Flinders Island - Part I
The following collection of images were taken on and around Flinders Island in March 2021.
My mate Supertramp and I spent around a week exploring Flinders after sailing from Lakes Entrance aboard Heart of Gold. We sailed down the western shore on Heart and explored the island in a rental car.
It’s a wild rugged, beautiful place. On the right day the waters are stunning, almost tropical, while the weather and tides can change quickly keeping a sailor on their toes.
Looking west towards Mount Chappell Island. Apparently you can watch thousands of Shearwaters or Mutton Birds taking off before sunrise from an anchorage off the island. We didn’t make it out there because of the weather. Next time…
Heart of Gold, on the mooring at Trousers Point. We based ourselves here for our visit to Flinders Island. It was one of the more scenic and sheltered parts of the island and had some great walks nearby.
Supertramp, Mt Strzelecki summit.
Because of the shallow water in Bass strait (in areas it’s around 50-70m deep), tidal currents can run at 4-5 knots. In flat water with little wind, Heart of Gold can motor at around 3.5 knots. So sailing Heart in these waters required a lot of planning and wasn’t exactly easy.
On top of that many of the anchorages have a ribbon like seagrass growing on the bottom. Great for massive flatty to grow in but horrible for getting an anchor set solid. I really didn’t want to get caught on a lee shore or try to motor / sail against the tide.
Living quarters can be tight in a Flicka 20, especially with two people, food for a month and loads of camera gear.
Trousers Point, Heart of Gold on the mooring and Mt Strzelecki in the background.
Probably the best spot to be on watch during a crossing. You have good protection from the dodger, good handholds and good all-round vision, and you can let the boat roll around under you while remaining relatively still. A rare photo of me sailing, taken by Supertramp.
Flinders Echidnas. They seemed fluffier than those on the mainland.
On the pub wall in Lady Barron.
Killiecrankie on the NW coast. There’s a mooring or two here used by cray boats.
It was about this time that Supertramp left me and Heart to go do some hikes on ‘mainland’ Tassie
Supertramp is a talented photographer and the most travelled human being I know. He also snapped a couple of shots of me. Check out his work here: https://www.instagram.com/mrsupertramp/
The catamaran Begonia was anchored up next to us at Trousers point. A few months later I saw the video below of a catamaran attempting to cross the Tweed Bar under a heavy swell, and recognised it as the same Cat. The boat get’s caught by a massive set breaking across its bow and loses steerage, eventually getting swept back into the river mouth. A very close call.
The forecast wasn’t looking good. An east coast low sitting in the Tasman sea had brought flooding to Taree on the NSW mid north coast, and had given us boisterous north easterlies for the Bass strait crossing. It was moving south and looking like it was going to hit Flinders Island directly.
I weighed up my options and decided the safest place for Heart was on the MAST mooring at Trousers point. Here I knew she would cop some swell and wind, but at least I wouldn’t end up on a beach.
Part two of the Flinders blog to come next.