At Sea - 15. AS Chapter 15

During dinner, which was Christmas eve, we sat down to just a light meal, as we would be having a feast tomorrow, with turkey, pork and ham with lots of salads, and a Christmas pudding with ice-cream and rum custard for deserts. I was sure that we would be having plenty of left overs for the next few days afterwards.

“I was thinking that instead of exploring Macquarie Harbour, how would everyone feel if we travel further south to Port Davey, I hear there is some amazing spots further in, and there is a small village called Melaleuca that I would like to check out” Jay said to everyone, as we started our deserts.

That’s a far way down isn’t it Uncle Jay?” I asked him, “Yes, it is, its approximately 170 kilometres, which is about an 8 to 9 - hour journey depending on the weather” Jay replied, “Is there anywhere, we can stop overnight, so as to break up the journey a bit?” Jacq asked, “Yes, the Wanderer River, has a sheltered harbour that would protect us from any rough weather” Jay replied, “I am happy with that” I added, and so we agreed that we would spend Boxing day and the day after travelling down the south coast.

The next morning, I woke up at 6am, and I went for a walk around the catamaran on the main deck level, and after doing fifteen laps, I came back inside and had a quick shower and changed, before going to the bridge, where I pushed the horn button. Jay came staggering out in just boxer shorts, “What the hell was that for?” he asked me as he tried to wake up properly, “Good morning uncle, and merry Christmas” I said cheerfully.

“For doing that, you can go and fetch us all some tea, and start making breakfast, your jaffles would be nice” Uncle Jay said to me in an annoyed tone and he stumbled back to his cabin to get dressed. I headed down to the galley and started preparing some egg and bacon jaffles, with some capsicum and corn.

By the time Uncle Jay and aunty Jacq and Mum appeared, I had a pot of tea ready, and a plate of jaffles for everyone, and we all sat down to eat. I was quite happy today, as it was the first time in a few years that we had spent Christmas together as a family, and with me now having two degrees, and working on a third, plus a diploma, I had a bright future ahead of me.

When all of us had eaten and cleaned up, the family made our way to the lounge room and the Christmas tree. With everyone seated, I played Santa’s helper, and checked and delivered the presents to everyone, with a pile stacking up behind me that had my name on it, including an envelope with unfamiliar handwriting on it.

When it came to the big box, I carefully carried it over to Uncle Jay, “Its delicate so don’t shake it or tip it on its side” I said to him with a smile, and Jay looked a bit shocked that the biggest present was actually for him.

When he had unwrapped the wrapping paper and opened the box, peering inside carefully, his frown turned into a giant smile as he reached in and carefully pulled out the replica model boat, which had its sail laying carefully on the deck.

Jay placed the replica on the coffee table and he looked at it for a few moments, before he began to place the main mast in the upright position, once he had done this he sat back and looked at it, before he read the plaque on the stand.

“George Town. A 12-ton Cutter. From Launceston on a mutton-birding expedition to the Hunter Islands with a crew of two, beached in a leaking condition, fifteen miles south of the Pieman River, west coast Tasmania, 19 December 1874”, he said out loud, and he stood up and stepped back a bit to look at it some more.

“Nephew, this is the most wonderful present I have received for a long time, thank you very much” he said to me as he stepped towards me and gave me a big hug, noticing Aunty Jacq wiping away a tear quickly. I gave Mum a pearl necklace each, and Aunty Jacq a pearl bracelet, which they both thanked me for, then I was reminded to open my presents. I opened the envelope first, which contained a letter, and $500 cash, and I began to read out the letter out loud, for all to hear.

“Dear Nav, it was a privilege to meet you, and on behalf of my family, I just wanted to thank you for all that you did while we were on the Trident, I have enclosed a cash bonus for you, Amanda, Sam and Marcus also received similar amounts. Thanks again, regards H”, Mum looked at me puzzled, and I looked at Jay and Jacq.

“Didn’t you tell mum who our guests were for the last charter?” I asked them, “No dear, we thought you could have that honour” Jacq said, making Mum look even more confused, and I went and sat next to her, while Aunty Jacq went to get a photograph of Henrik and his family, standing in front of the Trident.

“Mum, our recent charter was for some VIP Guests, we had to keep it quiet, while they we on board, but now they have gone, we can release the information. Our guests were Mr and Mrs Donaldson, her daughter, son in law and grandchildren” I said to Mum, and I could see that Mum was thinking carefully of what I had just said and suddenly she realised who I meant.

