Frontier - 55. FR Chapter 55

“Good news! We have an operational trimaran again, but just one problem - we are on the wrong ocean,” I said to Simon, who thought about what I said.

“What about Vic and Rita and the lads? I’m sure they would jump at the chance to sail the yacht again,” Simon said with a smile. I pulled out my phone and dialled the number.

“I hope you have a good reason why you calling us this late, young man,” came Rita’s voice as she answered the call.

“Oh sorry, Rita. What time is it over there?” I responded, forgetting to check the time difference.

“If we were home, it would be 2245 hours, but since it is only 1845, it is ok. Now would this call have anything to do with what we saw in today’s newspapers?” Rita said to me, and I groaned realising that it was now world news.

“If the headlines are something like - ‘Crew of marooned yacht – Last Frontier, hold key evidence to South American Drug cartel’, yes, that is what we have here as well. We are currently in protective custody, in my home town’s police cells,” I responded.

“Oh, you poor dears. That is not good. So, what has happened to the Last Frontier?” Rita asked me.

“Well that is why I called. I have just finished talking to the boatyard in Vanuatu, where it was being repaired, and it is all ready to go. We are hoping that you guys including Kyle and Leon can sail it back home for us,” I said in hope.

“We will gladly do that for you. In fact, we tracked down the boys to a hotel in Honolulu where the boys have jobs. We just arrived in Hawaii an hour ago, so once we have the boys, we can make our way to Vanuatu right away,” Vic said to us. We spent the next twenty minutes talking about details, and as we ended the call, Anita walked into the cell block.

“We saw that you were busy talking on the phone, so we waited till you finished. The AFP would like to interview you guys again. So, if you are ready, I will take you to the interview room,” Anita said with a smile, as she led the way down the passageway.

“Jasper and the boys have stopped at Cervantes, and done a monster shopping spree, leaving the shop owners a little stunned. Apparently they left with two shopping trolleys each. I have your suitcases, and a box of games, books and DVD’s for the boys, plus I emptied your fridge into two eskies, which I brought along too,” Anita said to us as we approached the last door.

For the next four hours, we were interviewed in great detail about everything that had happened to the family since it all began, starting with the suspicious death of my brothers’ father on the South Island of New Zealand.

I felt my mobile vibrate with a number of calls, but I had to ignore them, until I was able to get to a quiet place to check on the calls. I had one missed call from Vic and Rita, another from Kyle and Leon, and two from Jasper. So, as soon as we were able to have a short break, I located Anita and asked her to call Jasper, as he had tried calling twice. Meanwhile I returned the call from Vic and Rita.

“Hi, sorry! We just wanted to let you know that the lads have resigned from their jobs, and will be joining us tomorrow, when we fly to Vanuatu via Fiji. We will arrive in Vanuatu in the morning day after tomorrow,” Rita said to me.

“Ok, Rita, I will let the boatyard know that you are coming,” I said and we ended the call. I rang the boatyard right away and told them of the arrival of a crew coming to sail the yacht back home for us, giving all the names of the crew members, and where they are from, and the slight hint about Kyle and Leon.

When the interviews were finally over, and Anita escorted us back to the cell block, I gave Anita some money offering to pay for Chinese dinner for us, the AFP and the police at both stations, plus Gramps, Isaac and the boys, and she smiled as she set off to break the news to the others. A few minutes later, Anita returned with a huge smile on her face.

“The Sergeant said as long as it isn’t a bribe, we will happily accept your offer to buy dinner for everyone,” Anita announced as she handed me a take-way menu for the Chinese restaurant. I chuckled when I saw this. Once Simon and I had made our dinner orders, Anita locked the door and headed to the front, to phone through the dinner order.

About an hour later we heard the doors open, and the smell of Chinese food reached us very quickly. “Yum, dinner has arrived,” Simon said cheerfully, making Anita chuckle at his antics.

“No Chinese in Leeman, so they had to make do with Pizza,” Anita said to us as she gave us the bags containing our food and soft drinks, and she sat down with us which surprised us. “I am off duty now, so I asked to have my dinner with you guys,” Anita said with a smile, and that’s when I noticed that she wasn’t wearing her belt that contained her service revolver, cuffs and other items.

“So, what was it that caused you guys to go into fits of laughter earlier?” Anita asked us, as we began to eat.

“I’m not sure if we are permitted to say. Let’s just say it was something to do with a weekend and handcuffs,” Simon replied cautiously, and Anita immediately went bright red with embarrassment. Simon and I burst out laughing again, this time we stayed seated on the mattress on the floor, while using the bed as a table.

“I’m going to throttle that husband of mine when I see him later,” Anita eventually said, as we calmed down enough to continue eating.

“Anita, he is my cousin. You can’t blame him for telling us something like that. We promise that we won’t repeat it to anyone else,” Simon said to try and assure Anita, that it was all good.

“Just as well, we don’t have microphones in these cells, for the others to hear what is going on in here,” Anita said with a slight smile. Once we had finished dinner, Anita collected all the rubbish, and she said she would be back in 2 ½ hours to take us to the meeting location.

