11/30/2009
Nov 23-24
Another impromptu stop brought us to Great Sandy Straights Marina, Urangan. While the marina would not offer us free berthage, Lianne (also owns Paolo's Pizza Bar) joined OceansWatch and thanks to Chris's major charm, covered our fees herself. We picked up a new member, John King, and caught up with Natalie and OceansWatch member Frank (of Norway) to caravan through the straights (above)! After brochuring the three marinas in Urangan, and like true twenty-somethings, Irene and I went very far out of our way to see the new Twilight movie while Chris was working on a cracked forehatch.
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11/30/2009
Nov 19-22
I can officially say that Bundaberg has been my favorite marina thus far. It's not too big, there is only one bar where everyone goes for happy hour, it seems like everyone knows your name and you can feel at home. The Bundaberg Port Marina is also part of the Clean Marinas Australia and in keeping up with their nature of conservation and respect for the environment, Geoff Beyer, marina manager, offered us free berthage for a few days. The marina is super clean and makes a conscious effort to work with yachties instead of against them. We made friends throughout the marina, the cutest one being a jack russel terrior puppy and the nicest were Liz and John from the Gold Coast. Channel 7 dropped by and interviewed Chris & Irene and filmed the whole crew doing [menial] tasks, and put together a nice 4-minute clip that ran on the evening news all about OceansWatch and our projects, plans for the future, etc. All in all, a great few days. Thanks again, Geoff!
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11/23/2009
Nothing special to report about Gladstone except that on our sail out of port we passed through a pod of about 5 or 6 dolphins, paused to try and catch them on camera but to no avail! We spoke to someone who had run into Natalie in Vanuatu...it's really great to see our cause is spreading. Since Chris and Irene won't stop complaining about my ugly shorts, I tried to buy new ones...but made banana bread instead.
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11/18/2009
Nov 15-16
We made an impromptu stop at Keppel Bay Marina at Yeppoon on Sunday instead of heading straight to Gladstone...thanks again for the free berthage! We visited a ton of different yachties from all over the world, and Irene and I chatted with a local male model working at the marina. We had to stay longer than we planned due to an unexpected low tide that kept us from leaving our berth...so I made use of the extra time to market OceansWatch on the local beach.
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11/17/2009
Nov 14
While we were only here for a few hours, this place deserves it's own blog entry. Motoring into the anchorage past small islands of dark rock scattered with pine trees and coming to a crystal clear bay with a stunning white beach was just the start of it. On shore was an A-frame "beach house" built almost 40 years ago, and now yachties who come ashore leave the name of their yacht, crews, date, and anything else that inspires them. We left an OceansWatch sticker in the main room to the right, on a bit of white wall space. If you ever make it there, see if you can find it!
We also noticed a T-shirt of OceansWatch member James Wharram from the Spirit of Gaia trip hanging in the upstairs rafters....very cool.
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11/17/2009
Nov 13-14
We didn't have much time here in Mackay, so we got in, did our business, and got out (the above picture is us 'getting out' through a field of nearly 50 bulk coal carriers) For only 24 hours here, we seemed to do quite a bit of damage. We mass brochured the marina, ran into Urs, got a little bit older, and posed for a picture. Kerry (now a new member of OceansWatch) of catamaran 'Aussie 01' framed us beneath the logo on our boom. She will be writing a small piece on OceansWatch the work we do in The Coastal Passage, a bi-monthly free newspaper that prides itself in being the 'Voice of the Boating Community.' Free advertising..sweet! Steaks, wine, cake and balloons were in order...Happy Birthday Irene!!!
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11/17/2009
Nov 10-12
Yes, we did spend a few days in the Whitsunday Islands, but no, we did not get off at the famed Whitehaven Beach. We sailed right past it since the weather was pretty miserable...at least we can say we were there in some form or another, who cares if we were soaking wet and getting blown over. Finally some good weather came through and we found ourselves on Thomas Island, letting the Australian Navy (boys!) on board to use our VHF and having a ridiculous photo shoot. This shot just may have to be on the cover of the imminent OceansWatch promotional packet.
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