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Ray and John were waiting for us as we landed at Little
Waterloo Bay. They had walked across from Tidal River. The campsite
was well sheltered and we had a beautiful summer evening.We climbed
up onto rocks to work our bearings for tomorrow. Hogan layout there
48 km away.We would need to start before dawn the next day to get the
right combination of flooding and ebbing tides.
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Night paddling has always been on the Maatsuyker Canoe
Club agenda. Now we could see the benefits of this experience. The weather
was mild and calm as we readied for departure. We would stick together
and paddle on a compass bearing towards Hogan Island. We were hoping
to see the navigation light on Hogan but it wasn't visible.
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As daylight arrived we were paddling in a smooth, rolling
sea and we could pick out the top of Hogan Island and East Moncour and
Rhodondo Islands to the south. We had calculated half the journey would
see the tide taking us eastward then as we approached Hogan Is the tide
would bring us back to the west.
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The next few hours saw a light
breeze develop, enough for Matt to try out his new spinnaker. However
the breezes were fickle and soon died out..
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Mid day saw the clouds clear to a hot windless day. We
could see the wisdom of our tidal plotting as we approached Hogan Island.
There was quite a strong incoming tide that would have made it difficult
to paddle against. We had aimed to be well east of Hogan to allow for
this tide.
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We regouped at the approaches to the Hogan Island, Jamie
and I in the double had been a few kilometers in front. It is remarkably
easy toget well infront when paddling a double but it made videoing
the trip much easier.
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We landed in a small bay on the south eastern side of
the island. The weather was magnificent. From the top of the island
we could clearly see Erith and Deal Island out to the south. This was
our next destination.
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Looking west from the light on top of Hogan island we could
see Wilsons Promontory, Rhodondo and East Moncour Islands..
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Exploring further we came across the three female paddlers from
NSW, Also camping there were four male paddlers from the same state.
Bass Strait was getting crowded!! Our paths were going to cross many
times on this trip.
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