In the other:
Moon over the hills behind Port Douglas
The first sight on rising
On the 28th there was a lunar eclipse and my dear mate suggested that we sail out to Low Isles and watch it without any light pollution and because most nights the clouds had closed in around the house. We checked the weather before we left and duly sailed out in the afternoon in quite a stiff breeze and with lots of cloud around and moored to spend the evening waiting. I offered foolishly to make up the berths while Ken organised dinner and came out of his cabin after making up his bed a slight (or maybe not so slight if his reaction was anything to go by) shade of green. The only time I have ever been seasick in my life was once when I was already feeling unwell with my dad. I denied being ill and sat and ate dinner which had lots of ginger in it and then just tried to calm myself and breathe in fresh air etc.
But the boat was rocking in all directions and even Ken was having difficulty moving around. He suggested we went back and I said I could ride it out but he observed we wouldnt sleep in this weather and that the clouds had closed in and we wouldnt see the eclipse anyway. So we cast off and set sail back to Port Douglas with a reefed main. Which will mean something to sailing afficionadoes but bugger all to me up until last Tuesday night.
What followed was some of the scariest moments of my life. Ken was brilliant, calm and assured while I was panicking like mad inside and battling to keep my dinner in my tummy. Waves would hit us and the boat rode them all pretty well and I was pretty much safe in the cabin albeit decidedly nauseous. Ken estimated it was blowing about 30 knots at least but his beautiful boat is built for such conditions.
I think the scariest moment was when he used "George" the auto pilot and disappeared from view (to have a pee) but I just couldnt see him and that scared me silly because I really am a novice at sailing. But he called back when I freaked and I calmed down when he came back into view. Fighting off the nausea was helped by a pack of extra strong peppermints - each time I felt it come on I would shove another one down my throat.
After a while the rocking seemed a little less wild (very little) but I needed desperately to be horizontal and laid down on the seat and closed my eyes and talked myself into calm state by sort of hypnotising myself that I was a kid again and in the back of my parent's car on the way home from the beach. Sometime later Ken called out that the cloud had blown apart and we could see the eclipse- the moon was orange red but I was just too sick and sorry for myself to dig out my camera and just laid there for a bit just watching it but it began to look like a drunken orange ping pong ball and I felt a bit queasy again so I just shut my eyes. I think I did managed to sleep for a bit because the next thing I knew was the sound of the diesel engine starting up and the sensation of calm water. I came up on deck to find us sailing between the leads at Port Douglas.
My poor mate was frozen because of the water splashing on him and the wind but he had got us home safe as promised. By this time the moon had fully emerged and was a glowing silver orb again as we motored up the creek to anchor up past the moorings because the tide was ripping out and I was not going to be any help to him at all in mooring and he was tired after that sail.
He was brilliant and after a hot drink we both decided to get some sleep and we woke up the next morning to the most beautiful calm morning with the moon setting in the west while the sun was rising in the east. Originally we were going to sail again that day but the strong winds had come in and hadnt let up by Friday when I left so we set off back up the hill and retreated to the comfort of the verandah and the joys of roast leg of goat - YUM.
My mate is my hero too now ;-) seriously I did try and stay calm and largely succeeded I hope because I was very scared especially when he was using 'George' and one of these days I am gonna buy George a drink!!!
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