Gypsea Fever Update (Marie - 1 June 2014)

After the swells and rain of yesterday we awoke this morning to a beautiful
day in Yamba. The journey here was uneventful until we reached the entrance
to Ballina Bay, where we encountered a 5ft cross swell, with a very narrow
entrance and the harbour wall of rocks very close; it was quite scary. I
can tell you it was not for the feint hearted but Dave's skills at the helm
came in very useful. Even the second captain had her head buried in my lap,
and who could that be! A yacht that was going out at the same time watched
us and decided to abort their departure, Ron muttered 'cowards', but even he
was quite pale and had a very nervous laugh. Being jostled about in a
front loader washing machine could emulate the conditions. If we don't make
the correct timing of the tide tomorrow then we will face it all again as
we can't stay here forever. Anyway after a glass of wine to soothe our
nerves we are all relaxing in one part of the boat or other with just the
occasional call from a bird, very peaceful, see photograph. On the way up
to Ballina we were treated to the spectacular sight of a whale breaching and
our friends the dolphins putting on their entertainment.
Anchored nearby is 'Notorious' which is a replica of a 15th century caravel.
Known to many as the 'pirate ship' it is built entirely of recycled timber
and has taken 10 years to build. The owners planned to sail up to the
WhitSundays but maintenance on the Harwood Bridge have scuttled that plan.
With apologies for the pun to any Mariners reading this. Jane and I thought
it was a wreck not dissimilar from the ones on the bay at the Waterfront,
oops sorry to the owners ! And, to let you in on a secret I got this
information from the local paper, as I don't have too much knowledge about
pirate ships.
Tomorrow, tide willing, the next port is Southport a distance of 60 miles,
where I believe is a very large shopping centre, so we may have some retail
therapy, just to keep our hand in of course.
Warmest regards and best wishes

Marie (Galley slave, P.A, Updater of the Charts, Fender thrower) for Jane,
Dave, Ron, John and Joan