OK, I heard there’s the odd fish out west, so I wanna have a nosey. First thing tho, gotta negotiate the bar. Just wondering if anyone has some good advice for how to approach the bar. Only been over once, many years ago. At that time we came out through the heads more on the southern side & hung a left heading WSW diagonally down the coast for a bit till we got into deeper water. Where’s the big danger zones & what’s the best tide conditions etc? anyone have any marks they use? Cheers for any info.

Hey Dean,

_popupControl(); When you get to the mouth itself, look to your right, and you will see two white markers. One above the other against the northern cliffs. You should line up the two markings so that they are one above the other, and keep them like that on the way out. That will keep you along your track on the southern channel. As previously said, make sure that you do it at the turn of the tide, and time your return also at the turn of the tide, otherwise it can get very nasty.

If you have a chartplotter, the southern channel should also be marked on the chart. The northern channel can be easier and shorter ONLY if there is no or little swell. If you can see breakers out at the end of either of the channells forget it and try chasing snapper/gurnard within the harbour. Those breakers can be very close together, and they will sort you out very quickly if you don't know exactly what you are doing.

Floater,

It does pay to do a trip out with someone who knows the channels, like Tinky said the markers on the northernside are a great mark to use the South Channel with, when i go over I always check swell maps, met service and the surf sites for info of conditions in and out side the heads.Or  ask Coastguard what the conditions are like before leaving.