Year 5 Day 172 A Dinner To Remember, Then A Very Long Swim
25 July 2012 | Fanny Bay, Darwin, AU
Dave/Sunny
We spent the day plugging away on boat projects. We had an unexpected issue when the generator stopped this morning. It was signaling that it stopped due to lack of cooling water. I had just changed the impeller so I knew that was not the problem. It turned out that the thru hull and the line attached to it were plugged with seaweed that got sucked in. Ugh! I had to clean the cooling water filter and the screen I had added downstream of the water pump that collected the bits and pieces of the impeller when they break off. Both were filled with seaweed.
Next I had to remove the hose from the thru hull and remove a plug of seaweed from that. Finally, I hopped in the water and dove under the hull to remove seaweed that was blocking the thru hull. All this took a couple of hours. There is never a dull moment on the boat.
We drove over to Brian and Gayle’s house for dinner this evening. Gayle put on a spread that was delicious starting with appetizers and then moved on to roast pork with crackling, roasted yams, sweet potatoes and carrots. Mary Margaret had whipped up a great salad to round out the meal. Then to top everything off, Gayle brought out a dessert called Pavlova. Oh my, oh my! I rolled away from the table with a big smile on my face.
We were joined for dinner by Brian and Gayle’s son, Ben. He is working as an electrician’s apprentice. Their daughter, Alicia, had return to her university in Adeline last Sunday so she was missed by all.
After dinner, we had requested that Brian and Gayle show us their pictures that they had taken of their recent European trip which included two weeks sailing in Turkey. Wow! The pictures were great and we cannot wait to sail up to the Med so we too can share in the rare experiences they had.
We said our sad goodbyes after the slide show. We depart for Indonesia on Saturday and will not have another chance to see them before we leave.
When we returned to Fanny Bay I donned my swimming suit. When we came to shore this afternoon, the tide was way, way out and we had to tie up to a mooring ball that was about ¼ mile from the beach. However, when we returned after visiting the Canns, the tide was in and I faced a ¼ mile swim in the dark to reach our dingy. The tides here range up to 24 feet and the water was now lapping up to the riprap that protects the bank on which the Darwin Sailing Club is situated on. As I swam I could not help thinking of what Brian had told us a few days prior. He said that they capture and relocate about 300 crocodiles a year from Darwin harbor and Fanny Bay. Needless to say, when I finally reached the dinghy I climbed in without hesitating for a second. When I brought the dinghy to shore to pick Mary Margaret up she told me that she was worried for me since it was so dark and she could not see me or the dinghy from the shore. However, all ended well and we are now safe and sound on good ol’ Leu Cat.