Monday, 9th AUGUST 2010
06.40hrs Some of us got out of the scratcher and started the engine to let it heat up, followed by lifting the rib onto the derricks. We said goodbye to our friends in the cat and set sail for Abel point, just about 16 miles away. The wind was behind and fairly light, so we kept the engine running for the journey. We observed lots of whales, who duely obliged with their magnificent tail dives and we also had a lot of Dolphins playing and dancing around the boat.. just fantastic stuff.
Mary made a miraculous recovery. It must have been the magic sewing and the leg hanging from the boom for hours and she is giving Niall a hard time, and Skipper is delighted, because now its someone's else's turn and not his today, well not now anyway. Its becoming more obvious as life goes on the reason why Men die younger, Women...... nag, nag ,nag, and the worst part of it all ....... when they are persuaded to go to the next life and wind up in heaven, they are met by (guess what?) yeah, more women, disguised as Angels. So whats new, sure our lovely dolls think they are Angels anyway... Ohhhhhh, myyyyyyyy Gawd! We men are in trouble no matter what. I wonder what Mermaids would have been like...
10.30hrs We arrive back at Airlie beach and berth at marina no. F 07. Jack arrived and finished off the watermaker and walla, we are getting a cool 150L per hour of top class water, 166 parts of salt per 1,000,000. The norm is 150/500 parts salt per 1,000,000, so 166 is as good as it gets. Our E120 unit is going to be sent to Sydney to be repaired if possible. Not good, but we have the RL80C unit still working. so we have the navigational software to get to Darwin, all we need are the charts, which we hope will arrive today. It seems (according to the local raymarine man, Phil) that the unit has been totally messed up by the guys in Tahiti, with a helping hand in Mackay. All raymarine agents!
Later, we walked up town, and had a coffee, before going for a chinese meal. A chinese restaurant will be a good indicator of the standard of food thats accepted in the town, and the conclusion is only fair. Two hours later, we dawdled back to the boat and got the skype working again on the skippers laptop, so we had a great video skype with Leah and Jamey back in Dublin. Great to be able to use all this wonderful technology... Its one thing having all the stuff, its another thing being able to use it... and we as oldies, are still just learning as we go. We had an email from Siun on "Liberty". They are in Roratonga, the Cook Islands. You might remember my blog referring to them being hit by lightning and had to have all their electrics replaced. What a dose! We also had a chat with Alfred, we haven't heard from him for so long. Its great to be in touch with home every now and then.
That's all for now.
Signed :- Stephen Hyde (Skipper)