SailBlog

Cetacea in Australia

12 September 2023
Tony Wessendorff
In March 2023, we flew back to Cetacea in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. We had a bottom job (new paint on the bottom) done in the shipyard. We left PNG in May sailing to Indonesia. Half way there, we had a generator heat exchanger go out, so we ended up sailing to Darwin, Australia, which was the closest place we could get repairs made. We found that we got water in our fuel (in PNG) and it caused other problems as well. We got the engine and generator problems fixed and took off for Indonesia again, only to have more problems. So we boomeranged back to Darwin. We have been in Darwin for almost 4 months now, fixing one thing, only to have another thing break, fixing that thing, only to have something else break. And, each time, it takes weeks to get the parts shipped in. But, we have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Darwin!

Finally, we think we are ready to leave again, scheduled for Friday September 13th, crossing our fingers! We do not keep up with this blog site any longer. We do sporadic email blogs now. If you would like to get on the email blog list, just send me an email (GailCorriganW@gmail.com). But, I will update our position and add at least an annual note on where we are on this blog site.

More Later, much later
G&T
Vessel Name: Cetacea
Vessel Make/Model: Cheoy Lee 53' Motorsailor
Hailing Port: Houston, Texas, USA
Crew: Tony Wessendorff & Gail Corrigan
About:
After 25 fun filled years as an environmental consulting firm owner, Gail sold her company and she and her husband, Tony the CFO, retired to go sailing on their boat Cetacea (see photo gallery). Cetacea was in St. [...]
Extra: P.S. Cetacea is the higher order biological name for whales and dolphins. Whales and dolphins are cetaceans. And our boat is a big fat whale of a boat, hence the name Cetacea! Not to mention that Tony & Gail, like all sailors, love whales.
Cetacea's Photos - Preparing for the Panama Canal Transit, Colon, Panama - Jan 2014
Photos 1 to 22 of 22 | Main
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Shelter Bay Marina facilities, restaurant, offices, showers, and heads.
Shelter Bay Marina pool.
Shelter Bay Marina.
Forest adjacent to the marina.
An abandoned road from the previous American facilities serving the Canal, named "Kennedy Loop".
Forest
We went walking in the forest most days with our friends, Hans and Liv, from Norway.
Tony in the forest.
Our son, Garrow, and Chris Gross in the forest.
Chestnut headed oropendula.
Oreopendul nest hanging at the top of a palm tree.
Southern Lapwings on the lawn at the marina.
One of the many pretty yellow birds you see often in Panama.
Howler Monkey.  Howlers sound like a very loud, very mad and scarry dog.
Juvenile Howler Monkeys, just sitting.
Name this animal?  Gail and her friend Liv decided it was a black panther.  Someone else said, very authoritatively, that it was a tayra.
Tony, the contortionist, fixing a water leak in a pipe underneath the galley countertop.  Successfully!
Gail & Tony shopped for 3 hours, filled 5 grocery carts, paid $1,000+, and needed 2 taxis to get all the provisions back to the boat.
The guys (Paul & Bryan) putting out all the tire bumpers in preparation for the transit.
Gail has become a magician in terms of finding places to stow all the provisions.
Cetacea is ready!
Today is the day!  Our crew is ready and just having one last meal at the Shelter Bay Marina restaurant!  Left to Right: Tony, Paul, Chris, Bonnie, Bryan and Garrow.
 
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