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| PARADISE!!! |
G'day All,
"The Cat is Bak!"
Wow! What a difference a trip to the reef makes!
When I last updated we had just left Airlie behind with half of the crew.
Chris (England) and I set out for a 2 day trip 2 Bait Reef on The Gr8 Barrier.
As I type this we are just back inside the Whitsunday Group outside Butterfly Bay on our return to Airlie.
And "THE WORLD IS PERFECT!"
Gr8 Food, Gr8 fun, Gr8Sailing, Gr8 Fishing even better diving and really awesome company.
We've had an absolute blast feeding the Giant Trevally and the Humphead Moari Wrasse.
Diving amongst these monsters is a real treat.
I've speared my first Red Emporer and Chris has just nailed a Tuna twice as big as this one!
To be bluntly honest our last trip out was not anywhere near as much fun as I would of liked, with crew issues and Yot issues making me change my whole view of the trips.
A few changes needed 2B made, so I was living with, instead of "serving my guests."
When we were forced to leave the "Paradise" that is Whitehaven Beach just to return a few crew members to Airlie instead of continuing to the reef, I became very disillusioned with people. The last 3 or 4 days has totally restored my faith and belief in what I am achieving.
While the last few dayz have had issues, as any trip does, the way everything waz handled and the enjoyment level waz up 200% and continues rite now.
We've had a Gr8 run in with 6-7 knots under sail and just 1 motor on 3000 rpm.
The diving over the past week has just been incredible with me losing count of just how many dives we've had. And with bad weather closing in tomorrow we left The Reef, after a morning dive and set sail once more for "civilization"? (wkoa).
More and more I'm realizing my dream to leave land behind and become a true waterborn entity.
I've also realized I have only a few more weex in this tropical paradise before I must once more set sail 4 Townsville and then jet bak 2 Perth.
How thyme flies when your having...
The food over the past week has been as good as could be produced!
Fresh homemade yoghurt haz once again graced the menu with lots of fruits to go with it.
Egg's Galleycat is always a morning hit.With the freshest of fish and fresh baked breads and even a cheesecake managed to compliment a meal of just Red Emporer Meniere' no vege no rice just big chunks of amazing fish.
Anutha favorite Thai tom yum with fresh trevally and garlic jasmine rice.
We even crumbed some Red Emp and served it on a bed of sweet potato mash after it was fried in herb butter. Yummo!
The Blackboard B4 we went out contain 3 phrases
1: Itz Reef Thyme!
2: Beware the Batfish! (cryptic)
3: Cakes and Biscuits!
The cakes and biscuits were dealt with in the form of a 1 mile Cadbury"boost" cheesecake, meaning I had just 1 nautical mile to produce a fresh chocolate cheese cake with slices of "boost" chocolates all through it.
We also managed a couple of omelete's and a resolution to collect oysters and take some to the reef !
I mentioned the fishing earlier , once we'd had enuf of foto grafing coral and feeding fish, we moved out further into the reef system as the weather waz near perfect.
We located a patch of coral bommies in shallow water and set off 4 a dive.
A small problem with the powerdive reg's had me emailing the dealer in Perth and Aaron was most helpful giving me all the instructions on how to set the regulator pressure switches.
Back into the water to the first bommie just in front of the Yot.
Bugger No big cray's and No coral trout 2B found... just amazing coral :)
However I did find a big group of Red Emporer near a ledge !
1 shot and I had my first, however he got off the spear, I motioned to Chris to look for it while I reloaded my speargun.He found it under unutha ledge and as it swam under a hole in the ledge I had dinner secured.
I'd never experienced Red's in such shallow reef but they have fallen to the fishing lines recently.
That night we berllied the water behind the Yot with heaps of Red's and Tricky (spangles) snapper coming aboard. We released all but 1 as we had more than enuf fish already.
Its four days later and I find myself parked at Double Cone Island, sum 10 miles North of Airlie, I've been joined by Juliene ,Elsy and Damian (bub) from Reunion Island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.We caught more than enuf squid and sharks last nite to keep everyone busy and collected 4 or 5 dozen huge oysters yesterday afternoon for a royal feed of both natural and Kilpatrick's.
Today we'll move over 2 Armit Island for a snorkel or dive B4 head back to Airlie ahead of expected ruff weather.
Itz been an interesting thyme with a baby on board and haz brought back many emotions from the past.
Obviously the Yot haz had a positive influence on Damien as he managed to get the better of the bar B4 his second birthday.
What a problem to have!
Bad weather arriving just in thyme 4 the start of the V8 race season and the Nascar season as well!
Brother Mark is once again traksyde at the momentous event in Adelaide. With the format being split this year itz a terrible weekend to be close to shore and a tv transmitter.
Then Dan (far right) and I will head out into the islands for a short trip until the weather gods give me sum better weather 2 play with.
And so I'll wrap up here for this entry and see just wat the weekend brings in the form of weather, motor racing and new visitors
Rememba "Life is 4 livin!"
Captain Felix
The journey and blog 2B continued!