“Holy cow, is this true, did you have the Danish royal family here?” Mum said out loud as she faced her brother in law, who smiled and nodded his head, just as Jacq appeared with the photo, which she gave to mum to look at. Jay turned to me, “A straight small whiskey for your mother please” he said to me, and I dashed over to the bar to pour the drink.

Mum drank it in one gulp and coughed a number of times before she was able to speak, “Wow, that it hit spot, now tell me all about this charter, I want to know how it went” Mum said and so for the rest of the afternoon, Jay, Jacq and I described to Mum everything that happened during the royal visit, with the rest of my presents forgotten.

Jacq went into the galley to start preparing to cook the ham, turkey and roast pork, and when she came back, I headed to the galley to start on the salads. Once we had finished briefing Mum on the charter, we all headed to the galley to continue preparing lunch, happily chatting as we did.

When Mum was talking she stopped suddenly and looked at me, “Son did you forget to do something earlier” she said to me and I thought about it for a few moments, and then it hit me, “Oh Bugga !!!” I said, as I turned and headed back to the lounge, returning a few minutes later with an arm full of unopened presents, and Mum, Jay and Jacq all laughed, making me blush deeply for having forgotten to open my presents.

I received an antique brass marine sextant in a wooden box, from Uncle Jay, an Omega Sea-master watch from Aunty Jacq and from Mum I received a long hand-made woollen scarf, that she knitted herself which I thought was fantastic, as I wrapped it around my neck. We ended up having a late afternoon lunch/early dinner, followed by watching a Christmas movie and we retired to our cabins early after cleaning up the galley.

The next morning, we set off on our next part of the journey down the west coast of Tasmania, taking an hour to clear the mouth of Macquarie Harbour, and after nearly five hours at sea, we arrived at our overnight stop, at the Wanderer River.

We set the anchors just to the side of the river mouth, at the back of the sheltered harbour, and with it being a warm evening, we decided to have a deck barbeque, and we had some nice music playing on the boats loud speakers, as we had a relaxing family evening together, making me feel very happy to spend some time with mum.

The winds picked up as we finished dinner, and cleaned up and relaxed in the formal lounge, before retiring to bed, although we were anchored in a sheltered bay, the storm that developed, still rocked the catamaran gently through the night, but by dawn the storm had cleared and it was quite calm.

After we had breakfast, we set off south once again, with an estimated time of arrival at the mouth of Port Davey by noon, and as the journey continued, a wind from the north provided a bit of a boost, and we arrived at our destination, half an hour ahead of our predicted time, as we entered the southern end of the port, heading for the south end of a long line of rocky islands.

As we passed south east of the rocks, we entered Watering Bay, and passed south of Turnbull Island, now heading roughly in an easterly direction, Jay was beside me at the helm, giving me directions as he had an idea where he wanted to go.

We passed another rocky island as passed through a very wide river, before widening out once more, with a number of different bays, one to the south, and other to the north and ahead was another narrowing river passage.

Jay suggested that he take over the helm, so I stepped back to allow him to do so, and he turned the Trident North, and looking the navigation screen, I could see we were heading into Joe Page Bay, where the water was dead calm, and we were surrounded by thick rainforest, as we continued north. Jacq arrived with a plate of Christmas leftovers sandwiches for lunch, and we ate those, as we chatted and continued our way north.

We entered into another smaller bay, which at the top Eastern end is the start of the Spring River, but instead of entering the river, we approached a sand bar, and Jay swung the catamaran around so it was facing the sand bar, and he stopped just short of it.

I headed down to the main deck, and with an anchor in hand I jumped onto the sand bank, and set the anchor at one end of the sandbar, before retrieving the second anchor and doing the same in the opposite direction, while Jacq threw an anchor from the front of the catamaran to keep it from swinging around.

Once all the anchors were in place, Jay shut off the engine, and I stood on the sandbar, and the silence of the area was amazing, as I dug my toes into the warm white sand, and looked at the thick rainforest and mountains around us. Mum appeared on deck and she stepped down onto the platform and then onto the sandbar, “This is so peaceful and beautiful, isn’t it Mum” I said to her, “That it is my son” she replied.

