Kayak circumnavigation of Tasmania

Starting point

Arrived to Devenport in the afternoon on a ferry and then got by car to Ulverstone. Here we start.

Day 1, January 24
In the beginning...

We started in the afternoon at Ulverstone (not at Devenport as planned) and paddled for 3 hours, 12nm (21km) until it got dark. The sea was absolutely calm. Looks like a good start.

Day 2, January 25
Run like a wind

We are at Stanley!
It was a long long day. We covered 37nm(67km) with the East back wind force 5-6. The sea was 1m in the beginning but got to 3m in the afternoon which made the last hours of paddling rather tough.
It's good now to relax at the Stanley restaurant. Both of us couldn't get asleep for a long time last night. So now the only thing we could think of is to go to bed.

Day 3, January 26
Paddling and porterage are fun

Today was a relatively short day. We started with 3m breaking waves but were really lucky since the sea calmed down during the day.
We made 26.5nm (49km) and stopped at Robbins Island.
We planned to cross the Walker Channel (which could only be crossed at high water) but had to stop at some point and even carried our kayaks for some 150 meters. Tomorrow we'll start relatively late in order to cross the channel with the high water.

Day 4, January 27
West Coast encounter

Today we started at 12:00am due the sand bars (had to wait for the high water) and covered 26nm (48km). The first hours (while paddling on the North coast) were quite calm. Even the race that we had on our way - we passed it at slack (the peak of either high and low water).
But then came the encounter with the Tasmanian West coast: head wind force 5 with 3m waves reflecting from the rocky part of the coast. We were 2 km deep into the sea and still had these waves. We had to also be really careful about the reef that we passed on our way unaware of it, with 3-4 m waves breaking against the reef.
Only after the rocky cost was over a mile behind us, the sea wend down to 1.5 m and afterwards we found a safe place for landing in the North part of the Ann Bay.
The West coast is mostly uninhabited. And you can feel it right away. No more civilization for the next few days. The only sounds that you hear are the sounds of nature.

Day 5, January 28
Sea swell vs. wind waves

We are at Temma, covered 53km (29mn). Today we had a chance to learn what it is like when the wind waves and sea swell move in opposite directions. We set off in the morning with the East wind and therefore had no breaking waves at the shore. Hovever when landing at the end of the day, we realized that the West sea swell that we had this day, and didn't really feel it in the sea, brings pretty big breaking waves at the shore. This was completely new for us since in Israel we don't usually have this combination (wind waves vs. sea swell) but mostly wind waves.
Up to now we luckily managed to avoid surf at landing.
Even in the most abandoned places, we come across fisherman who help us mainly with weather forecasts.

Day 6, January 29
Another long day

Another long day - 64km (35nm). The last 40 km we covered without getting out of the kayak. That is because we were passing continuous dumpy beaches where it is impossible to land because the surf over there is huge + strong offshore currents that might prevent us from getting to the land.
Both of us are pretty much exhausted. Tomorrow we plan to reach Strahan where we would probably stay for rest.
The sea was not very high these days but it is going to pick up in a day or two, the same about the wind. This is another good reason for having rest the day after tomorrow.

Day 7, January 30
Strahan, finally

What a day! The sea 4m. Wind F5 (mainly back wind). We covered 67km (37nm). 11 hours of paddling without getting out of the kayak (had two breaks in the sea). But finally we are at Strahan.
Like yesterday, we had these dumpy beaches along our way, one of the reasons for not having landed during the day.

