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American Spirit II - Day 218; Terry from Australia Stopped By, Repair Day & a Great Dinner Ashore; Monday, August 11, 2014



Up at 7:00 AM. Coffee and tea.

I called the Ray Marine repair person at 9:03 AM, and he indicated that he would not be at the boat at 10:00 AM as expected by would try to get here by 2:00 PM. 'Island time' in Australia. Oh well.

Breakfast at 9:10 AM. Scrambled eggs, potato cut up, spiced and cooked in olive oil and chilled fruit cocktail; plus raisin bread.

I stopped by and visited with Ghost and Free & BrEasy. Ghost had had winds of up to 37 knots on their overnight passage. Free & BrEasy indicated that they had gone snorkeling in the Whitsunday Islands, but had only 6 feet of visibility due to th high winds and 5-7 foot seas. Once back on the boat I called a number of dive operators and they were all booked Tuesday, but had openings for Wednesday. The winds will still be up Wednesday, so there's concern by us that visibility in the water at the reefs will be poor.

The rest of the morning was spent updating and 'fixing' two of the boat's 3 computers. The navigation computer was fine.

At 1:15 PM Jeanine headed off to the laundry room to do 3 loads of laundry. All 4 washers were free when she got there. While she was there I looked up Seishia, a mainland town on the western tip of Cape York, on my IPad. Seishia is located at 10 degrees, 51 minutes South; and 142 degrees, 22 minutes East. It is a final rallying point that we can reprovision at before heading off to Darwin. Its located one mile south of the Quarantine Zone. If we anchor in the Quarantine Zone then all of our grocery items purchased since we arrived in MacKay Bay will be confiscated. All fruits, vegetables, pop corn, meats, etc.

The Ray Marine repair person, Brian, arrived at 2:45 PM. He stayed until 4:00 PM working with Joel on 'I'd like to' projects instead of 'must do' projects. We're getting a software update for our E-80 Chart Plotter; have an issue with the screen on the chart plotter blinking on and off at night; with the auto pilot turning itself off once a week or month; a communication issue involving local and UTC time with one of our GPS antennae's; and the boat length identifying American Spirit II on the AIS is wrong, listing the boat at 43 feet instead of 40 feet. I'd like to change that figure to 40 feet. The repair person will have to come back Tuesday because he needed to pick up some cables, switches, etc. to re-wire the boat for a new, back up auto pilot. We aren't going to install the new auto pilot, just set up the wiring to do so in advance.

During the period that Brian was here, 'Terry from Australia' showed up at the boat. Terry lives in Australia and has been following the boat, reading my logs on the WCC web site, as we travel around the world. I invited him to come aboard and gave him a tour of the boat, top side and below. Terry has a 43 foot sail boat and has contemplated signing up for the World ARC that starts in Australia. I gave him my 'boat business card' with the boat's email address on it so he could communicate with us while we were under sail. Any comments or questions. I should have invited him and his wife to dinner but I forgot to do so before he left. Sorry Terry.

After Terry left two young ladies showed up looking to crew from Cairns to Darwin or Bali. One was from Holland and the other from Columbia. I told them we didn't need anyone but that I'd mention to other boats that they were looking to crew. Some boats are shorthanded, just 2 on board, and may want to have more crew.

Dinner tonight was at the Tha Fish Restaurant on the marina boardwalk. That's right, 'Tha' not 'The.' We were going there to sample 'Mud Crab,' an Australian delicacy. We got to the restaurant at 6:30 PM and got one of the last tables. Most were reserved for dinners coming at or after 7:00 PM. We had some 'starters' of garlic bread and brochette; then shared one Mud Crab and a Sea Food Platter. The Mud Crab was similar to our Stone Crab, but the Stone Crab was easier to eat. Less cracking involved. And the Mud Crab came with 4 different type of sauces to dip the meat into. Our table setting was interesting, with 8 pieces of silverware and crab cracking hardware set before each one of us. I wish I'd brought my camera. It was like looking at a surgical tray set up in an operating room. The Sea Food Platter had crawfish, lobster, barramundi fish, oyster, squid and a couple other seafood items on it. For dessert I ordered something called 'croissant bread and butter pudding with bourbon soaked sultanas and vanilla bean ice cream.' It was one of the most delicious desserts. I've ever tasted in my life. Incredible! Joel had a white and dark chocolate frozen mousse with a berry topping with a cream covering. Joel said it was to die for.

Our waitress, Georgina, was from Connecticut and while we were talking to her about getting the bill to pay, she recounted how once she had brought a table their bill without being asked to do so, and that that was a big no-no in Australia. Actually, we've noticed that the US is the only country in the world so far that we've visited that the bill is brought before being asked for it. All other countries we've been to will never bring the bill until it is asked for. I mean NEVER.

After dinner we watched the movie 'Single Shot.' Not a good movie. Three thumbs down. Lights out at 11:50 PM.

Brian Fox

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