Saturday, 31st July 2010
We had a light mist all night, actually it could have been a very heavy dew, but the decks were sopping when we got up.
Niall tried to get the GPS for the boats computer in the Nav, station working in conjunction with the charts that Eowyn installed a few months ago, but failed, we tried every thing and explored every option, but nothing worked.
Skipper went to the Marina office and fixed up the marina charges, and disposed the rubbish on the way. He also collected suction pads, which will be useful when we are cleaning the hull, they are great for holding the rib onto the side of the boat. On returning to the boat, we took the jib sheets out of the barrow of fabric softener and put them back on board, we had them steeping for 30 hours and they really felt very soft in comparison to normal. We took down the bunting, put the spinnakers on the deck, started the engine to let it heat up before finally lifting the rib up onto the derricks, and leaving the harbor... Just about one mile outside the harbor, we came across a couple of humpback Whales, ahhh what a fantastic sight to see their tails go into the air before sliding down under the waves and out of sight. We saw a few more later before a dense fog came down and visibility was reduced to a couple of hundred yards.... that was the end of whale watching for the day :(
There was a lot of alge bloom, like the red tide we get at home, and as the sea was flat, the bloom was visible for miles and all different colors, green, brown and white. At times it resembled cobwebs...... We were heading to Scawfell Island about 29 miles NE of Mackay, Gosh! the fog was a bummer, but we still arrived around 16.00hrs at our destination, and as luck would have it, the fog lifted as we dropped anchor.
An interesting thing, Skipper was talking to Ed Wildgoose a few days ago and it seems that our blog is the 4th most read blog on the system, well that's our view of what he said.
1800hrs We had roast stuffed rolled chicken. The stuffing was "macadamia nut stuffing" (high calories) and was delicious. We got the chicken in a chicken stall in the cainlands shopping center, they also had a great selection of other chicken arrangements plus a leaflet on how to cook each dish... Meanwhile, the birds singing and chirping away in the woodlands ashore were like a choir in the distance, even cuckoo's could be heard!
Later, after we finished dinner, we played a couple of dice games. One was called "Shut the box" and the other was called "Dougie Dice" and we had a great laugh, but we had an early night though...
There were about 16 other boats anchored in the bay....................ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
That's it for now.
Signed :- Stephen Hyde (Skipper)