Our Mooring Moments – when we stuff up everything and struggle to get our yacht docked - have well and truly turned into Mooring Magic! We are so good at it now that even Erina, who used to stress and worry that we would miss a catch or drop a line, announced that we were ‘Pro’s’ at it now!
Just as well because in addition to the usual on lookers we noticed someone videotaping our whole arrival today! We still wonder what he did that for!
Each day since we arrived at the Waterside Marina we have watched the Albany Whale Watching tour boats go out in the morning. Each day they are crowded with eager watchers hoping for the thrill of a sighting. Each person paying richly for the privilege!
We have seen so many marine animals in our sailing thus far – pods of dolphins accompanying us, seals and several whales, but only in the distance.
This morning however we were treated to an up-close and personal sighting. We were sailing out into King George Sound, fishing lines out, hoping to catch something lovely for dinner and practice our tacking and then our docking when we returned when I caught sight of something grey just ahead of us. I jumped out of my seat and moved closer to the front of the yacht for a closer view – but the whale had simultaneously moved closer to us at the same time so I was rewarded immediately with a lovely display!
The whale was less than six feet off the side of the yacht (close enough to see but not too close to be scary or dangerous). She (or he – how do you tell I wonder?) was grey, a rich deep grey, glistening as she skimmed just below the surface of the water. She dived down a little and disappeared for a few seconds, only to resurface again giving a spurt as if to say, hello, nice to see you, and then dived down further and then breached right along side us!
Our first serious whale sighting!
Actually, when we were in the Southern Ocean a few weeks ago we saw heaps of whales, but only in the distance and at that time we were more concerned with managing the weather and the waves and not so much with the sea creatures about us! But today was special – and we were delighted and thrilled by our visitor!
Later, after a lovely sail out to Breaksea Island we returned and saw the Whale Watching boat put in the vicinity of where we had had our visit, presumably the whale was entertaining all on board with her friendliness!
When we returned the wind had picked up and was blowing at about 18 to 20 knots. We thought it might be a little tricky to pick up our lines, but as soon as we took up our positions and reminded ourselves of the specific actions we would take and their order, all our practice paid off and we came in perfectly despite the increasing wind.
We sat on deck afterwards, eating our lunch in the warm sunshine of a late July day in Albany and talked about how we would feel when we had just arrived at a new port and were sitting on deck relaxing after our sail! We are looking forward to leaving, but making the most of the time we have here to work on things on the yacht and learn.