Day 8, January 31
Writing from Strahan

We're happy to be in Strahan after pretty exhausting 7 days. The entrance to Macquarie harbor (Strahan bay) revealed very strong tide currents. Usually there are no tidal currents on the west coast so we were a quite surprised.
The last 2 days we pushed hard, because we knew the sea is going to get rough. We wanted to get to a safe harbor in case we're stuck for a few days. Right now it seems like we will stay here for at least 1-2 days. The forecasts predict very high seas and gale winds (35 knots). It would be too dangerous to paddle now. All the fishermen stay in the harbor as well.
This is also a good chance to have a rest. We've got hands full of blisters, the other side of them are burnt of the sun. Misha's lips are cracking. Our shoulders and backs are aching. Alon can sometimes hardly walk (well he needed that very rarely in the last days :-) ). But it should get better after resting.
The sea here is simply exciting. The north coast experiences more or less the same type of waves as the Mediterranean: the same "wind waves" + currents on the NW/NE. However the west coast is completely different. Firstly, huge long swells. They are much different than what we were used to in Israel. They are long and lazy but they have tremendous power. You don't really want to get into surf with this pile of water. Up to now we have experienced up to 4 meters swells, sometimes getting up to 6, we guess. But this is not as scary if you don't need to land. Unfortunately at the end of the day we do need it. :-) This is where the troubles come. We have to look very carefully for the right landing places. Sometimes we paddle very long distances to get to a protected landing spot. Another situation when you must be aware of the swells are the rocky beaches and reefs. The reflecting waves can make the paddling very messy.
In a few days, when the seas calm down a little, we will continue to the SWcoast. This is about 300 km uninhabited area experinecing one of the roughest seas.

Day 10, February 2
Continuous rest

Today is our third day staying at Strahan. The seas are getting higher from day to day and tomorrow are going reach 8 m according to the forcast. The wind should also pick up and reach 50 knots as per the forecast. Being here, in the Strahan bay, we could hear the sound of waves raging a couple of kilemeters away from us, out in the sea.
So we have nothing left but to have a lot of rest. Our shoulders, backs and hands get recovered meanwhile. We have plenty of time to explore Strahan surroundings and hope that tomorrow will be our last day staying here as the seas are going to calm down.

Day 12, February 4
Hope to be in touch soon

Today Alon and Michael left the bay of Strahan after 4 days of rest and stormy weather. As they mentioned before, the SW coast is 162nm (300km) of uninhabited area, and there is almost no chance that they would have any means of communication in the nearest 7-9 days.
The forecast for the few nearest days is 2-3m sea and force 4-5 winds (mostly head or side winds) which makes their paddling possible.
Thus, with there warmest greetings to everyone who is following these updates, they hope to be in touch as soon as they can.

Day 15, February 7
Update from William Cooper

There has been no contact with Michael and Alon since they left Strahan.
Today an e-mail arrived from some Mr. William Cooper that says as follows: "message from two intrepid kayakers, leaving port davey west coast of tasmania & heading south. one day behind scedule due to weather but all`s well"... A short but rather important update if one takes into account the truely "SW-coastal sea" described in the recent Tasmanian weather reports.
According to the reports, there were Gale winds on SW coast for the last few days with the sea up to 5m. Therefore it's really good to hear that everything is OK. This also explains the delay in Michael and Alon's schedule.
The weather forecasts for the coming days are much calmer, that will eventually enable Michael and Alon to get to the inhabited area and be in touch in a couple of days.

Day 17, February 9
SW coast is left behind

The SW coast that is well-known for its rough and challenging seas, is behind us. And we have to admit that all that is said about this coast appeared to be true. During these 6 days (one of which we stayed at the shore), we have experienced the kind of sea that we've never been through before. We happened to be in the sea when the wind picked up to force 9. We learned what it looks like when a 6m wave breaks on you. Another thing that was amaizing indeed about this coast was weather changes. The seas and especially the wind could pick up in less that an hour to the extents that make paddling almost impossible. We'll write in details about everything that we had experienced on our way, the valuable lessons that the sea had tought us.
Today, with the sea 4m and 6-7 force back wind we covered 62km (33nm) and passed South East Cape. 6-7 force winds are very common here, and we already got used to paddle in these conditions. It's OK untill the wind picks up to force 8 or 9. Then one has to be very careful just to keep balance in a kayak :).

Day 18, February 10
Cookville

Today we arrived to Cookville on Bruny Island. It's less exciting paddling here than at the SW part, and we now start thinking more about the finishing point.
People are very warm here. Both yesterday and today we were invited to have a meal (we havn't refused). Yesterday we had wallabies (small kangaroos) burgers - it wasn't bad at all. Ironically, today we saw wallabies for the first time here. Up to now we had seen dolphins, right next to our kayaks. We saw huge albatroses. They usually come and follow us when the sea picks up.
Tomorrow, we plan to cross to the Tasman Island. The weather forecast reports of NW wind that could pick up to 30kt, which makes the crossing problematic. So we'll see what the seas are like tomorrow, and in the worst case we'll stay on Bruny Island and make the crossing the day after tomorrow.

