ENTERING LAKE MACQUARIE

[brendan.lyon]

That's not useless - that's the most useful thing yet -

Many thanks; Clearly the advice re swell direction and rising tide is pretty important if it gets down to 1.4 metres; Topknot I think pulls 1.3 metres!

[Dolphin]

More info,
I just heard today that the contractor starts dredging the channel on Monday 14th Sept.
They intend to do it with a backhoe and a barge. The channel will be dredged to 3m. I expect that will take some time so the channel will be blocked at times I guess.
Greg.
Felicite.

[Dolphin]

Brendan,
we entered the lake on 16th Sept, yesterday. The bar crossing was uneventful and went as planned.
With a 0600 1.36m tide we had about 3.5m on the bar. We crossed at 0545. The wind was forecast as SE 13/18 knots which came in about 2400 on the way up. Coastal Patrol has changed to VMR Swansea and when logging on with Coastal Patrol Sydney, (Who have better radio coverage due to the repeater on Ch 22) they will transfer your tracking sheet to them. VMR Swansea open at 0600 so for some of the trip overnight you can expect to have no VHF radio coverage unless in an emergency.
We used GPS but also stayed at 45 to 50m depth until Norah Head to clear Tuggerah reef and the reefs off Norah Head.
Moon Island was breaking heavily even in a small swell and it is best to keep well clear, at the very least 300m. There is an Isophase white light 2 seconds on Moon island that we only saw 1.7nm away on the seaward side. Its very dim. There was breaking surf on the north side of the bar but that is normal. We entered at 0545, about 1 hour after first light. The leads are lit with blue lights and they are hard to see with old tired eyes. We went north of the leads and headed back to the first port bouy which is lit, until on the leads. The two fixed red lights to the right of the leads are the traffic lights on the bridge. Don't try and get these red lights in line.
The back leads on Swansea Heads to cross the channel are not visible until about 50m from the crossover due to the trees surrounding them..
We went through on the 0700 bridge, organised by VMR Swansea. They need one hours notice. We tied up on one of the three courtesy moorings east of the bridge and had breakfast. The bridge opens every hour except 0800 and 1600 on weekdays.
We left Refuge Cove Broken Bay, at 2100 to get the high tide at Swansea which means you have an ebb tide so numerous overfalls and short chop getting out of Broken Bay.
Greg.

[Dolphin]

Swansea Bridge to the Drop off.
The channel is quite easy to navigate. Use the recent soundings May 2009 earlier in this post. We pencilled in a track and noted where some of the sandbars encroach on the channel, near Swan Bay and Pelican. I highlighted in red, waters that are too shallow. The current was running about 1.2 knots.
Close to the drop off the waters were about 1.8m with numerous patches of 2m. The lake is low at the moment because there has been several high pressure systems and no rain.
For a Top Hat using the high tide it should present no problems.
Dredging
Earlier in the post there was talk that the dredging was to start on Monday 14th but has been held up due to a dispute about how much sand was to be removed. The contractor wants to only remove a specific quantity of sand but the Lands Dept wants a specific depth of channel cut. In Port hacking the contractor had similar isssues and said as fast as he removed the sand the current just washed more straight back in.
I guess I'd better put a disclaimer in and say that the information is supplied as best I can, there may be errors in it and you should only use your information and those of official sources, this infromation is supplied as a rough guide only.
Special thanks go to Gary from Galini who accompanied me on the trip and provided valuable feedback.