THYME 4 WORK / THYME 4 PLAY !!!!!

G'day Guy's / Galz, After the Festive season it waz thyme 2 get bak into the serious side of Yotting and continue with the repairs and upgrades of Galley Cat!
The posts for the pergola roof R now fitted and locked into place and we were ready to start the roof when the work took an unexpected twist, as you can see Galley Cat was placed onto the large cradle and pulled from the water. The cradle was vacant for a weekend so I was offered the opportunity 2 slip the Yot and finally repair the troublesome rear floatation tanks (bootz or lazarettes) These tanks have caused

nothing but trouble since I arrived here some 14 months ago,so I jumped at the chance to get them repaired once and for all! So after pulling the Yot up onto dry land we went searching for the leaks.
BINGO! the water was coming out of the 2 skin-fittings midway down each hull.So I set about the task of removing / repairing and replacing these leaks. Itz Sunday night here and the repairs are complete and both "boots" are clean and DRY ready for a coat of paint first thing tommorow before the Yot is sent back into here mooring position around 9am. The rear deck work has also been completed along with  

a new hatch and cover for the starboard "boot" with any sort of luck this should be the final repair needed and I'll finally have 2 clean,dry floatation (wkoa) tanks. I've also taken the opportunity of the yot being high and dry to fill and repair various points of construction under the hulls. The whole task seems overwhelming again but then it is a full moon!
The gods have decided that its a good thyme for stuff to break with both the generator and my camera failing this week, more expense that I could do without. So with things going astray it waz thyme for sum fun.

Friday morning (very early) Ken and myself headed north from Townsville, hooked up with Carlo and headed much further north to the Hinchenbrook Channel. Everyone said the only way to describe Hinchenbrook is "pre-historic" they R not far from the truth, itz definately Volcanic and looks alot like Jurassic park. But we are here for 1 thing only!!      FISHING!!!
And Fishing we did, the first fish aboard was the biggest damn Barracuda any of us have ever seen. With Carlo more than a little intimidated by the size of the Fangs, as he tried to retrieve the 10/0 hooks from those fearsome choppers.

After a few foto's the beastie was released to chase down "nemo's mum". Next up was some serious fun with big schoolz of mack tuna busting up all around us. So we fired off  a couple of chrome slices and bingo instant hook up! Several tuna came aboard for the next hour or so with each of us catching a couple. We then headed further out towards Bramble reef in search of bottom fish. Several small coral trout came aboard along with sweetlip and various cods. The floating mulie (pilchard over here) was grabbed by a passing spanish mackerel and he too made his way into the icebox. We then headed out wider still in search of slightly bigger bottom species. The visibility down to the reef at 27 meters was incredible with Ken hooking what looked like a nice sweetlip only to watch as 2 sharks closed in to eat his prize fish before it was half way to the boat. The day way perfect with glass calm conditions and the fish biting even if they were a little fickle. We caught a feed which is all you can hope for. As the day continued we headed back towards Bramble reef and spent a few hours dropping

bigger baits around the edges of a couple of big coral bommies. Attracting a few more coral trout and sweetlip. A gr8 thyme was had by all with the heat becoming almost oppressive.
Lunch was a mixed bag of small bits and pieces such as roasted chicken drumstix plus pickles,boiled eggs,diced pineapple pieces plus fresh grapes and pears.
Late in the day I scored my best fish of the day a nice Barramundi Cod, apparently very rare and very protected! So after a few Foto's he to went back into the water.
We headed back towards land at a nice 27 knots,much quicker than any yacht.

 

Then after about a 1 hour run re-entered Hinchenbrook passage to take the boat out of the water,clean her down then head back towards Townsville and our real lives.
All of us wondering what the peasants are doing today. A truly gr8 day was had by all and Carlo definitely came up trumps as a skipper with the day being a real highlight for both myself and Ken.
The mackerel will be served with fresh prawns and scotch fillet steak for this coming Friday's lunch "Surf n Turf". I was going to add a picture of Carlo's fluffy dice hanging from the windscreen of his charter boat (you can see them through the windscreen) but as he probably wants more customers I decided that discretion was the better option.
On the contact front it was really great to talk to Mermaid this week! its no mean feat to get a call between her life and mine across the other side of the world with about a 10 hour time difference to make it even trickier. Still it was damn nice to actually speak to each other again. Big Ash has also been on the fone along with Hanni and Carl plus Dad as well. The blog comments seem to have dryed up I'm not sure if nobody's leaving comments or the system is blocking them, as I'm aware a few people have tried with limited success,it seems you can only leave a comment as an anonymous subscriber with your name in the text area but if anyone can't get through drop me an e-mail and I'll communicate that way instead.
So you know as much as I do about the going's on aboard Galley Cat. It will be very soon that the next trip will begin "The Palm Island group" is the chosen destination (wkoa). These islands are clearly visibly from the hinchenbrook area and I might just head out to the reef from there now I've got an idea what to expect.
This week is all about finishing the "boots" and building the pergola so it'll be a busy one, but with any kind of forward progress comes the hard graft.
 So until next week itz farewell from THE YOT!
Captain Felix