The wind is set to come from the west for most of the day before going NW then N and increasing overnight and tomorrow N - NE with potentially gusts of over 30 knots, Hatchet bay was once an inland lake but an entrance was cut into the narrow strip of rock that separated it from the sea after WW1 and in 1940 it was widened to make it easier to navigate turning it into a well protected harbour / anchorage. There are mixed reports of how well anchors hold with quite a few people saying they had trouble and dragged anchor as well reports it gets crowded and there is little space with 25+ boats in it so we were a little apprehensive about heading there but as it is the nearest protection and only 8 miles south we would have plenty of time to find somewhere else if it was crowded etc. 

We left Glass window bridge anchorage and sailed along the coast, almost immediately we were joined by a small pod of dolphins - these ones stayed for about 10 minutes.

 

Sunrise

The entrance to the bay was hard to see until you are right by it, it looks pretty narrow as well although it is actually about 25m wide from rock face to rock face. As we approached we could see it looked fairly empty and dead flat inside. Soon we were in, there were only 6 boats anchored and it was flat and calm, we were elated, I called Janine to tell her entering with the waves was alright it we was good inside, being a catamaran they were nervous about the narrow entrance and were happy we went through first.

It was lovely inside, we had something to eat then decided to go ashore for a wander with Janine and Tom, we had a nice wander around Alice town and along the beach before popping into the local shop to have look at prices and get a couple of things.  

 

After a day of wind when we didn't go ashore and although as nice, protected and tranquil as it is, there are quite a few jelly fish in the bay and we want to move on to find somewhere the can make water, so after a second peaceful night we decided to leave and headed southeast.