Crossing the Line
13 June 2019
Stuart Letton
Back in December 2011, after finishing the ARC and way too many complimentary, welcome rums, we thought it would be a good idea to attend Chris Doyle's lecture on cruising around the Caribbean Islands. As there was the chance of more free rum, I was onboard. And so, all eager eyed, we headed off to the session ready to absorb Chris's decades of experience cruising the area. "Don't touch the pink rum stuff 'cause it gives you the hangover from hell" would have been a good start, but that topic wasn't on his agenda. And neither was rum on the menu. Weather was on the agenda. And so, like all good cruisers, at the mention of this critical topic, we pricked our ears, sat upright, pencils poised over scraps of paper stolen from the bar and listened for what words of wisdom the Caribbean guru would impart.
"Its going to blow twenty to twenty five knots, from the south east.........until June". And that was it.
Well, out here in Whitsunday Land, it seems about the same. However, we have definitely crossed a couple of lines. The first was the Tropic of Capricorn. The second, we crossed just yesterday and is what I've named, "the Duvet Line.
The cold weather is now a distant memory, the duvet is stuffed in a locker and, man, it's bilin' hot.
The politicians here also crossed a line today. They approved a giant new coal mine just west of where we are now. Gotta keep them Chinese power plants running. The environmentalists lost the nearly ten year battle, but at least fifteen hundred families of the fifteen thousand who have applied, will have a new job in the house. No doubt the Pokie machine manufacturers are looking for new locations as I type.
Next stop Townsville.