Portland Roads 12 35.624S 143 24.313E

Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Mon 12 Aug 2013 13:59
When we got up this morning it was good to see that Morris Island was where it was supposed to be! There's not a lot to it, but it did give good protection and we had a very comfortable night. As we suspected, we were on our own. Had a great sail today, covering 61.3 miles. It was another lovely sunny day with light winds of 8-15kts, mostly from ESE so we had full main and full outer genoa up, making around 6 to 6.5kts. And again, hardly any sea as the whole passage was sheltered by the reef systems.

Came round Cape Weymouth into Portland Roads to anchor this evening, so it would appear that someone from Dorset came past this way! This anchorage is on the mainland and the bay's surrounded by mangroves, so the water's very murky. The bay is quite large and it's
obviously a  base for a number of trawlers. There are about 4 or 5 anchored in the bay, along with quite a few small boats belonging, we
suspect, to other trawlers that are out at sea. There is no settlement here, just a couple of houses up in the hills, so as with all the anchorages since we left Cairns, you have to live off your own provisions.