Day 16 Westbound for Fremantle

Whale Song is Home Again! (Written on Mar 12, 2013)

Photo credit M.Jenner

Home again safe and sound in the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour!
Photo credit M.Jenner

“Brrrrrrrrmmmmmm” the motor speeds up and I feel the boat swirl in a circle.  Lifting my head and looking out our window the blue, white and yellow lights of the Fishing Boat Harbour blur in an arc and I can see that we are leaving Jetty 3 and heading for the Service Wharf nearby.  “Ahhh, there’s a boat in our pen…”  It is 2am in the morning and we are all tied up safe and sound with another 5806 nm under our belts!  In the main saloon Curt, Dale and Sam sit relaxed sipping on a special celebration whisky, the ice cubes gently clinking in their glasses.  I settle on a small Frangelico and we quietly celebrate the there-and-back and all the-in-between!  Well done crew!

Around 0730 seems a good time to get up and at the day.  While I do a speedy clean through-out the main saloon (of all surfaces, windows and vacuum), Inday made us yummy scrambled eggs.  This is eggsactly (!) what the doctor ordered and perfect for a busy day ahead!  Just before 9am Dales’ friend Bruno from Paris, whom installed our satellite Iridium system arrives and we share coffee and stories of the Vendee Globe sailing race before Bruno takes Carrie and Dale to their homes just north of Fremantle.  Inday and Sacha go adventuring in Fremantle and beyond, keen for some retail therapy!  Sam was up early washing the boat down and polishing Whale Song nicely.  This was perfectly in time for a chance meeting and interview by a journalist from the local Sunday paper.

Around 1020am I can see Micah’s white car driving into the car-park.  It is lovely to see her and her pretty smile, catch up on all her news and give her a dress I bought in Portland!  Micah kindly takes me to storage to retrieve our car and all is well – the car starts immediately but the tyres are a bit bulgy.  We part company as Micah has some uni classes and we will see her later on today for our after 5pm “Yahoo We’re Back” Party!

Ship-wrights, designers and wall-paper hangers (4 or 5) crawl through the forward cabins in preparation for some cabin adjustments meanwhile, other boating colleagues visit.  After a low-key lunch I begin preparing the food for our party and Resty makes the mixture for his famous Filipino spring rolls, which Inday and Sacha-belle expertly roll and cook.  This is a team event indeed.  Between 530-7pm people arrive and excited conversation fills the main saloon.  Being a Tuesday night and with such short notice, we are delighted to see friends and family at our impromptu gathering for 22!  Sacha-belle had asked, “But won’t you need a rest ?”   “Oh no, we always have people over when we arrive back!!” was my immediate reply!  And so we did!

It is lovely to see our friends again.  Quietly I acknowledge and notice once more, that the relief of safe arrival warrants the excitement of the departure itself.  At 5 to 11 we flop into bed happy with another safe arrival and another 5806 nm for a total of 37,159 nm since taking delivery of Whale Song on October 08, 2010, some 29 months ago.  Wow, that’s a lot of waves and a lot of thinking and a lot of journals!

From the jetty in FFBH,

Mich

 

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