Sailing around Australia; Expect the Unexpected

Two Peoples Bay, Albany Western Australia

24/12/2013 – Expect the unexpected

It was such a beautiful morning here in Two Peoples Bay today. Very little wind,

glassy water and the birds chirping away in the trees that are quite close to shore.

Leanne and I decided to head to shore. Little did we expect to find a beautifully

maintained picnic and barbecue area. Just past the first row of trees is a toilet

block that you would expect to be a bit ordinary in a remote place like this.

However we were quite surprised to see the rubbish bins empty, the toilets all

clean and in working order and the surrounding grass mown. Even the limestone

pathways were swept clear of leaves and debris.

Our friends Marie and Eva had been for a walk on the trail “up the hill” so we

expected to tread their same path. We must of taken a different turn at some

stage as we came across the two peoples bay visitors centre. This was also very

unexpected. There is an interactive video display, we watched the movie about

the Noisy Scrub bird and spent some time looking at the exhibits of snake skins

and dolphin skulls etc… Again it was all so neat and tidy and very well done.

A short walk up the hill revealed a magnificent view over two peoples bay in it’s

entirety. Alas, no phone or internet cover was available up there either, so it may

be a bit of a downer on Christmas if we are unable to contact friends and family

by tomorrow, Christmas day.

Following our walking discovery, we decided to go venturing around the rocks

that line some of the shores. We found some massive granite rocks that we could

just fit the dinghy between. I turned off the motor in case our propeller hit rocks

and Leanne got out a paddle. As Leanne paddled I took some photo’s.

Leanne said that for some exercise she would paddle over to the next group of

rocks. We didn’t expect this to look like our dinghy was broken and we were in

any trouble. However, it obviously did look like that to our cruising companions

as they both arrived at the same time in their dinghy’s to “rescue” us. Perhaps

they had mistaken Leanne’s singing Christmas carols as she paddled her pretend

Gondola, for crys of help.

 They claimed that we would have to pay some sort of penalty (such as beer, food

and or wine).  Thank god they were here, because if we had been in distress we

could not have expected better assistance.

Both B1 and B2 decided while in their dinghy’s bobbing around, that they would

re-anchor in closer to shore as there didn’t seem to be any of the dangers that

they expected on our arrival to the bay.

B1 and Marie on Urchin, had some bother getting their anchor re-set. As they

tried the winds began picking up.

The next part of our day was to be had on board Zofia. However at lot earlier

than expected  the wind whipped up to gale force out of nowhere and Leanne

and I struggled with the short trip in the dinghy over to Zofia.

We no sooner had boarded Zofia, when we had to get back in the dinghy as it

seemed Easy Tiger was starting to drag her anchor across the bay, propelled by

the 25 knot plus winds now screaming in from the hills to the west.

Leanne and I then had the unfortunate time of trying to get our anchor up with

our friends aboard Zofia watched on. After trying the anchor winch many times,

we managed to only lift the anchor a foot or so off the bottom. Normally it comes

quite easy. Leanne was really battling to control the swinging, swaying boat

saying she felt like we were stuck. I couldn’t understand it. The anchor was up off

the bottom but we still could get the boat to move forward or backward. Then a

clump of weed fell off the anchor. I thought this was good as maybe I could lift it

some more, but still the anchor winch was stalled. Then I saw it. Our anchor was

tangled in another huge chain that we were trying to pull up. Obviously there

was no way to free our anchor in this wind, so we let our chain out again and

went back to Zofia to enjoy our lunch. Who would expect to get their anchor

wrapped up in another chain out here. That will be a job for Christmas day or

when the wind has died down.

The next unexpected event of the day, came in the form of a special Christmas

eve luncheon of Polish fare made by our friend Eva onboard Zofia. We all

chomped and laughed through 5 courses of such things as beetroot soup, pickled

herring and wobbly stuff starting with P for sweets. How special that unexpected

treat was. Thanks Eva.

While we all sat nervously watching our boats swing harshly around on their

anchor points, we made a new way of measuring wind speed. Eva and B2 had a

pair of pants hanging on the back of the boat that would inflate to differing

degrees depending on the wind velocity. One leg inflated we thought was about

twenty knots, both legs inflated about 25 and if the crotch and both legs filled,

well that was sheer gale force. Comment of the day went to Eva, who said that

this really was sailing by the seat of your pants.

So another day of our adventure draws to a close. It really has been a day of the

unexpected.

 

It'll be hard to leave here!