Whales and Work Mates

27th Sep 2010

After a great nights sleep I woke just before the 05:00 alarm and the anchor was up by 05:20. The trip out of Wide Bay was slow as it was against the incoming tide but we were soon underway south with a light SW and good speed in calm blue water. The trip was almost of the ilk I choose to call “coffee sailing” but for the too light winds but it was still an easy and pleasant way to spend the day.

The highlights of the trip were again sealife sightings which included; an ‘old man’ dolphin with numerous battle scares including a large bite out of his dorsal fin, a huge and similarly old and barnacle encrusted sea turtle and finally two very good whale sightings. The first of these was a big fella just lazing in the water very near the boat as the photo left shows. The second, although more distant, had a number of whales happily engaged in fin slapping that seemed to be all about fun from where we were watching.

To finish the day off, as we were manoeuvring to the assigned berth in Mooloolaba, I spoke to a passing kayaker with whom we may have conflicted as we turned. The exchange was friendly and effective but was immediately followed by Paul identifying this chap as a work mate from the area - small world indeed! A serendipitous occurrence to be sure but in the immediate; this meant that quite apart from the always tricky job of getting the boat neatly in the pen, I had the additional task of keeping Paul from starting up one of his many and almost always protracted conversation until after we had the mooring lines on. I happy to say I achieved this with only the slightest hint of Captain Bligh so the day ended as favourably as it had begun.

PS: As Pilgrim will be alongside for almost the next 2 weeks, there will likley be a 'blog hiatus' for a time