At Sea - 9. AS Chapter 9

As soon as I said that Amanda set off downstairs to check on everything in the galley, Uncle Jay appeared and looked at the radar, before he too raced off downstairs, to instruct Sam and Marcus on what to do when that order is given.

For the next four hours we were tossed around, but not quite as much as the previous boat, Amanda appeared every hour to give me a fresh supply of tea, and some snacks, and as the weather started to abate, Uncle Jay appeared, looking very wet and cold, as one of the dinghies had come unfastened from its locking straps.

“We are approaching Arthur River now, Skipper” I said to him, as Aunty Jacq appeared with a hot cup of tea and a towel for Uncle Jay to dry off and warm up, “Very good Nav, take her in and moor at the main jetty, our arrival is expected” Uncle Jay said before heading to his cabin to change.

“All hands prepare for jetty mooring” I said on the intercom, and I saw Uncle Jay step out onto the bridge deck balcony to watch Amanda and the lads preparing the mooring ropes ready to secure the boat to the jetty. What was great about this new boat is that it has external cameras, so from the bridge I can monitor what is happening on the main deck, and most general areas of the boat.

With the boat moored, I looked at the clock, which read 1.12pm, I shut off the engines, and logged the time of mooring on the boat log book. Heading downstairs, I found that Amanda had prepared lunch for us, and it was now on the table for us to eat, as the others joined me in the dining mess and sat down.

Sometime later, as we neared the end of eating, Uncle Jay cleared his throat to speak, “I just wanted to say that for the maiden journey of our new boat, I am very pleased with all of the effort amongst the crew to get to this point, even with the very rough weather that we had to deal with, well done to all of you” he said to everyone.

“I agree with what the skipper has said, I just want to say that the two new deckhands did very well during the rough weather, so well done both of you” Aunty Jacq said with a smile, “Guys I have special duties for you both when we set off upstream tomorrow” I said to Marcus and Sam, which caught Aunty Jacq and Uncle jay by surprise, as I hadn’t mentioned this to them earlier, even though I had been thinking about it a lot during the day.

“Since we are aiming to be a charter boat, we need to start acting like it, so I would like Amanda to show you chaps everything that needs to be done in the way of hospitality” I said to the crew, “Yep no problems there Nav, I can whip them into shape” Amanda said with a big cheeky grin, and the skipper gave a little chuckle as he stood up and headed up to the Bridge, with Aunty Jacq and I following, leaving Amanda to get the lads to do the table clean up and washing up.

When I reached the bridge deck, Uncle Jay and Aunty Jacq where standing there waiting for me, “I am very proud of you nephew, taking that intuitive is showing your aunty and I that you are prepared to take on more responsibility, keep up the good work” Uncle Jay said.

I nodded and gave a small smile, “Now that you have the crew busy for the next few hours, how about we sit down and plan what to do for the rest of the day and the rest of the weekend” Aunty Jacq said and we sat down to chat. About an hour later, we had made up a plan of what we will be doing, which included taking photos of the journey up the river, and we would also take one of the dinghy’s further upstream from the river junction.

Jay said that he had a hire vehicle waiting for us at the local post office, and he suggested that we go and have a bit of a drive around town and see what is around, and to look at a few more houses for sale.

As we headed down the stairs, I let Amanda know that we were going for a look around town, and that we would be back in a few hours, and from the jetty it was just a short trek to the post office. “Hello Mr and Mrs Henderson, it’s good to see you again, and this must be your nephew Carlton” the lady behind the counter said as we walked into the post office.

“Hello Mrs Molineux, yes this is Carlton did you manage to get that message to the general store for us?” Uncle Jay said in reply, “Yes I sure did, and you are the talk of the town, and from what I can see from here, that is a beautiful catamaran you have there” Mrs Molineux replied with a smile, as she handed over a set of keys.

“Thank-you Mrs M, we will see you again soon” Aunty Jay said as she received the keys and headed for the door, with Uncle Jay and I following, and I gave a small wave as I stepped outside. In the carpark was a SUV car, and Aunty Jacq hit the remote button for the car, which beeped and flashed its lights, as Aunty Jacq headed for the driver’s side door.

After a very short drive, we were parked outside the general store, and I stopped just outside to look at the noticeboard, where I had spotted a notice with a picture of the Trident on it. “Trident Marine Charter Co, owners: J.M, J.T & C.M Henderson. 56 metre Aluminium hulled catamaran, based out of Arthur River, West Tasmania. Available for Marine Research, Ship Wreck Diving and Fishing Charters with a crew of 4+.

There is guest cabin accommodation available for 28 guests. Two large research work rooms, large rear main deck work space, two inflatable dinghy’s & Scuba gears...” I was a bit surprised to see the notice on the board, especially the bit which says that I am part owner of the company.

“You better close your mouth, before you swallow a fly” Uncle Jay said bringing me out of a stunned daze, and Aunty Jacq just laughed as she entered the store, “Why hello there Henderson Family” a loud voice said from behind the counter in the front corner, where a large man stood.

“Hello Mr Kitson, it’s good to see you again” Aunty Jacq said to the man, “It’s Barry to you, and who is this young man?” he replied. “May I introduce our nephew, Carlton Henderson, he is studying at university, in Launceston, but he is also part of the team on our new venture” Uncle Jay said to the man, who held out his hand, and I shook it firmly.

