Hello,

refuge/America bay offer plenty of moorings, many are courtesy of the Pittwater YC,s so if your unlucky you might get shifted, but still plenty to choose from. The beach near Palm Beach under the light house has moorings, if you need to anchor, stay out wide of the moorings, the SeaGrass is protected and hopeless to anchor in, not safe in a blow.
Patonga Beach is possible eating and pub spot, atPalm Beach I have eaten at the Golf Club, nice. The beauty of Cowan creek is its seclusion, so take your own meals for that area.
Thetrip around is fine taking the usual coastal passage precautions, stay wide of North Head, lookout for Long reef. Enjoy!
cheers Richard

Hi folks,

im up the north coast these days, but Sydney & Pittwater I consider my home ports. I still come down once or twice a year to race and or cruise with friends. I usually come down every Easter to do the Bob Brown race with the sasc, which races up to Pittwater and then we go cruising up into coal & candle creek or somewhere similar for a few days.

i won't talk about the trip up as hopefully you have the experience and if your boat is well found with the correct safety gear, and, you pick the right weather window it really is an easy passage.....although you can never take any offshore passage for granted.

that out of the way yes it is a busy time on Pittwater and Cowan Creek. The week between Christmas and new year, then Australia Day, and then Easter are the busiest with lots of boats both power, sail and about a thousand or two small fishing rigs.

However you will usually find a public mooring somewhere. America and refuge are the busiest, with lots of moorings, but it won't be peaceful as the boats coming and going, tenders, kids in fast tenders off the big power boats, probably jet skis, kayaks, SUP's etc etc will be coming and going and just generally chopping it up and making a racket.

you can also anchor in there as it's only about 4- 6 in mid, so if that's your thing go for it.

i personally like pinta bay, or right up coal and candle. Often if you watch your chart, there is enough room in behind the public moorings to drop your pick, usually in mud so good holding.

if you find that's too busy with little room, head back around into Pittwater.....the basin/coaster retreat is really pretty but will be busy.....mostly club moorings so if you pick one up you may be asked to move by a club member if they need one.

there is a little bit of room to the south of the moorings in coasters retreat to anchor, but if you're not careful and go in too close it dries out.....a fine line as you have to keep out of the ferry channel.

i think it's morning bay, the next major anchorage south of the basin/coasters, and there are many public moorings there so it's a good option if it's not blowing hard from the south.

then there are the 2 yacht clubs....RMYC, and RPAYC which mostly will have a spare berth.....you may have to ring and book. There is also Kareel bay boat shed which almost always has a mooring and tender service. Any of these last options will want a copy of your current insurance etc on file before they will take you.

The yacht clubs are your best option for easily accessible restaurants. Brooklyn is another option, but that channel has silted somewhat over the last few years...unsure if they've dredged recently....there is a good pub and a couple of cafes. Last time I went in there by boat we anchored off near the baths and went in by tender.....the marina let us leave the tender there for a few hours......that was a few years ago now.


i have been up most Easter's in the last 35 years and whilst busy we have always found somewhere!

we used to find a quiet spot up in the creek, drop the anchor and then run a line around a tree, although npws frown on that now....so we run a 2nd anchor into the shallows or around a rock or something similar.

so good luck enjoy...merry Christmas too, it's a great waterway and lots of fun

Morning Bay you can occasionally find a spare mooring, even on NYE, but they're all labelled, you moor as a visitor not knowing if the next boat asking you to leave at 2300hrs actually has the right to do so. Places like Smiths Creek are stunning when it's quiet, but it's not quiet that time of year, with three boats keen to pick up any free mooring...
America/Refuge Bay again stunning when 90% empty, intimidating when 120% full over the Xmas 2/52 plus known locally as Refuse Bay when brown tinged at xmas!
As per caravan parks, many people moor a boat a week ahead and may have another 2-3 along side over the holiday week. Great when wing and tide send everyone in circles.
Optimally not the best time of year but still beautiful. Plan to moor by 2pm rather than searching for an anchorage at 1900 when you've had to move on from two locations and the bbq should have been hot an hour ago, and be confident about your anchor and rode so when busy you can anchor in 9-12 metres confidently.
Plus it's hot. Take extra ice and water!

