Left RQS on a sunless day and spent the night at Blakesly so that we could catch the right tide to the Gold Coast the next day. We had an uneventful trip down the inside passage, anchored just outside of Seaworld which is next to the Gold Coast Seaway for a quick exit the next day.

Left the seaway to try for Ballina which would have been a nice stepping stone as we worked our way south. Ballina turned into a disaster about to happen. On the way down there were lots of heavy swells and Ballina has a bad reputation for getting across the bar. It needs to be timed right with the tide and with our 2.1 metre draught we needed to hit that perfectly in order to make it.

You know that feeling you get when something is not quite right, well … I had that feeling. First … and last attempt at getting across, a swell came up on the beam and was pushing us over. That’s when I had that feeling! Thanks to El Capitan we aborted that attempt. It was late afternoon by that time and we knew our only other option was to head to Yamba, putting us in there close to midnight.

Yamba doesn’t have a bad rep like Ballina but the depths are still shallow and supposedly a 5 knot current through the channel. There were thunderstorms, (lightning striking the water) rain, and the engine starting to shake. Apparently we picked up some kelp or something around the prop. The whole journey was turning into something from one of those disaster survival movies. We felt like we limped into Yamba. Checked the prop next day and it was all fine, so we settled in for a little explore around Yamba and Yamba time. Took the ferry from Iluka, where we anchored, across to Yamba to pick up some supplies and have a wander around.

Next day we moved MAD closer to the entrance so that we could exit Yamba channel early to make our way to Coffs Harbour. Because of the winds we considered leaving around midnight but chose instead 4 in the morning getting us into Coffs later in the day. Struggled to get into a berth at the marina, very tight fit. Had a good visit from Terri, Dave and Lauren a little dinner a bit of wine, and then they were off this morning driving back to Sydney. And we are off heading to Port Macquarie. It was either leave today or have to wait for 2 more days. So here we are having a gentle sail down the coast to Port Macquarie, hoping to arrive sometime between 1 and 5am. Depends on the winds, but we definitely want to be in before 7am when the winds turn southeast.