Back on the Water

G'day All!

It's good to be on the water again. The wind is frustratingly light and the weather is painfully hot and humid. I have been going through a few last jobs and preparing for some heavy weather that will probably come my way on this leg. I have been dealing with my sailmail (email) and will hopefully have my Torres Strait notes up soon. For now, I will give a run down of my last few days in Darwin:



Thursday I finished dealing with the fuel job. I reinstalled the inspection port, picked up diesel, I went with John Knight to reprovision, picking up the last perishables. We went back to the boat and stowed a bunch of it and began to get the boat ready to go. That night , I caught a bus to the Darwin Market, which is a street fair type thing. There are tons of people there. There are people selling everything from tie dye to crocodile teeth. There are all kinds of Aussie foods like crocodile, kangaroo and pretty much all of the other famous animals from Oz. I did eat some pretty good crocodile which is a white meat with a mild taste and a consistency like steak. I hung out with Mark, who is a professional didgeridoo player. I also met a friend of his named Mark who is an avid boater. When the fair shut down around 9:30pm, he gave me a ride home. He came down to the boat and we talked awhile. It was a good night.

Friday John and I went to customs and immigration. We went to Indigenous Creations, a didgeridoo shop to meet a guy who had been following my story while I was in Darwin. He gave me a 4 1/2 foot long didgeridoo that he had painted himself. He gave me a lesson which was great. John had things to do so I skated to an Internet cafe to check email and back to the boat to finish stowing and prepping the boat. That night I skated back to town to go to a rock concert and caught the bus back to the boat.

On Saturday, Customs came down to the boat to do a final clearance. I got the sails ready and lashed down the newly filled fuel jugs. John and I picked up the last round of mail. I am making a list of the things that I was sent and will post that when it is finished so I don't leave anyone out. I did a few interviews back at the boat. Then Spot On Marine lowered Intrepid into the water. I ran the motor for 15 minutes to make sure that there was no air in the lines. I motored through the mangroves against a 3 knot current following a dinghy driven by someone who knew the area well since water was so low. At one point I had as little as 1 foot under the keel. I got to the channel and had about 15 knots on the nose but managed to get out okay. I set my course and then had 3 knots. What a pain. I had a feast eating the food that John Knight brought down. I moved pretty slowly through the night. First night was pretty easy because it was so calm.

Sunday I did a bunch of jobs on the boat. I did see one ship that came within 2 miles. The Australian Customs planes fly over at least once a day. They call me on the VHF radio and ask for my registration number, where I am coming from and where I am going to. I had a terrible headache all day but fortunately it is gone now.

Monday, today, I'm taking care of a few more little jobs while it is still calm. At present I have between 1.4 and 2.4 knots of wind.

Mom and Dad have kept me up to date on all of your comments and many of your emails. I'd like to thank you all for your support. In many ways, this trip would not be possible without it.

Cheers,

Zac