Swansea entrance with deep keel

I've just bought a yacht which I need to sail it back from Sydney to Qld. I'm single handed on a 40ft 6ft draft boat.

I'm thinking Swansea is the logical first stop but some research says that a deep keel may run aground and with a low tide at 3/4pm then it's not going to be fun.

Coast guard website says they can't advise due to liability.

Any info? I'm rocking around at palm beach waiting for these strong northerlies to change.

Just pick up a mooring before the bridge.

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Looking at Windy, if you got out wide early tomorrow morning you would get a quick run all the way to Qld

I'm from Lake Mac with a 2.1 draft.

The tides are wrong for you to call into Lake Mac so keep going to Newcastle which is an all weather port. A PITA but your best option IMO.

As Stockie says there are buoys on the outside of the bridge but you still have to cross the bar - which is coal and the minimum depth on the line of the leads, is approx. 1.4 metres plus the tide height. Any sea/swell will of course reduce the depth in the troughs by approx. half the wave height.

I doubt you would get through the channel into the lake, even if you wait at the bridge for the high tide, but I haven't tried for a while until the channel is dredged.

FYI if you decide to come in:
The entrance into the channel has two sets of leads, plus some port lateral marks. There are no starboard markers. When approaching from the south the leads are visible as you round Moon Island. When approaching from the north, DO NOT cut the corner of the northern break wall, as yachts will surely run aground. Vessels are advised to keep an easterly position off Moon Island before turning to align the leads.
The leads are red triangles, lights blue at night, on a bearing of 255 degrees true. Moon Island light is a white /red sector light (Iso.WR.2s 12m 5M)
The worst bar condition tends to occur, when there is a wind and sea/swell from the NE, the tide is near low but still running out.
Moon Island and the bomboras to its south, give some protection to the bar from a southerly swell.
(In adverse conditions the skipper should consider going to Newcastle Harbour which is a safe deep water port in all conditions.)
It should be noted that a strong nor'easter generates a significant swell particularly when the tide is near low & still running out. This is less of a problem for keel boats aiming to cross the bar near high tide.
Local knowledge advises to approach the Lake entrance on a line about 2 boat lengths to the north of the line of the entrance leads, bearing 255.60. There is deeper water on this northern line. This also gives you more "wriggle room" as the bar shallows quickly to the south of the line of the entrance leads.

I would leave Monday morning.

Have a good trip :)

Crealock 40. I thought covid would cause lots of boat sales but it turned out the opposite. Happy with this one but lots of work to do.

If you're just overnighting in Newcastle, if you take the north arm you can find spots to anchor and some moorings that appear to be official but little used.

I used to live on the Lake and had 2.1m draft in there a couple of years ago, and while the bar is one of the best on the coast the lights can be confusing at night and the information about the coal seam etc, as given above, is very good.

If you go to Port Stephens, be aware that since we put the boat there we renamed Shoal Bay as Roll Bay. It cops almost any swell and the tide will often ensure that a yacht is beam on to the swell.

The anchorage half-way along Cabbage Tree Island is much better much of the time (well, in a NE anyway), and the Broughton anchorages have been very good the few times we've been there. By the time you get into Roll Bay you'd be almost at the Broughtons where you can normally find a better anchorage and avoid the diversion.

3 usually

I did exactly that at Broughton Island. A bit rolly but beautiful. So much different from islands up north, I could walk barefoot around the island without pain of sharp rocks.