“How long will it take Vic and Rita to get the trimaran back home?” Simon asked me.

“A little more time than it took us to get to Dunedin for a rough guess, depending on the seas and winds. Actually, if they take the northern route, it may be a bit faster, so about two weeks. I estimate about 4000 kilometres from Port Vila to Darwin, and about 3000 kilometres from Darwin to home,” I replied.

“What about the southern route - how far is it going that way? Simon asked me.

“I think it would be about 3500 kilometres from Port Vila to Geelong, and about the same distance from Geelong to home, but they will be going against the southerly winds, so it would take them longer,” I said to Simon.

We just chatted and rested while we waited for the time to arrive to join Jasper on the Catamaran. We were glad when that time finally came when Anita, now in plain clothes, unlocked the doors and led us to the back of the station. We climbed into my vehicle, which had all our luggage, food and extras loaded in the back.

Anita handed me the keys and I entered the location of Sandy Cape into the navigator, before we slowly exited the police compound, and calmly headed north out of town, up Indian Ocean drive for 10 kilometres, before turning left onto Sandy Cape road. Simon looked back to see if anyone was following us, and he was pleased that there was no one there, as the navigator told us we had 7 kilometres to go. I slowed down a little since we were now on gravel, and we slowly made our way up the road, till we finally reached the Sandy Cape camping ground, where a police vehicle was already there.

Once we had parked next to them, I wound down my window, and heard Gramps telling the boys to stay in the vehicle. “Hi Gramps, how is everyone?” I asked through the window.

“We are all ok, and thanks for the pizza last night. The boys loved it,” Gramps replied with a smile, but I couldn’t help noticing that he was looking tired.

“Are you sure, Gramps? You are not looking very well,” I asked him seriously.

“Just a bit of indigestion. I think it was too much pizza last night,” Gramps joked, but I knew that it was much more serious than that. Anita picked up on my concerns right away, as I jumped out of my vehicle and started pulling everything out from the back.

Simon jumped out and started to help me, and once we were done I went straight to the front passenger door, where Gramps was sitting. “No arguments, Gramps. You are going to Jurien Medical Centre with Anita this very minute,” I said as I helped him out of the police vehicle and into the front passenger seat of my vehicle, while Anita said goodbye to Nathan, told him to be good, before getting into the driver’s seat. Once buckled in and the door was closed, Anita set off at speed back to Jurien Bay, while I reached for my mobile and called the medical centre, to let them know that Officer Anita Adamson, was on her way from Sandy Cape with a possible heart attack patient, and that they would be there in about 15 minutes.

As we watched them drive away, I could see that my brothers were getting upset, so I went to the rear passenger door and talked to my brothers, to try and calm them down. Just then my mobile rang. I handed it to Simon to answer.

“Hi, cousin. Are you nearly here? It is so dark, we can’t see anything out in the water,” Simon said, and he walked a little away from the car, so as to talk privately, to let Jasper know, that Anita was rushing Marcus back to Jurien Bay, with a possible heart attack.

Moments after Simon had ended the call we heard a distant splash, then the sound of a dinghy approaching. We saw Toby and Finn were on board, as they beached the dinghy near the vehicles, before grabbing their luggage. “Hey, Boss, Jasper has told us everything. We hope that it all turns out for you,” Toby said to me.

“We hope so too. The trimaran is fixed. Vic, Rita and the lads will be sailing her back for us, so they will be here in about two weeks,” I informed Toby and Finn, who had dropped their luggage into the back of the police vehicle, and started loading up the dingy with all the luggage and supplies.

“Anton, I think I will stay back, and keep an eye on Marcus for you. Try not to worry about him. He will be in good hands,” Isaac said to me.

“Ok, thank you, Isaac. That it great to know. Right, boys, climb on. We are heading for the catamaran,” I said to Nathan and my brothers. Once they, plus Simon and I, were on we started up the outboard motor and we headed out into the darkness, towards the yacht, which was a good 150 metres out.

Once we were on board, along with all the supplies and luggage, and the dinghy was secured, I helped Simon to raise the sail, while Jasper remained on the fly bridge. “How long to get to where we are going?” Simon asked, when we finally got to the fly bridge.

“About fifteen minutes. We are stopping at Fisherman’s Island, about 8 kilometres north west of us, which is 5 kilometres offshore - far enough to not be seen at night. Before dawn we will set sail again and we will get there in about 7 hours,” Jasper said to us.

“So, to our favourite place in the southern region of the island group then?” I asked Jasper.

“Yes, but this time we will be inside the reef, at Murray island near the middle of the reef. It has a little bay that is ideal for anchoring,” Jasper replied.

“It good to be back on this tu… yacht again,” I said to Jasper, and Simon chuckled as he heard me correct myself. Jasper just ignored me, so I headed downstairs, to get the boys settled into cabins.

Once I had my brothers settled into the twin crew cabin, and Nathan in the other twin cabin next door, I headed back upstairs to help Simon with the anchors, as we had arrived at our overnight location. When Jasper came downstairs, he sat in the saloon to wait for us to set the anchors, and to join him.

