So sorry that there is no photo with this post. We tried and tried, but with our low band width couldn't get the photo up.

In the 1980s there was a song called, �"The Dream Police�". It was just the right combination of catchy and stupid to be very popular.

In May, Our friend Kurt Frederick, and his girlfriend Candie Sylvestri, visited us aboard Endless Summer at the Whitsunday Islands. They arrived at Airlie Beach about the same time that Manjula and I were sailing in on our way north from the Gold Coast.

We were looking forward to their company and to exploring the Whitsunday Islands together. This would be our first opportunity to see this famous group of islands and if the weather permitted to sail out to the Great Barrier Reef. Kurt and Candie generously stocked our cupboards with food and beer, and after a couple of nights in Airlie, we set off towards our first Whitsunday anchorage.

On the way across the channel toward Hook Island, the wind freshened and we zoomed along with our new sail, (the screecher) pushing Endless Summer to 14 knots. This is fast sailing and the wind continued to increase. We were watching Candie to see if she was comfortable with the raucous ride. She was having a great time and said she loved it. We thought it was funny that her first sailing experience was so extreme. We joked she would think sailboats always went this fast, and that from now on she would wonder why we were going so slowly.

We worked our way around the end of Hook island through a narrow coral lined pass without bumping into anything, and then pulled around the corner into a large deep bay. Once inside the protection of the bay the wind died and we picked up one of the national park moorings off of a little beach under the towering hills. We were the only boat in our little part of the bay and we enjoyed a tranquil evening aboard Endless Summer.

The next day we all took a dinghy ride to the next bay for a snorkel session. The reef was beautiful with giant clams, corals, and fish of all kinds. The water clarity was not great, but good enough to enjoy the reef. Candie did great for her first time snorkeling in the ocean. Kurt had shown Candie how to wear her mask, and clear the water out of it back home in the hot tub, but it was quite another thing to do it floating a quarter mile off shore while hovering over a coral reef!

This was the first time we got an inkling of Kurt�'s other identity. He was careful to remind Candie not to hit the reef with her flippers, because it damages the delicate coral. He might have reminded her once too often, and soon Kurt�'s new name was assigned: �"The Reef Police�". From then on, there was no going back. Kurt�'s new name stuck. Officer Frederick was to be referred to as �'The Reef Police�' for the duration of the trip. Fortunately for Kurt and I, and unfortunately for anyone within the sound of our raised voices, his new name rhymed with the stupid song we remembered from our youth. We had a theme song for our trip to go with Kurt�'s new superhero persona. To the chagrin of all, Kurt and I sang at the top of our lungs:

�"the reef police they live inside of my head the reef police they come to me in my bed�"

When Kurt donned his skin tight black lycra wetsuit, it completed the superhero look.

And so it went for the duration of our trip. We sailed to a new anchorage almost every day, diving, walking on the beach, enjoying the beautiful and varied scenery of the Whitsundays. (We were hoping to sail out to the Great Barrier Reef, but as the days went by, there was just too much wind. Finally the last two days of the visit, the wind laid down.)