Day 1
Drop the lines! (Written on May 02, 2015)
Early this morning the car park adjacent to the Service Wharf in Fremantle was a flurry of activity. Usually, cray fishermen with their utes loaded with pots and floats fill the car parks but today, every possible parking space was taken as divers standing at their open car boots (or not-so-private dressing rooms) struggled to pull on wetsuits in the slightly chilly autumn air. Trailers, trollies and wheelbarrows were moved around with great purpose and personnel speaking clearly into walkie-talkies paced the jetties in a great event that is the annual harbour clean-up.
A quiet Saturday morning departure for us turned out to be more of an escape from the hustle and bustle of the harbour! As our crew and families arrived an hour prior to departure, they found it hard to find parking! Guy brought his dad Rob, Liz her husband Dale, Steve his wife Carrie and Dave brought by his girlfriend. Micah helped with last logistics as gear and supplies were stowed and goodbyes made.
Leaving Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour, Curt is at the helm with Skipper supervising!
We had made a plan to leave the harbour at 9am and co-ordinating with the well-organised dive team, we pulled away from the jetty just a few minutes after the hour. The mandatory two blasts on the ship’s horn told the whole harbour, all those interested and even those not interested that we were turning our vessel to port. I almost hit the deck with the sound blaring over my head and through my chest! Right ,that was a heart-starter! Who needs a Defib anyway?
It was 0905 and we were off again! There was a moderate amount of shipping activity in Gage Roads (the offshore anchorage at Fremantle) as the visiting US fleet (an aircraft carrier, two frigates and a fuelling vessel) prepared to leave Fremantle after 6 days of R & R, which apparently left 6 sailors in hospital! These ships gathered speed and toodled quickly over the horizon at 26 to 30 knots blending with the grey sea and grey sky. Wow! Now you see them, now you don’t!
The wind slowly picked up throughout the afternoon from 4-6 knots to 10-12 knots from the south and the swell increased to 2m from the northwest. The cloud cover and the swell direction appeared to be caused by Cyclone Quang which crossed the coast near Exmouth overnight, causing havoc for locals so soon after Cyclone Olwyn had already destroyed everyone’s gardens.
Sunset at sea – my favourite place and time of the day!
As we made our way north, Resty made the first whale sighting! It was possibly a minke whale or even possibly a blue whale. Sadly no further sightings were made as it slipped into the water and no photos were collected, but the behaviour seemed very minke whale-like. Resty got the first chocolate bar! An otherwise uneventful afternoon proceeded, always good, following cold chicken and salad for our first underway lunch. Our crew of seven, all settled in well and we were thrilled to be back voyaging at sea! Yahoo!
Our first albatross came by around 5pm, a curious, juvenile Black-browed albatross. Later, while catching a glimpse of white, out-spread wings, and racing around the decks with my camera in hand, another bird, a juvenile Yellow-nosed albatross ducked and weaved across our bow. It is simply beautiful to see them soaring and gliding over the waves, behaviour, of which, they display pure and utter expertise.
Another spectacular sunset eased us into our journey. I love sunset at sea and cannot think of a better place to be, than to close out the day on the high seas…
Sad for family ashore, but my offshore heart is beaming with joy,
Mich
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