Nude Fishing on Pandion, by Malachy

(You'll notice there's a recurring theme since we reached the tropics, and it ain't fishing - Liss)

Today we started from Butterfly Bay, Whitsundays, and began our longest passage yet. It was really rocky! We took turns doing watch. Mum was helming, we were lounging round in the cockpit and dad was sleeping (nude) and we had all our sails out. It was almost dark.  That’s when the fish decided to bite.  “NNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!” went the reel.  “Fiiiiiiiiiiiissssh!” went Mum, and “Aarrgggghh!” went Dad (nude). Dad raced up the steps (nude) and grabbed the rod (nude). We started furling the sails.  Dad, reeling in the fish (nude) yelled, “It’s a tuna!” Dad for some reason brought the fish into the cockpit; it flopped around and hit the floor. “Eeeeeeekk!” went everybody, leaping out of the way.

Tuna = sea chicken.

Yum.

Hot tip for Dad: sleep in boardies.

 

Hooked

So, there we were, peacefully sailing in between Whitsunday Island and Hook Island with the rods trolling and kitted out with Poppy's super-dooper new lures, when one of reels started screaming, precipitating a call for All Hands On Deck. Milo, dressed fetchingly in a sarong, started to wind in what appeared to be a Very Large Fish, while the kids and I pulled in sails and shortened the painter on the tender. As usual, in moments of high excitement and crisis, we sounded like a family of hysterical chipmunks, but we took it up to DEFCON 10 when the fish jumped out of the water and displayed an impressive sail and a long pointy snout. All of Malachy's dreams of hooking a marlin had come true and he nearly died of happiness on the spot. Miles was too busy threading the rod in and out of the rigging, scaling the davits, and climbing down into the inflatable to be excited. At some point he lost the sarong, so now we had a Naked Man, in an Inflatable Boat, and an approaching Large and Cross Fish with a Very Sharp Nose. What could possibly go wrong?
Nothing, as it turned out. To my lasting relief the fish broke the line, but not before we'd seen it alongside the hull. Five and a half foot? Minus 20% Exaggeration Factor, four and a half foot?

Where are we now and Video reflections on Lady Musgrave Island

Hello all, it's been a while between posts - we've been to the Whitsundays, had Melissa's parents on board for a few excellent days, and stayed with our long time friends Katrina and Chris on Maggie Island. Reminy did her Open Water dive course in the almost zero visibility of Nelly Bay, but as she said, it was kind of cool wondering if she was going to lose her instructor in the murk and never be seen again. Currently Pandion is in the lee of Orpheus Island riding out some heavy rain and wind, the first wet weather we've seen since leaving Iluka. The boat is dry, the crew have colds, but there's ample fresh water for showers and time to catch up on chores.  We'll head north tomorrow when the storms pass and check out Hinchinbrook, Dunk island and onwards to Cairns where Liss has to fly south for a workshop.

Sylvie and Budi finished their Lady Musgrave video.  Lady Musgrave is in the Capricorn Bunker group off Gladstone in Central QLD.  It is one of our favorite places;

 

 A secure anchorage inside a natural lagoon, crystal clear water, good spearing, excellent snorkeling (among the best we have seen), whales, manta rays and a magical pisonia forest.  Interesting fact, the stunning white coral sand beaches are largely made up of Parrot fish poop. The chew the coral and poop out 'sand'.

image from: https://www.jimhensonsfamilyhub.com/home-1/2017/6/6/have-you-thanked-the-ocean-today

Here is the video - enjoy,
Miles

Five good things about confining your kids to a sailboat, by Liss

Zemini Warriors

1. They’ll laugh really hard. Ours have “in” jokes that even Miles and I don’t get^*. Their humour is tending towards the 14 year old end of the spectrum, dragged up by their socially desperate sister. The six year old has a frighteningly adolescent grasp of the eye roll.
2. They’ll have to sort out their own conflict because their parents will be too exhausted to mediate. After a fight between our two eldest the other night, Miles and I went to bed to the sound of them Sorting It Out. It took a while but what started with bloodcurdling yells and hand-to-hand combat ended with whispered giggles.
3. When they have an opportunity to hang with other kids, they’ll REALLY appreciate it. “Does that boat have kids on it?” is the cry that goes out on the arrival of a new boat to an anchorage. They have become adept at sighting the Common Signs of a Cruising Family (well-loved boat, usually a monohull, lots of stuff hanging off the railings, etc ^**). The friendships they make are fleeting but treasured, and “Kids Ahoy!” is always a happy thing to hear.
4. Rigid family roles will become flexible. An old psychology lecturer of mine told me that it wasn’t healthy for kids in a family to permanently occupy any role: troublemaker, peacemaker, clown, daredevil … It has been strangely satisfying to find myself getting royally ticked off at our “good child,” seeing acts of war masterminded by our “peacemaker” and utterly relying on our “impulsive child.”
5. They’ll be a team, sometimes a wily one. When Miles and I drove off to get provisions at our last marina stop, the kids tidied the boat while we were away, cooked lunch and baked a cake, effectively laying the grounds for a “well-earned movie night.”

*  * I don’t know what a Zemini Warrior is, but they do.  All I know is that there are multiple challenge levels up to 35 and beyond. 
    ** my sincerest apologies to cruising families who fall outside this stereotype.