Day 19, February 11
Writing from Cookville

We are in Cookville. The forecast for today is NW force 6, while we have a 40 km crossing to NE, Tasman Peninsula. We decided to have a day rest, wash our clothes, have a hot shower and some good food. We arrived to caravan site and got homely hospitality: dinner, hot tea and a chat. Thanks a lot to Jennie from Cookville and Michael from Cockle Creek for their kind and warm welcome during the past two days!
The South West and South coasts were both amazing and scary. We had no proper weather forecasts for the whole paddle. We failed to listen to the radio broadcasts both on AM and FM bands. We hoped to connect fishing boats by VHF radio, but it seems that no one monitors VHF channels except probably for the big harbors. We encountered very high seas and strong winds. One day we were almost blown from our kayaks by force 9 (44 knots!) wind that hit us. Another day a huge 6 meter wave broke on us, causing some damage to the equipment. Alon almost dislocate his shoulders. Misha's paddle was kicked out of his hands. The paddle leash was ripped on both ends. He was lucky to swim to his kayak and make a reentry and roll with the spare paddle.
Slowly we got used to the very high seas here. We felt OK in 5 meters wind waves while getting to the South West Cape. Alon even attempted to film us approaching the Cape. A few days we paddled with force 7 tail winds and 3-4 meters waves, which excited us at the beginning but became quite regular nowadays.
Right now we're out off the dangerous areas. The East coast is much calmer than the West coast but we expect strong head winds here much more frequently.

Day 20, February 12
Waiting for a crossing

Today we planned to make a crossing to Tasman Peninsula but the forcast that we received in the morning reported of SW Gale (force 7-8) winds for today. Since we originally planned to cross about 40km (22nm), we decided to stay on Bruny Island for another day and do the crossing tomorrow, with calmer seas. The only paddling that we did today was 14km (7.5nm) north Bruny Island, just to make the tomorrow crossing a little bit shorter.
This place in the Moorina Bay, where we camped tonight, is known due to the fact that there are pinguins here that one could see at night. Hope we'll have a chance to see some of them.

Day 21, February 13
Amazing beauty of Cape Pillar

Today we arrived to Fortesque Bay on Tasman Peninsula. 76km (41nm)! Lack of wind makes much difference :). It was 12 hours of paddling without getting out of a kayak, since we had a crossing followed by an area with no place for landing.
Cape Pillar that we passed on our way appeared to be one of the most beautiful places that we have ever seen: big and small pipe-like rocks, some of them look like a Babylon tower, others are spread next to the shore, surrounded by water. The place is absolutely uninhabited. Its loneliness and solemn beauty of the rocks was just amazing.

Day 22, February 14
Crossing to Maria Island

Today we had a relatively short crossing to Maria Island and paddled all in all 25nm (46km) against force 5-6 wind. The crossing itself was only 10nm but it took us about 4 hours untill we finished it, because of head winds. We are tired and can hardly sit - our backs are aching after the last two days of intensive paddling.

Day 23, February 15
Schouten Island

Today was a relatively short day. 54km (30nm). We felt OK to paddle another couple of miles but there was no place for landing further on, so we decided to stop here.
Today we were lucky to paddle with a piguin for a couple of minutes. Pinguin appeared to be a small and a very sweet fluffy bird. It was working so hard swimming along with us.
We have already seen many kenguroos, and today we saw some animals with long tails and mole-like faces, climing trees just like monkeys. We also keep seeing albatrosses. The animal world here is so different from what we know, so rich and extremely beautiful.

Day 24, February 16
Bicheno today

We are at Bicheno, 55km (30mn). Because of the SW-W force 6-7 wind, we had to come into all the bays on our way, using them as a shield to protect us from the wind. The mountains were also a good shield for us, we felt it especially when the mountains were getting lower - the wind was immediately picking up then. Another fact about the winds here is that they are getting very strong right after changing their direction.

Tasmania circumnavigation by kayak Log book

Tasmania circumnavigation by kayak
Log book