B & B

It's been an exciting week. First Barry and Bernadette visited and then Virginia, James, Patrick and Pippa popped in on their way home. It was great to catch up!

Barry and Bernadette witnessed the inaugural testing of the new Rocna anchor. While we had mild conditions so it wasn’t seriously challenged, the verdict so far is that the Rocna rocks! Matey hopes this is not premature elation …

B & B also witnessed the testing of the new rigging. Sadly though it seems we have further dramas as when the main sail is fully hoisted it touches the new aft split stays (the cables that hold the mast up at the back). This isn’t good as it could cause wear and tear on the sail. It is also unfortunate as a split stay appears to be a better system than the previous Y-joined stay system and provides antenna services as well. Mr Rigger assured us it would be ok – despite Captain’s queries about it – so now he’s coming back on Monday to have another look. Meanwhile we linger on in Cleveland, eager to escape its confines. Otherwise the boat sailed very well with the new rigging – so that was gratifying to see.

As always, it was great to catch up with B & B, who brought with them good humour, cheer and lots of goodies for the fridge! We anchored for the night at Stradbroke Island and were given thief monitoring duties by a jolly Mr Water Plod who pulled up beside us at shower time. The commercial oyster leases nearby have been raided regularly resulting in losses to the value of $40 000. He gave us a number to call if we noticed anything suspicious. Mr Plod also informed us that:
a) 'what they say about oysters isn’t true', and
b) there were probably bull sharks in the water – this resulted in very short pre-shower dips! (NB Some catamaran cruisers told us they had seen a bull shark in the canal at Cleveland – though much nearer the entrance to the bay than where we are based, fortunately. Ever-rational, when it comes to shark matters anyway, the Captain pointed out to the somewhat shark-shy Matey that if bull sharks frequented the canals often we probably wouldn’t have seen the triathlon and swimming races that occurred there a few weeks ago – hmmm).

The next day we went across to Peel Island and on our walk to the eastern end discovered a protected little beach with an old wreck, probably with good snorkeling. Unfortunately though by the time we had lunch and went back it had become too rough for snorkelling. Amid the rocks ranging in colour from white and sand to ochre and dark purple, we found an ancient, very large and not-long-dead turtle. There were a few moments of silence for poor Mr Turtle. Captain, in his great knowledge and wisdom, estimated his (her?) age at 150 years. Barry estimated the time of death as a few days previous. Matey just admired Mr Turtle’s prehistoric appearance and hoped his death was painless. She felt some of the awe that is inspired by ancient and very large trees. RIP, Mr Turtle.