Tuesday 19 April 2011

Dolphins!

I mentioned in an earlier post that we have dolphins in our back yard - now we have proof!

We were sitting below deck working on installing our new fridge when I heard a noise that I assumed was just someone on a nearby boat pouring a bucket of water over board. When it continued intermittently for a few minutes we went up to check it out and sure enough, there was a pod of at least 5 or 6 dolphins swimming around and under the floating pontoons. They hung around for at least 15 minutes before disappearing with nary a flick of their tails!

It reminds me of a cute tale I just read (Seraffyn’s Oriental Adventure) about a husband and wife sailing team making an offshore passage near Borneo when in the middle of the night they heard the faint whisper of waves breaking. Baffled, as there were no reefs on the charts for miles around, they listened with increasing dread as the sound grew clearer and closer. All of a sudden they were surrounded by hundreds of dolphins, filling the horizon, jumping and splashing as they headed east... pesky little blighters!





























Monday 18 April 2011

A kitty went to sea-sea-sea ...

Yesterday Kitty went to sea for the first time, and BOY was she unhappy about it...

We motored out in perfect calm conditions, less than 1/2 metre swell and just a gentle breeze, with the intention of conducting sea trials of our newly installed autopilot.

Poor old Kitty. She lay flat on the cabin sole looking so folorn as the grumble of the engine and movement made her turn a distinct shade of green. Have you ever seen a green cat? not pretty. Im surprised that the seasickness hit her so quickly in such good conditions, but Im so proud that she actually went to her litter box to be sick. Poor little girl. :-(

Im quite worried about how our planned Easter trip will go. Im going to do a bit of research on motion sickness medication for cats (apparently there is such a thing) and I really hope she gets her sea-paws quickly.

PS apart from Kitty's unhappy adventure the sea trial was successful and the autopilot keeps headings well under motor. A bit more fine tuning needed before trialing it under sail, but its promising.

Monday 11 April 2011

Moving aboard montage ...

Well, we did it. We’re now officially houseless, but certainly not homeless. And definitely boat-ful! Sunday 3 April 2011 was our first night aboard.

Here are some photos from our move of 750 kilometres with 2 car loads, 1 trailer load and 1 cat aboard Bass Voyager. Its been a crazy month, but one that has brought us halfway towards achieving our dream... we are now livaboards... next we just have tofind a way to cast off the mooring lines and leave the dock!

Ready to go...

















Arrival at Gulf Point Marina...
























D'oh!

















Stowaway...

















Home sweet home, Berth 21

















Kitty exploring the facilities...

















Settling in...

































The view from our aft deck on our first morning... not a bad sight to wake up to. Not long after these photos were taken a dolphin swam past!