THREADING THE NEEDLE !!!

 G'day from Galleycat,
                                  The weather godz have served up real treat for us this week with only 2 days below 20 knots.
The Trade Winds have definitely arrived!
Fishing in the harbour has slowed possibly even gone into reverse!, with endless catfish and eels making this pastthyme really "unfun"!
The new gearbox partz have arrived and have now been installed.
The  gear also needed a bearing and the hydraulic press to fit it. This involved a few very long walx to Bill's Marine on the other side of town, the outboard is now back in use.
A full gearbox rebuild on the back of a Yot not a bad effort 4 a chef!
A Huge bag of  "Galleycat Pegs" arrived from  W.A  this week they were sorely needed as drying clothes in a constant 20 knot wind presents sum interesting challenges!-
This weex title is based on us leaving Cairns and heading out to The Reef once again. There was a very small lull in the weather where the sun would shine and the winds drop to an almost acceptable level.
The practice of leaving B4 the storms have finished and using their energy to blow us out to the reef worked really well, until it came thyme to tie up to the mooring at Upalo Cay.
Then in a scene straight from the Bible Nathan played the part of Moses and attempted to part the storm with his non existent biblical powers!
A wall of solid rain proceeded to envelope both Alasdair and Nathan so much so that I couldn't see the bow of the Yot from the cabin.

Re-enactment

But the front cleared soon enough and we were safely moored.
We awoke to sunshine and relatively light windz.

I look back 2wards Cairns to see Dark clouds and rainfall while out here we have near tropical conditionz.
This Cay is a total " green zone" so only fotoz and memories can be taken but those memories are very special!
The motley crew for this trip arrived for this little adventure with very little planning or forethort.
We had Kine (Norway), Gus (England) and Jorst(Holland), they were woken fairly early to enjoy a full day snorkelling and "powerdiving". This had everyone "buzzing" with excitement and they even managed to spot Turtles and Dolfinz which were on the list for the previous trip but didn't show!
We soon moved Galleycat to the "Fishing Grounds" behind Vhlossof Cay before taking everyone ashore to spend a special sunset on the beach.
Thyme for reflection!
Even Jake was in on the activity!
Then it waz thyme to catch dinner!
Twas not long B4 several spangled emporor made the menu.
A Thai fish curry and jasmine rice was the decision.
However by the thyme dinner was cooked everyone was asleep! (No staying power)
No problem really it made for a gr8 lunch the following day.

We woke to strong winds and the prospect of a ruff crossing back to Cairns.
A full cooked breakfast for all while the Yot was readyed 4 what was going 2B an eventful trip.
Galleycat and her crew handled the trip well and we were soon lulled into a false sense of security.
A sharp bang and sudden loss of speed brought everyone back to life!
The engines were revving put producing no power.
Quick investigation told us the Big Bash Plate under the yot had severed itz bindingz and dropped in front of the motor legs.
A quick Pow Wow and we soon had the Yot under

a reduced sail heading away from the wind.
Nathan and I went to work through the deck access and re-secured the bash plate temporarily, to give us headway and our sense of security again.
The rest of the trip was a breeze and by early afternoon we found ourselves anchored in our sheltered creek across from Cairns Harbour.
My priority was refilling the bait supplies!, with the incoming tide came the bait and soon we had a nice Barra for Dinner.
Itz now a thyme of change for The Yot with the backpackers leaving today and Nathan and Alasdair heading to Cambodia within the next few dayz.
This will give me roughly a week or so alone to perform some serious maintenance on the Bash Plate and
give the yot a spring clean B4 the next wave of visitors arrive..

Quote of the week!
Tis a stoopid thing 2B searching a tropical harbour for a bag of Ice while itz pouring rain!
A Gr8 big hello to Steph!
This could be what your searching 4!
Slow boat to Bamaga...or the Twighlite Zone!
Captain Felix