“Do you know where we are?” asked Doug. I was tempted to reply “F88ked if I know,” but instead replied “Somewhere south of Broulee Island” (which isn’t an island). Within an hour of leaving our usual launch site we had been plunged into thick sea fog which obscured everything. It was strangely disorienting, sea and sky were merged into a grey blanket, we could hear the surf crashing onto the shore line to our west, but nothing was visible and the larger waves took on the appearance of land on the horizon.
At Pretty Point, we had a brief glimpse of the rotten cliffs of the peninsula but then the fog thickened and it was only when I heard waves both ahead and to the west that I had realised we were on a collison course with Jimmies Island. We abruptly turned east and passed within 100 metres of the the island unable to see anything at all. I steered a more southeasterly course for a couple of kilometres knowing that we also had to pass to the east of Burrewarra Point. After a while, there was no more feeling of large waves and we settled into paddling due south. Fixing my compass on my deck after the Erowal Bay affair was already paying off.
We had, however, neglected to bring a map, and on this day, I had also left our radio behind. Why do we (I’m sure I’m not alone) continue to make the same mistakes? We continued following our compasses south, but, of course, if you look at the map, it’s obvious that to paddle to Moruya Heads - our destination for the day – a southwesterly course is required. At about 18 kilometres, I pulled out my mobile phone and checked Memory Map and saw that we were about 8 kilometres off Bengello Beach. We probably should have headed due west as, in a north south direction, we were only 1.5 kilometres from the breakwall at the entrance to the Moruya River, but it was hard to see the map on the phone through the waterproof case so the bearing was a bit of a guess.
At 23 kilometres, I checked the map on the phone again and we were now south of the entrance to Moruya Heads. Neither Doug nor I had eaten before leaving home. Six in the morning on the water is too early for anything but coffee which is a necessity. We were planning breakfast at Shelley Beach inside Moruya Heads but quickly decided that finding our way in through the bar in such thick fog would be difficult so we would head north to Shark Bay for our break. We had a quick bite to eat in our boats and then headed northwest thinking at some point we would see Bengello Beach and, hopefully, the entrance to Shark Bay.
Of a sudden, as these things do, the fog lifted as drier air blew in from the south. We noted that Shark Bay was due north should the fog descend again, but the rest of the day was clear. We both effected an entrance to Shark Bay which has a large shelving reef which breaks, and stopped for tea and breakfast. The one good thing about missing Moruya Heads was that we were past half way for the day. Passing half-way is always a big mental hurdle for me on these long days out and a real morale boost to know we had only about 20 kilometres remaining.
We had the effects of the East Australian Current (EAC) which runs north to south as, we passed Burrewarra Point at over eight kilometres an hour going south but under six going north. There was lots of clapotis and current effects and we bounced around all the way north with the jostling most pronounced on the points – Burrewarra, Jimmies and Pretty Point. At Lilli Pilli conditions always ease and this day was no different. When we came around the last reef, of a sudden the water was smooth and we had a light tailwind. I was astonished how much easier the last four or five kilometres felt, which was good, because I was getting tired and cramped. At 1:30 pm, we landed back on the beach, 48 kilometres down in 7.5 hours including our short break. Another long day complete.
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