Launched!

Matey is elated to report (hopefully not prematurely) that we have departed Cleveland permanently! After two months of fixing, replacing and other activities to get the boat to a cruising standard (albeit with several jaunts into Moreton Bay for testing), on Wednesday TC, Captain and Matey finally became really itinerant and, we hope, intrepid.

We decided on Peel Island for the first night or two and found a good spot to anchor – at a sensible distance from other boats. Peel Island is just that bit too close to Brisbane as even mid-week there were around twenty boats anchored here. Needless to say just as the sun was setting a motorboat pulled up annoyingly close and down went its anchor. This reminds Matey of a strange phenomenon that occurs whenever she goes to the movies – seats are carefully selected based on the empty seats directly in front – and just as the lights go down and the movie starts invariably someone with a large head or ‘big hair’ comes in late and sits in the seat directly in front. Matey has the sense that this type of (mis)behaviour might be a frequent occurrence at popular anchorages … Captain has a theory about this, but Matey thinks that because this anchorage is usually so busy – much worse on weekends – Mr Motorboat probably didn’t think he was parking particularly close at all and may have regarded any grumpy looks or gesticulation from our direction as a little strange. He was up and off in the morning but not long after, another motor boat pulled up in more or less the same spot – only closer. The Captain’s skills of diplomacy were at their finest (we’d been told by experienced international cruisers that people who park too close never respond well to being told this). Captain popped over in the dinghy to compliment him on his lovely boat (!) and warn him that we had quite a bit of ‘swing’. Mr Motorboat said he was just about to go – no offence appeared to have been taken – smooth!

Whale of a time

Yesterday we met some cruisers who had recently been to Fraser Island and had a close encounter with a humpback whale. Too close. One evening just after dark a whale grabbed their anchor rope and towed them – fast. They put the GPS on to see where the whale was taking them (!) This went on for about 15 mins and eventually the whale’s little friend took over and tried to pull the boat under. At this point they cut the anchor rope. Captain says he would have cut the rope much sooner. Sounds like someone had too much to drink but they caught it on camera. We admire their presence of mind in thinking to film the incident, and hey – why not sell it to commercial TV? It paid for the new anchor …

Unusual whale behaviour, apparently. Wee bit scary though, possibly, especially at night. Matey didn’t realise they could be so aggressive. Maybe these two were tired of being spied on by tourists and thought they’d give some a thrill? Maybe they were just playing. 
We enjoyed chatting to Glenn and Nerida and hope we meet them again.

Beached

This morning was the first beaching of TC. Being a cat with shallow draft, and Peel Island having a large shallow area at high tide with a metre or more of water that rises suddenly to the beach (exposed for the soldier crabs at low tide) it’s a perfect location for bringing the boat in and giving the hull a scrape.