Port Macquarie

Tied to floating dock, Hastings River
Port Macquarie, New South Wales
Australia
31'25.6S/152'54.0E

We finally made it out of Port Stephens! We left Wednesday around 8am after listening to the Coastal Patrol Weather forecast. A lesson we learned from our last few trips: Always listen to the current weather before heading out. The weather forecast was for a slight northerly and then switching in the afternoon to a southerly. A southerly is what we are looking for because we are trying to get ourselves back up the coast. At 5pm we were still bucking northerly winds.

Then came the lighting and thunder storm. The one good thing about the weather was that it wasn't blowing too hard. So even though we never got our south wind, and we had to motor the entire way, it wasn't that bad of a ride.

We ended up making good time. We crossed over the Port Macquarie bar at 7am, then edged our way up the Hastings River. After we checked in with the harbor master, we tied up to a floating dock in the middle of the harbor. It is like our own private island for $12 a day, including shower facilities.

After getting settled, we made a quick trip into town, which so far seems very cute. The Hastings River is full of dolphins. Yesterday afternoon we watched three of them right next to the boat playing, swimming upside down, and doing back flips.

We are hoping to catch the next weather window on Sunday or Monday to proceed to Yamba,
our next stop.

Amy and Tom