5/1/2016
Hi All,
We did it….FINALLY off the dock and headed north…yeah!!!! Mystic has been either on the hard or in a berth since mid-January…..maybe our longest stint at a dock in a long time and we both were itching to go!!!
I last left off the blog as we were finishing the Australian road trip and heading back to the USA for a very quick visit with the family. We got to spend 4 wonderful days with Josh & Courtney and our adorable granddaughter Sadie Rose. She has indeed captured our hearts!!! We also were lucky to attend a “gender reveal” party and found out Dana and David are having a girl!!! Kathy is in “girl” heaven after being dean of boys….she is enjoying this “girls rule” thingee. And we got to spend a very quick day/night in Sausalito with our good friends Darrell and Claudia…..wow, was that fun or what!!!
Then it was back to Mystic and a full week of finishing boat projects and provisioning!!! We had a farewell dinner on Mystic for our Aussie friends who have basically adopted us and have been so helpful in our stay in Australia. We made an All American dinner…..bbq ribs, baked beans, cole slaw, corn on the cob, garlic bread and of course ice cream and chocolate…..judging by the bottle count I think it was a huge success!!!! Aussie’s do love their red wine….yes, I am in heaven here:))))
BTW we flew United business first on a 787 Dreamliner from SFO to Sydney nonstop….15 hours….our first time on this model and our first time on United in a very long time. We have not been impressed with United the last 10 years or so but I need to give them credit on this flight. The service, food and chair/bed were wonderful…..the plane super quiet….even the flight attendants were happy and friendly. I sure hope United is finally getting their act back together!!
We actually left the marina on Thursday hoping to go 4-8 miles closer to the ocean….but we needed internet to keep checking weather….so picture Kathy walking around Telstra modem in hand yelling out 1 bar 3g et al….we were out for 2 hours and ended back about 200 yards from the marina….yep, big day for us…LOL!!!
One of the funny things with boating is how quickly one forgets all the details. It seems every time we are away for a few months “stupid” sets in. 1st brain fart….forgot to turn GEN on our first night out…..@ 8:20 the brain kicked in and WTH…..went to turn it on and it would not start….arghhhhhh…..turns out a lot of air I guess from the all the Cummins work (new injectors, set valves, cleaned racor bowls/spline)….does not make sense but after bleeding 200 times we got it going…..I had the pleasant experience of staying up to run the GEN…..yikes:)))))
2nd brain fart…..added gas to dinghy….went to start….arghhhh a lot of smoke….forgot to add the oil for the 2 stroke engine….yikes #2:))))
Yesterday’s run was 89 nm in a 3-5′ headsea with medium period and the winds were calm, <10 kts. While not our first choice of seas all in all we had a good first day and got our sea legs back under us. Terry and Di are also here in Port Stephens for the w/e so we enjoyed a delightful dinner and of course, way too many bottles of red wine!!!
Tomorrow (Monday), the weather is looking good for a 3 day passage to Bundaberg. We have 575nm to go to get back to Bundaberg where we first entered Australia from New Caledonia last September. At 7.5kts that is 77 hours to Bundy. We have some north winds Monday night but the farther north we go the lighter and by Tues am on it should all be behind us except for a 3-5′ east swell….right on the beam…..fun!!!!
That puts us in Bundy Thurs late morning if Plan A works. If the weather does not cooperate there are many places to put in and wait it out. We will only spend 1-2 days (get fuel and prawns:))) in Bundy before we start to explore the Great Barrier Reef going north and especially the area around the Whitsundy’s!!
We have to be in Darwin the first of July to apply for our Indonesia Visa so we have about 2500nm to go in 2 months!!! The Indo Rally leaves on July 23rd!!
Let the cruising season begin!!!
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO!!!!