When I heard some clicking noises, I looked around and eventually spotted Jacq standing on the Bridge balcony taking photographs of the surrounds, and later I found out she took some of Mum and me together. Jay brought out the gazebo and chairs for us, and we sat down and enjoyed the surrounds, sometimes in silence, and occasionally we would chat a little.

For dinner, Jacq and Mum had prepared lasagne and salad, which was absolutely delicious, and I volunteered to do all the clean up afterwards, while they all relaxed in the theatre lounge watching a movie, before retiring to our cabins. I too hot and humid in my cabin, so I eventually grabbed a single mattress from one of the other crew cabins and dragged it out onto the Bridge deck balcony, were I soon fell asleep.

The sound of the boats horn made me jump with fright, and as I looked towards the bridge, I saw three smiling faces. I staggered to my feet, and I entered the bridge.

“Very funny uncle”, I said before I remembered that I did the same thing just a few days earlier, “Payback is a bitch isn’t it nephew” Jay said to me as I headed down the passage to retrieve my bedding and mattress, to return them back to where they came from.

As I sat down to a cooked breakfast, Jay looked at me with a smile, “Were you a bit lonely, is that why you slept on the balcony?’ he asked me, “Yes that, I miss Amanda, I wonder if she is going to be back for New Year’s Eve?” I replied, “I don’t know, I haven’t heard from her” Jay said to me.

“So where are we heading to today Uncle?” I asked, “We thought we would spend a whole day just relaxing here, then Jay wants to check out another spot, in the name of research for future charters” Jacq said with a smile.

“That sounds good, where will that be too?” I asked, “Well we will go further East into Bathurst Harbour, and turn south into Melaleuca Creek, which leads to Melaleuca Lagoon. There is a small village there, and a tiny airstrip, Amanda will be arriving on a flight there, in the late afternoon” Jay said, and I smiled when I heard that Amanda was coming back to the Trident.

As planned, we entered Bathurst Harbour mid-morning the next day, and Jacq was on the phone ordering supplies early in the morning, as I had the helm, as we entered Bathurst Harbour, where Uncle Jay took over, and turned south towards Melaleuca Creek, which narrowed dramatically, but it was enough for the Trident to continue, even with the depth also narrowing a lot, the further down we went.

When we entered Melaleuca Lagoon, we stopped in the middle of the lagoon and dropped the anchors at that point, as it was almost time for lunch. We had a relaxing barbeque lunch on the main deck, and enjoyed the scenery. After lunch, I was on the bridge looking at the navigation maps, to look at the area we are in when the Boat sat phone rang.

“MV Trident, Nav speaking” I said, hoping that it was Amanda to let me know she was on her way, but I was surprised to hear another familiar voice. “Good afternoon Nav, I hope you and the family are well”, he said to me, “Yes sir I am, and I hope your family all had an enjoyable Christmas break” I replied.

“Yes, thanks Nav, now tell me how would you like to host us again, this time just for two nights, for New Year’s Eve and Day?” the caller asked, “Yes sir that shouldn’t be a problem, but we are no - where near where we dropped you last, we are a lot further south, a chopper would be the quickest method to get here” I said as I noticed Jay appear at the top of the stairs.

“That’s fine Nav, just give me the coordinates and we will get there” the caller said, “Very well - sir, the coordinates are 43° 25' 14.3" S and 146° 09' 46.8" E, what will be your ETA tomorrow sir? I asked, “about mid- afternoon, oh and there will be my brother, his wife and their four children joining us, see you all then, Bye”.

As I hung up the phone, I looked at Jay, “You better get Mum a double whisky, we have company tomorrow, and we have got some work to do” I said to Jay with a smile. “How about we leave it till tomorrow after breakfast, then we can let Amanda know about it too” Jay suggested and I nodded my head understanding.

“There will be 6 extras, with his brother and family coming too, so that will be 8 kids and 6 VIP adults, plus 4 security staff” I added, “Did I hear, right? Do we have our VIP guests returning?” Jacq said, “Yes, and when we tell Mum tomorrow after breakfast, we will need to have a double whisky on standby” I said to my aunt.

“Yes, I think she will be in panic mode when we tell her” Jacq said with an evil grin on her face, “the two royal couples and Mr & Mrs Donaldson can have VIP Sites, while the children can share twin cabins, and the security staff can have their same single cabins” I suggested.

“That sounds fine nephew, we just have to break the news to Elizabeth now” Jacq said with a small frown.