Fish Vs Alasdair !
A 30 minute tussle that endz in disaster and bloodshed!
After a cracking hot fishing session that saw Grunter, Big Threadfin Salmon,Trevally and one big arse stingray.
Guess which one Alasdair caught?
At the point of capture the Rod shattered Alasdair smashed his hand into the roof support pole, the flying carbon pieces of fishing rod sliced my forehead open.The trace between us and the ray broke sending both of us tumbling.
Fish 1 Alasdair Nil.
I swear the bastard ray was giggling as it swam off.
The activity here as the weather improves is totally maddening.
So we decided on a day sail in an effort to find a better anchorage.
As usual the Yot was stuck in the mud just as we wanted to leave.
Here the wash from all the ferries worked in our favour by lifting the Yot on each wave just enuf to get us underway.Brilliant conditions for a spinnaker run until,as usual the wind died on us.
We've now found a small river to park the Yot in, far from the noise, people and constant wash of the Tourist boats coming and going
I've put out a very basic fishing rig in an effort to find a feed.
CHAOS!!!
This monster cod / grouper gave me hell for 35 minutes on a reel that Alasdair had changed the handle over to right hand.Of course the batteries in the camera were flat and Alasdair was away chasing skirt!
Along came a white knight aboard a quintrex.
One guy came aboard the Yot to hold the rod while I put new batteries in the camera.
FOTO THYME!!
A very lite estimate of 50kg + was our decision.
Perfect release and it waz bourbon thyme and mop the sweat off the brow.A late nite swapping fishy tales then it was definately kip thyme!
A new day brings a new outlook.
We've done a bit of exploring and found a few hidden treasures and even a shipwreck.
Obviously a remnant of Cyclone Yasi!
The crab nets have been deployed and an afternoon Barra and Mangrove jack hunting is on the agenda.
The weather is very hit and miss with 3 dayz of gr8ness soon 2B followed by another week of strong windz and showers.
An influx of crew has the yot heading into Cairns for a social day/nite Nathan (kiwi) ,a new backpacker from down airlie way and a few locals are all meeting up today to set up this weeks destinations.As usual the wind will be the final judge!
We've had a few gr8 days in the estuary but with lots of wind this week itz thyme to take advantage of it.
We caught a few fish and crabs but the real fish don't live in rivers.
As thingz do our nite of meeting new peoplez turned into a big dinner / drinks evening with fishing lines out and good conversation (wkoa).We met a few locals who made for a gr8 afternoon. Dillon, Mik, Ashley and Bex spent the arvo doing what Galleycat does best.
Heapz of food and "good spirits"!
Both styles.
By the end of the nte Nathan had made contact as well as Marlieke from Belguim.
It seems we've got a good crew to head out into the islands or at the very least Turtle Bay.
I'm beginning now to realize just how unbalanced my life has been over the last few months, however the chaos is slowly giving way to calmer thymez and a more realistic schedule.
If you believe that your crazier than me!
The crew numbers have swollen to a full half dozen!Marieke (belgium), Fieke and Sheila(both dutch) have joined Nathan(kiwi) ,Alasdair(scottish yeti) and Myself to put together a ruff sail plan for the coming week.
With 20 knot winds slowly dropping during the weekend we've set sail for the sheltered anchorage of Fitzroy Island this will eventually give way to Turtle Bay on Friday maybe? Who knows?
Itz a fairly rough crossing but still do-able even with an inexperienced crew.
there are 7 public moorings for us to choose from plus we'll use a stern pick to counteract the well publicised roll of this anchorage
Once again a new adventure begins details 2 follow!
