program and if you want to skip to the crazy bits, scoot forward to about 20 minutes in.

 We had two very generous and tempting invitations to Christmas festivities with friends but decided instead to make it a family day aboard Escape Velocity anchored in Blackwattle Bay with a view of the Sydney skyline. It’s been two years since we’ve been with my sister and brother-in-law and many years since we spent Christmas with them, as we lived far apart when we were landbased. Since we moved aboard in 2012 Christmas has sometimes been a lonely day but we keep up our traditions of cinnamon buns and curry and samosas for dinner to help us feel connected no matter where we are. 

We awoke to perfect weather and between bouts of cooking we went ashore for a walk around the point at Blackwattle Bay. 

We came across this group of friends playing cricket, a game that fascinates and confounds us. Some day we hope to watch a match in the company of someone who could explain it all to us, perhaps Mark of Macushla, who used to entertain us with incomprehensible dissertations on the finer points. On Christmas we were left to try and figure it out on our own. 

Many years ago Jack and I went gift free for the holidays. It took all the stress of shopping and spending out of the season because in the end our time spent with loved ones making memories is the only gift we ever want anyway. Despite missing the rest of our family — and snow — we count this as one of our most memorable Christmases ever.