“Jay, I have had a lot of enquiries about your charter company, some locals would like to all chip in and have a day out to check your boat out” Barry said to us, Uncle Jay looked at Aunty Jacq who smiled and nodded, “Well, I think we can do something better than that, we were planning a dummy run charter this weekend, so if you can gather up to 4 couples and 4 single people, we will give you a free overnight charter, as long as you can cover the food and drinks costs” Aunty Jacq said to Barry.

“Well that is very generous of you, I have a group that would jump at this chance” Barry said happily. “Good, all of you be at the jetty at 5pm today with overnight bag, and let’s say a special offer of $75 each for the trip, that covers dinner, breakfast, morning tea and drinks” Aunty Jacq said.

As they continued to chat a bit more, I grabbed my phone and called Amanda, “Hiya, just to let you know we are doing an overnight dummy run charter, with 12 locals coming as guests, so you will need to prepare dinner for 12 guests plus crew, we are about to do some shopping now” I said as soon as Amanda answered.

“Well that’s great, talk about very little notice, ok I can do this, I will hit the cooking books for ideas right away, and I will get the lads to make up the cabins for the guests, luckily I have just finished showing them that, in one of the cabins” Amanda said and she hung up.

Moments later she rang me back with a list of items needed to purchase at the shop, and I quickly jotted them down. Aunty Jacq left me and Uncle Jay to do the food shopping, as she headed off to another store for some other supplies, including alcohol.

After visiting four shops on the main street between us, we had the back of the car loaded to the max with boxes of supplies and other thing’s, and we drove back to the jetty where Amanda, Daniel and Marcus were waiting for us, to help with unloading all the supplies out of the car and transporting them to the galley and dining mess on med deck.

Aunty Jacq kept hold of one box and she whisked it off upstairs, as everyone else started to help Amanda to pack everything away in the galley fridges or pantry store. When this was done, I began to help Amanda with preparations for tonight’s dinner, while Sam and Marcus followed Jacq, to finish preparing all the guest cabins.

Nearly two hours later, the PA came to life, “All hands to Dining Room” Uncle Jay announced, Amanda had just finished putting all the roast vegetables into the oven, and I was in the process of washing up all the dirty pots and utensils, and we walked out of the galley just as Aunty Jacq walked into the dining room with a cardboard box.

“With a little bit of luck with shopping, and with the help of Amanda being a little sneaky, I have uniforms for all of you in your sizes” Aunty Jacq announced as she opened the box and pulled out large paper bags, with names on them, and she handed them out to everyone, including Uncle Jay and herself.

Inside my paper bag, I found two pairs of off-white trousers, and two collared sports shirts, that are royal blue in colour, with two wide strips of light blue, with a thin strip of red between them, on an angle from the right shoulder to the left hip, it was at that point that I realised that is exactly what Aunty Jacq was wearing, and she looked very smart in the new uniform.

“Everyone shower and change into the new uniforms, ready for our guests at 5pm” Uncle Jay announced and we all set off to our separate cabins, to do as commanded by the skipper, and twenty minutes later, we all reappeared dressed in our uniforms, and Aunty Jacq was holding a camera in her hand.

After a few photos were taken by Aunty Jacq and Uncle Jay in turn, Amanda and I headed to the galley to check on the dinner, while Aunty Jacq and the lads started to set the table for dinner. Ten minutes later Uncle Jay announced over the PA that the guests were arriving, and we all headed down to the main deck to welcome the guests.

The first to arrive was Barry and his wife Anne, followed by Mrs Molineux from the post office, and I discovered her first name is Pat, along with her husband Dave, the other guests are school teacher - Amos Parks and cabinet maker - Lennard Timms, another school teacher - Grace Ericson and her daughter Elizabeth, aged 10 and computer technician - Nick Turner and his son Shane, aged 14. When we had greeted all the guests, each crew member chose a pair of guests and led them to their cabins on the next deck up.

Allowing the guests to settle in, Sam, Marcus and I returned to the main deck to prepare for departure, as Uncle Jay headed up to the bridge and started up the engines, and slowly moved the boat away from the jetty and turned to head up steam. When we were going, and all the deck work was completed, we returned indoors and found the guests gathered in the entertainment lounge. “If you give me your drink orders, Marcus and Sam will get them for you so you can relax until dinner is ready” I announced to the guests and I got busy preparing the drinks.

Amanda let me know that the guest’s dinner would be ready at 6.30, with crew to be fed at 6pm, and I passed the information to the lads, as they took the drink orders to the lounge. At 6pm, Amanda plated up 6 dinners for the crew, and I took two of the plates up to the bridge for Uncle Jay and Aunty Jacq, and I returned to the galley to eat my meal with the rest of the crew.

When we had finished and cleaned up, and with the sun starting to set, I went to the entertainment lounge to announce that dinner was ready to the guests, who followed me to the dining room and they sat down at the main that had white table cloths and nice cutlery, the wine glasses were heavy duty plastic so as to avoid glass breakages, that may be dangerous.

Sam and Marcus did the dinner serving, while I concentrated on providing the drinks, wine for the adults and soft drinks for the children, and I announced that the movie “Hook”, starring Robin Williams would be played on the large screen in the lounge area after dinner for those interested. While the guests were eating, I noticed that the boat had come to a stop, and Aunty Jacq appeared and signalled for me to follow her, and as I suspected we headed down to the main deck to set the anchors for our overnight stop.

We then set out the two-fold out tables and some chairs on the main deck, in case some guests want to sit outside to enjoy the quietness of the outdoors. The two kids headed to the lounge area to watch the movie, while some of the adults made their way to the rear main deck area, and others found the way up to the forward deck area.