|
|
|
SUMMARY For an explanation of photos, position mouse over photo. Sat Mar 2 I arrived in Sydney and went for a walk in the gardens. Met up with my friends Lloyd and Arlene, neighbors and friends from Virginia who were also in Sydney. We had a nice dinner at Jordon’s at Darling Harbor, then went to the gay/lesbian Mardi Gras parade. It was quite an event but hard to see as more than 500,000 people were there to watch. Sun Mar 3 On to Brisbane and then the bus to Mooloolaba. Bradley had arranged dinner with a bunch of yachties from the marina. We had drinks on our boat first, then went to a Chinese restaurant in town. Other friends of ours from Virginia, Chip and Barb, caught up with us at the restaurant. They’re going to stay with us for a week of sailing and diving. Mon Mar 4 Weather is not cooperating.. A low pressure system is
expected to turn into a cyclone. Looks like we’ll be in Mooloolaba for a couple
days. Ron went off to visit friends until the weather abates. Chip, Bradley, and
I went for an early run. Our sailing friends Mike and Sue Powell came to meet us
for lunch. We had Bradley’s famous pasta for dinner.
Tue Mar 5 Chip, Barb, and I rented a car to drive to Montville.
Bradley stayed at the boat to meet the electrician who’s coming to work on the
satellite phone. We have a new sat phone account, but can’t seem to get power to
the unit. We had a fun drive to Montville, an artsy kind of place with some nice
shopping. Stopped in Caloundra on the way back and got some great photos at the
beach. Barb is a watercolor artist and was getting some photos to paint from. I
was testing out my newest toy – an Olympus digital camera. For dinner, we took
the dinghy to a local restaurant.
Wed Mar 6 Barb and Chip off to rent dive equipment. The electrician
came back around 11:00am and was able to bypass the power problem on the phone.
We’re now able to get power, but it seems the old owner’s account has not been
de-activated and we still can’t activate our service. I’ll have to sort that one
out later. The good news is the weather has abated and we’re off to Lady
Musgrave Island. We finally depart around 2:00pm. After a little trouble reefing
the main we have a nice sail in 20-25 knot winds. We sailed all night with no
problems. Thu Mar 7 Arrived at Lady Musgrave at 4:00pm. Had a quick swim and then showers followed by Happy Hour and a nice sunset dinner. Fri Mar 8 Dive day. We started out with a snorkel to check out the
area. Found the spot we wanted to dive – a reef right near the lagoon entrance.
We have seven tanks full of air. Chip is a former scuba instructor – he has over
2000 dives but this is his first on the Great Barrier Reef. Barb is also a diver
– that’s how they met.
Went for the first dive about 11:00am and saw a huge Manta
Ray, a good sized turtle, and a small shark. A nice dive. Returned to the boat
for lunch and a brief nap. Then out for Dive #2. I had the small tank, so not
too much air left. Bradley suggested I breathe off his tank (along with him)
until it was down to the same level as mine. That worked well. Barb had a
problem staying down despite having added more weight . All in all, a nice 25
minute dive. Back to the boat for happy hour and dinner. Sat Mar 9 Only three tanks left, so Chip, Barb, and Bradley went off
for a dive. Ron went snorkeling and I just relaxed on the boat. After lunch, we
took the dinghy to the island for a walk around and a game of Pitonk. Bradley
and I had a come from behind win in the team game, then Barb demolished us all
in the individual competition. Another nice happy hour, beautiful sunset, and
nice dinner.
Sun Mar 10 Up and out early at 7:00am headed to Bundaberg. A nice sail – into the wind but very comfortable. Arrived at Bundaberg Port Marina at 6:00pm. Docked boat, showered, rented a car which was delivered to us at the marina, and headed off to dinner at a pub in Bagara. Mon Mar 11 through Sun Mar 17 Chip and Barb departed to drive back to Brisbane. They took us into town (about 20K) and dropped us at the tourist center. The lady working there – the very first person we saw – was Judy O’Donohue, a good friend of Ron’s. She and her husband Leon had also founded Sail Whitsunday which is now owned by our good friends David and Marilyn in Airlie Beach.
|
