Friday, August 17, 2007

On the Hook in Airlie


Craig and mom Gayle on a hike on Hamilton Island.

Gayle and Richard took off from MacKay last night (Aug 15), on their way to Melbourne for a few days’ visit before they head for home. Maia is now on the hook in Airlie Beach, a tourist town, backpacker haven, and great calm harbor with easy dinghy access to town. Craig and Evvy rented a car to drive Gayle and Richard down to the larger airport in MacKay. This trip also had the advantage of making a car tour of the coastal area here in the Whitsunday area, and most importantly - allowed us to retrieve our passports.

Let me back up a bit and catch up on some developments of our trip. On the day we received our U.S. Coast Guard documentation, July 19, we sent off our passports to the Consulate for Papua New Guinea (PNG) in Brisbane in order get permission to enter the country. At that time we were in the Keppel Bay Marina, planning to make our next stop off at a town in MacKay. We sent the package overnight express, and hoped to get it back by July 30, for a possible rendezvous with Gayle and Richard in PNG. Craig called the MacKay marina to make sure they expected it and to confirm the address to use from their website. Recalling the fiasco of renting a car to track down our EPIRB, we didn’t want any mistakes this time.

Paperwork trouble reared its head again, as our passports did not turn up in MacKay, and we could not get any information from the PNG consulate. We asked the MacKay Marina every day for this package, but finally left without our passports. By the time we reached Hamilton Island, August 8, we had been without the passports for 3 weeks, and finally got word from the PNG Consulate that allowed us to get post office tracking confirming delivery in MacKay. Craig talked to the MacKay marina again and told them that the package must be somewhere in their complex – which is rather large and includes real estate brokers, ship yard facilities, and a number of other shops and restaurants - but the marina office did not lift a finger to track down our mail. We seemed at a dead end, so were beginning the process of getting new passports. Then a few days ago we got a call from the shipyard in MacKay saying they have had a package for us for weeks but didn’t know who we were. Our phone # was written on the package, but we were just happy to finally locate our passports and get them back.

This passport loss for nearly a month has put the prospects of traveling to PNG out of range. Evvy is anxious to return home for work, and we don’t have enough weeks left to allow a window to make this part of the trip. There are lots of preparations required, and we may be at sea for weeks only to spend a few days in PNG, looking for a weather window to return to Australia again. We have decided that we have pushed enough on our vacation and we will slow down and enjoy the Whitsundays for a couple weeks. It is just that little bit of time before we need to get the boat ready to sale, and move our lives back into a couple duffel bags for the trip home.


Poor us, stuck in the most beutiful part of the world. Enjoying some of the best sailing and spending every evening witnessing sunsets like this one on Brampton Island. The mechanism on the bottom of the picture is our self-steering "magic fish".


The other major development is that Dave is now cruising with a friend of ours, Warren on his home-built 40’ catamaran called Odessy. We first met Warren in Keppel Bay, and he caught up with us again a few hundred miles later on the island of Brampton. While coming back from our walk on Brampton August 5, we saw Odessy pull into the anchorage. We took our dinghy by his boat, caught up and invited Warren over for dinner. While eating Evvy’s great pasta creation and breaking out an actual bottle of red wine (not from a box or more gently put here, a ‘cask’), we learned that Warren is a bit tired of sailing his big catamaran alone, he would really like to have crew. Craig was all ready to sail on that big, fast cat catamaran, that regularly sails as speeds above 15 knots, where if Maia goes over 7 knots we’re really going way too fast and need to slow her down. Realistically, though it was Dave who was the potential crew. With encouragement from Craig and Evvy to take this new adventure, Dave decided to meet up with us in a few days at Hamilton Island, or further on at Airlie Beach. So the next day, after more than 3 months living with Craig and Evvy on a 32’ boat, Dave got a chance to have a 40’ hull of a catamaran all to himself.



Dave sailing off with Warren from Brampton Island

We met back up with Dave and Warren at Hamilton Island, and they are having a great time cruising together. They decided to keep going, as long as we are both in the same area. Dave has had the chance to learn a whole new boat, try out “the dark side,” as many sailors call catamarans, and have the life of two single guys. Maia and Odessy are now anchored right near each other in front of Airlie Beach, and we’re planning to take a trip all together in few days back out to the Islands.

That’s all the big news for now. Evvy sends out a big thanks for all the warm birthday wishes. Here's one more pic:


Craig and Evvy enjoying the pool at the Whitsunda Moorings Bed and Breakfast in Airlie Beach where Gayle and Richard were staying. The Bed and Breakfast is surrounded by lush landscaping enjoyed by many species of birds.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe that it's already time to travel back to California! So sorry that the PNG portion of the trip did not happen but, who knows, maybe another time!?
Where (city/marina) will you leave the boat for sale? What is your goal for being back in the Bay Area?
Enjoy the rest of your days in paradise!
G-day,
D&V

Lucky Penguin said...

HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY EVVY!!!!!!! sorry we are a bit late on that. you'd think we'd know the date now that we're practically land people. anyway, wow, you guys have so much going on right now - I am sorry the PNG plans will not materialize, but, I can tell you that a year from now you won't rememember the places you didn't go - you'll treasure the memories of the places you DID sail. that is the beauty of it.
those snorkeling pics are great. is that a 900 pound fish, or was it in the foreground of the picture? thank god you didn't call it "funny" to its face. whew. anyway let us knowif there's anything logistical we can do from here (connecticut) to help you out. miss you guys lots. hugs, UTE

Unknown said...

Your swimming pool pic is a perfect postcard! It looks beautiful. Happy Birthday Evvy. It's gotta be amazing to see the Great Barrier Reef. It's fun to follow your adventures and I'm glad you got your passports back. Ah, mail to New Guinea. You'll laugh about it someday. ...

Love, Elizabeth

Anonymous said...

Hey guys-
Happy bday Evvy. Hey you guys got to my old stomping grounds. Have you seen my old Tri, Trinity around? Most fun day sale over there. My old Capitan, Dave Pike could have some old stories for you. Ask Magnums if they really mean to enforce my lifetime ban, Tell them I have already been reinstated at Beaches, Reefo's, the Irish pub and the Disco.
Darrin
PS. Check out whitehaven beach, watch the tides near Hook isle. Unsafe pass is safe enough.

craig&evvy said...

We got the scoop to answer Darrin's questions. Trinity disappeared a couple years after you left, no word on where it went. Magnums burned down under suspicious circumstances, with a good insurance pay-out. There are now new owners, so it look like you're safe. However, the tour operators say that if you get kicked out of one bar now, the security is the same for all of them, so you might as well leave town or dye your hair and completely change your look before you come back. Don't know if we'll find Dave Pike, but will let you if we do,

s/v Maia