Dictated by the wind and tide requirements of Banks Strait, we departed Skeleton Bay at 5:25 am after a bit of a tussle with the anchor which had well and truly dug under some kelp. The sailing up around Eddystone Point and into Banks Strait was uneventful although the wind strengthened as we proceeded. The original thought had been to anchor off Swan Island but on arrival it was clearly untenable in the prevailing 20 knot conditions, so we sailed on to Foster Inlet with the by then 25 knot easterly and 3 knot current boosting our SOG to 9 knots along the way!
Safe at anchor by just after 1:00 pm, Foster Inlet provided great shelter and we had a quiet afternoon and early evening there, sharing the anchorage with a trawler. The rocks forming the northern end of the Inlet were well rounded and at times looked like a large colony of elephant seals slumped over each other.