Fishermans beach was my favourite, straight across from refuge bay only 2 moorings so almost private, a bit exposed tho

I woudn't worry too much about moorings in the upper reaches of Cowan Creek. Yeoman's Bay, just east and south of Cottage Point (before the entry to Coal and Candle Creek) is great. It's smaller, and well protected from anything but a north westerly. Illawong Bay and Stingray Bay are also good, they're in Smith's Creek. Go past the entry to Coal and Candle, past Cottage Point and swing into the next inlet. Cottage Point has a great restaurant, and there's a cafe as well. You can tie up a tender there easily. I think the restaurant has guest mooring facilities. All the bays in the upper Cowan have good holding, but keep an eye out for depth. There are some that are much deeper than you would expect.

Most of the moorings in Refuge/Americas are private or club moorings. I've been going there for 10 years, in busy and not so busy, and I've only ever been moved on once. It's a lottery though. Typically, you need shelter from east and north at this time of year.

I'm moored in Careel Bay, and to the east are also sea grass beds in quite shallow water. Bluey will be able to sort you out for an overnighter if you need one. It's a bit of a hike to Palm Beach though.

The Basin/Coaster's retreat is fantastic, but when the north easterlies fire up it's pretty well rubbish. You'll need to be on the eastern side of Pittwater in the lee of Barrenjoey or Avalon. There are some good anchorages just south of the Palm Beach ferry wharf, but it's a bit exposed. Also along Clareville Beach. Then further south in Little Refuge Cove/Salt Pan. Most of the time you can use a private mooring, but make sure it looks like it's in good condition and don't leave the boat un-attended, in case the owner comes back.

Lot's of great little bays, if you're confident at anchor, it gives you much more choice.

Have a great trip, you'll really love it.

jmcatalina said..
Hello all,

we are relatively novice sailors (maybe 100 hours under our belt) on a Catalina 320 moored at Manly. We are hoping to sail up to Pittwater sometime late December (between 22nd - 27th depending on winds) and are planning to stay 2 nights, and then return to Sydney the third morning. We are fairly confident sailors, but as we have never been to Pittwater, I would hugely appreciate some tips, specifically on the following as I am a little worried about overnight anchoring/mooring without the safe backstop of our own mooring to return to if we can't find anything suitable:

1. I can imagine this is an incredibly busy time of year, but is it generally fairly straightforward finding an overnight courtesy mooring or a sheltered anchorage? Alternatively, is it worth pre-booking a berth/mooring, and if so, where would you suggest? We have a standard plough anchor with 12m of chain and another 48m of rope.
2. Where are the best placed to moor/anchor overnight? We are currently thinking to do the first overnight in refuge/America bay after exploring Cowan Creek the first day and the second night somewhere in Pittwater near Palm beach so that we can explore Palm beach by foot on the afternoon of the second day and return back to Sydney early the 3rd morning.
3. Any suggestions for restaurants to have dinner at near a mooring/anchorage, or would taking food on board for all meals be recommended?
4. Is it generally a fairly safe trip in winds <20kn, and is there anything to be aware of? I have heard that rounding the heads can be a little precarious?

The main thing I am concerned about is finding an overnight mooring or anchorage, so would much appreciate any tips! Any other general tips would also be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,

Zulu Waterways is a great app which tells you where every public mooring and anchorage is, plus just about everything else as well.
It a must have and its free!

woko said..
While we are talking broken bay, how's the bar going up to Brisbane waters ? Has it been dredged ?

Yes. Still a bit of a problem around Lobster beach tho. Gosford had an interclub race a couple of weeks ago and all the visiting boats got in and out without issue. I ran aground coming out last year, but wasn't back in time to do the race this year.

jmcatalina, send me a pm and I will give you details of my mooring. I am going to Sydney Harbour from the 23rd till new year, so you can use mine for a few days if that suits. It is located near Clareville and bus to Avalon runs nearby. As long as you draw less than 1.8 you will be fine.

RMYC has recently expanded their marina, so they may have berths available over Christmas (02) 9997 5500. And they have a shuttle bus available at certain times.

You can anchor almost anywhere up Cowan, so dont get put off if there are no moorings available. Yeomans has lots of room, any of the bays up Smiths are good and protected. Coal & Candle is good up the very end, but tends to get jet skis from the marina. America's is probably better than Refuge as it has more room, but both suffer this time of year from traffic.

Avoid Patonga as the swell this time of year will roll you to death. Good anchoring around the back of Dangar Island, but the tide does rush through there.

After all that information shower, l wonder, how did you fare?
Some feedbacks, perhaps?