“So where are we staying?” I asked Jasper, already knowing that he had his belongings in the master crew cabin.

“It’s up to you guys. Although my stuff is in the crew cabin I’m moving to the forward guest cabin, so I can enjoy some space during our forced isolation. So, you guys can have the other two guest cabins, or, Anton, if you want to be closer to your brothers you can have my old cabin,” Jasper said to us.

“I think a guest cabin will be fine. The boys will be fine on their own down in the crew area,” I replied.

“Ok. Well, we are setting off at 0500 hours, so I will see you guys in the morning,” Jasper said to us before he went to say goodnight to Nathan.

The next morning, I jumped out of bed as soon as the alarm sounded. Having had a shower last night, I quickly changed and headed down to the galley for a cup of tea. “Good morning, Boss. How are you feeling today?” Simon said cheerfully, as he handed me a cup of tea, just as Jasper appeared. Simon handed him a cup of tea as well.

“Good morning, my pirate crew. How are we today?” Jasper said.

Surprisingly Simon and I answered in chorus, “Arrrh! Aye, aye, Captain,” and we all burst out laughing.

Once we had finished our morning cuppa, we headed upstairs to set sail for our main destination of the southern reefs and the Abrolhos Islands. Jasper asked me to take over at the helm, while he relaxed a little and spend some time with Nathan, which I was happy to do. Simon was happily in the galley preparing breakfast for the three boys.

Once Simon had finished with breakfast and cleaning up, he brought a cup of tea up to me, and he took the helm, while I went to the bathroom. Then I came back and sat down to enjoy my cuppa with a wonderful view of the ocean around us. Simon stayed at the helm for an hour, before he said he had to start preparations for lunch, so I took over at the helm, and convinced him to stay a little longer to keep me company.

When we approached the lower group of the Abrolhos Islands soon after we had finished lunch, Jasper came to take over at the helm, and we sailed along the eastern side of the reef, and then along the top, before turning south west towards Murray Island. Like the other islands in the region, it was a low coral and sand Island, with just low vegetation on it, and nothing else. As we approached the Island I could see what Jasper meant about the ideal anchorage bay near the north-east corner.

Once we had anchored in the bay, I helped Simon to stow away the mainsail and jib, before heading to the office to check on the current weather report. It was there that I saw a fax had been received. “Media reporter and editor arrested” was the headline. I sat down to read the story.

“A reporter and her editor responsible for the story concerning the crew of the Last Frontier, and a possible link to a South American drug cartel, were arrested at their offices in Sydney late yesterday by the Australian Federal Police. This is all that can be revealed at the moment, as the AFP have a court order in place for all media organisations within Australia to not publish in any form, anything more about their previous story”.

“A bit too late now,” I commented to myself with a frown.

“What is too late?” Jasper asked as he entered the office, and I handed him the fax, which I noted had been sent from Jurien Bay Police. Simon saw the senders stamp at the bottom of the page also, and moments later, the yachts sat phone rang. Jasper indicated for me to answer it since I was closer.

“Coral Coast Yacht Charters, Anton speaking,” I said as I hit the answer button.

“Hi, Anton. Did you guys receive the fax I sent a couple of hours ago?” Anita asked.

“Yes, we did thanks. We have just found it. I will pass you on to your hubby,” I replied and gave the phone to Jasper, before stepping out of the study.

I went downstairs to see Simon, who was finishing up cleaning up the galley. “Ready to do some snorkelling?” I asked my friend as I entered the galley area.

“You bet I am ready,” Simon said happily, and we headed to our cabins to get changed.

“Uncle Simon, can we go up to the Jacuzzi?” Nathan asked Simon in a pleading tone. I gave a soft chuckle.

“Let me ask your step father first. See what he has to say?” Simon replied, as he turned to head to the study.

“The answer is yes you can boys, and I will be up there shortly. Change into swimmers first, and put on sunscreen and a cap,” Jasper said from the study. Then we heard him continue to talk to his wife on the phone, while the boys disappeared downstairs to get changed.

I stepped into the study and wrote a quick note in front of Jasper. “Si and I going snorkelling” and Jasper smiled and nodded his head. Moments later, Simon and I were at the aft sports locker where we grabbed some snorkelling gear and walked down the steps to the water’s edge. We were soon in the clear warm waters. After nearly two hours of snorkelling, Simon and I returned to the yacht feeling very happy having seen a great amount of marine life.

“That is why I want to study marine science of some kind,” I said to Simon as we climbed back onto the yacht. “I have done some research into possible suitable vessels for doing private marine research, and Austal Shipping located down in Henderson, has a design that would suit my needs. Maybe you can join me in my future venture?” I said to Simon.

“I think we need to graduate first, and we got a lot of catching up to do. So, tell me about this vessel?” Simon replied with a smile.

“Well it is a Austal Express 57 catamaran, motor vessel, 57 metres long, 12.5 metres wide, with a draft of 2.3 metres, which is about the same as this tub. It has 4 twin bunk cabins for crew, and 10 twin bunk cabins for guests, plus seating for 90,” I said to Simon.

“Wow, that sounds pretty good! Tell me more,” Simon responded.