Hi all, currently making our way from Pittwater to Hobart. We ducked into Woolongong last night in the thunderstorm and doing a few jobs on the boat and waiting till things to moderate a bit before we do the next hop. That'll probably be Batemans Bay, so just wondering what our options are for good anchorages with the current forecast into wednesday - thursday. 39 foot sailing sloop with 1.9M draft. Any local advice would be greatly appreciated.

I truly love Batemans as a cruising ground; it's where we keep our boat. However, it is very limited in a southerly because the bay is wide open to the south-east. Even when the wind is coming directly into the bay from the ESE, the swell is cut down quite dramatically - the small islands and the complicated shoreline must take the energy out of the wave action and reduce their size even through there is no significant direct shelter - but most of the anchorages are lee shores and will be uncomfortable.

If it's southerly when you arrive, there is a fairly good anchorage (now with courtesy mooring) behind Snapper Island, near the bar. Given the size of the forecast swell you may still roll a bit, but on the plus side there's an easy motor into Corrigan's Beach just to the south, where there is a full set of shops (although the hardware shop has now gone, sadly) for any restocking you need to do. Bring the dinghy into the eastern end of the beach and landing is easy, but the shorebreak further west is gnarly at times.

If the weather is less inclement than forecast, there's an anchorage on the W side of the Tollgate Islands, between the two islands, that can be surprisingly good. We've overnighted there and regularly stop for day trips. There is a small sand patch NNW of the gap between the islands, so you can (with care) anchor without touching the seagrass beds.

Many cruisers go into Chain Bay off Maloney's Beach. It does have some shelter from the SE and a courtesy mooring. There is a small general store ashore. Our favourite anchorage after the Tollgates is the next bay east, which has no name and is a beautiful spot, but it's open to the S and a SE swell can enter.

The sailing club was recently supplied with soundings over the bar, which was dredged last year. The bar is well sheltered and generally very good. See the soundings at the "Resources" page of the BBSC website. Min depth is 2.1 according to the soundings.

Anchoring inside the river is subject to significant wind against tide. The bridge opens at about 11 and 2 each day and there's some nice river cruising for about 20k upstream. There is a full set of shops in the town and a full-size supermarket about 100m from the public wharf near the bridge.

If the wind shifts out of the S or SE then there are a bunch of beautiful anchorages in BB. If it stays south, you may want to go the 10m further south to Broulee. There is a sandbank that joins the island to the mainland that offers very good anchorage in W to E winds and isn't bad in NE to NW.

We have found excellent holding in all areas bar the spot of shingle off Snapper Island. We also use a stern anchor almost all the time to hold the boat directly into the swell, but that's on a rolly 28'er weighing just 2t.

keensailor said..
If you were finding it too hard a slog into the wind and you wanted to stop somewhere before Batemans bay I could recommend Hole in the Wall which has solid curtesy moorings. It's at southern end of Jervis Bay, beautiful spot.

Ok thanks, yes a good option there.

AUS126 said..
Hey Chris,
You paint a pretty picture of Batemans Bay. Can you recommend somewhere to leave a car and trailer for a week? Also do you need a dinghy to get into the beaches or can you get in close with a trailer sailer? All I can remember is nearly running into those rock islands in the middle of the night in a sharpie many years ago. Thanks, Steve

Hi Steve;

We've never had problems leaving our car near the mooring for a few days at a time. You could perhaps look at leaving it where the trailer boats can be stored; the options could be the marina hardstand ($140/wk for a 28'er on trailer) or in the sailing club hardstand perhaps ($90 or so for a boat per week for non members). I suppose they may treat the car and trailer as a boat?

You might also just be able to leave it in the marina carpark; there's a restaurant and offices there and I think they and the marina have security patrols. The marina is 2km by foot from the launching ramp and a good place to fuel up. The club's about 200m from the ramp and has security.

The beaches are all pretty steep, so you could nose a TY in pretty close. There's normally a small shorebreak even in the protected corners; the sort that makes you watch out when you take the dinghy in and out, but also small enough that tinnies are regularly launched off trailers.

One spot that could be really nice with a shoal draft boat is somewhere we call Hades; it's on the western side of Reef Point, south of the courtesy mooring in Chain Bay. It seems well protected from the usual SE ground swell.

Incidentally those islands are nature reserves, but there's some interesting dinghy trips to be had when the weather is calm. There's shark gully on the NE side of the Tollgates, which has some nice snorkelling and is a home for grey nurses. There's swim-throughs and interesting little gullys on the N tip, and a cave you can take a dinghy into on the SW tip of the island.

The two little islands closer in also have sea caves that go all the way through the rocks. As noted, you're not supposed to land there but it's a nice little exploratory trip by water. There's also a lovely paddle up the inlet near Square Head.

Give me a wave if you're down there; we've got the J/36 that we'll be taking down after Easter now that the old 28'er is going to spend a few years on the hard being renovated.

Cheers