Tall Ship Adventures - 17. TSA Chapter 17

After a pause, the caller continued, “As far as we are aware, that has no guests onboard. Would Mr Jordan Sanderson consider providing accommodation for two couples and three personal staff, a total of 7 people for a period of two nights, please,” came the request over the Sat phone.

“One moment please and I will speak to my brother and the senior crew,” Tim said, and he pressed the mute button, before walking back to the table and sitting down. “Jordan, we have a special request from the office of the marina, apparently they have some VIP guests flying into Port Lincoln shortly, and they have expressed an interest in staying a night or two, but there is no executive accommodation available, so they thought of us,” Tim announced.

“Depends on how many, do you have any numbers?” and are they responsible adults, as I don’t want any idiots on board, especially for this weekend,” Jordan replied, “Yes, two couples and three personal staff, that is it. I get the feeling that they want to have some personal space away from the crowds, by the tone of the voice of the guy from the Marina office,” Tim replied.

“I suggest that if you allow this, the two VIP couples use the main deck suites, and the three private staff can use the forward crew cabins on the port side,” Beatrice suggested, and I saw her brother Carter nod in agreement. “If it is ok with your boss, that sounds fine, we will just have to get some more supplies and see if there are any special requests for food from the guests,” Carter added.

“Ok, as long as they are of good character, yes let's accept them, but at full five-star hotel prices, with extra, if they want us to go sailing anywhere,” Jordan replied. “I think that is a very good idea bro,” Tim stated. “OK Tim, let the Marina know that we have agreed to their request, but we would like to know their names and a bit of information about them before they board,” Jordan said to his brother.

“Hello, yes we will accept the guests for two days, a 5-star hotel rate, which is far cheaper than summer charter rates, and the owner requests some additional information about them please,” Tim said into the phone, as he stood up and headed to the helm again, where he retrieved a pad and pencil from the drawer.

“Yes, I got that, thank you for the recommendation, I will let my brother know that their plane is landing in one hour and that it is a 30-minute trip from there to the marina, goodbye,” we heard Tim say before he placed the Sat phone back into the drawer, and kept the pencil and pad with him as he sat down again.

“Well as you heard, we have guests arriving, and all I was given was the first names of the guests, which are four adults and three children, over the age of twelve. The first couple is Toby & Julia, and their two sons, Damon and Isaac,” Tim announced to us, and there was a loud groan from both Carter and Beatrice.

“Do you know who these folk are?” Jordan asked the skipper and chief steward, “Yes we sure do, let me guess, the other two adult guests are Oliver and Carolyn and their youngest son Jackson is joining them too,” Carter replied, and Tim was smiling as he nodded yes. “So, who are they?” I asked sounding a little frustrated.

“Let me take a jab at this, is it possible your Uncle, Aunt, and first cousins, plus your Dad, Mum and little brother?” Jordan asked. “Yes, the whole bloody gang has come to spring a surprise on us,” Beatrice said in a joking way, which had us all laughing. “That is nice to have an awesome sailing holiday with both families together,” Jordan commented, once everyone had calmed down a little.

“Actually, Yes. it is. Our relatives live in Dunedin, on the South Island, so we don’t see them that often. It’s been… three years since we last saw them,” Carter said. While Beatrice, Angela and I headed to shore to do some shopping, the others remained to clean up and prepare for our guest's arrival.

When we arrived back at the beach on Proper Bay Road, ready to be collected, after we were dropped off by the taxi van, we had quite a large amount of additional shopping with us, and it ended up taking three trips to get everyone and all the shopping back onboard.

After we had finished putting everything away, Jordan pulled me to one side, to speak in private. “Hey bud, I just wondered if you have been keeping track of the dates the last few days?’ Jordan asked me, “Yes, it is Friday the 25^th of January,” I replied. “OK, so what day do you recommence school for the year?” Jordan asked me, it’s early February, the 2^nd I think, why is that?” I answered.

“I think you need to start working out how you are getting home because we won’t be arriving in Perth in time for you to fly home, and I think you will find that the start date for school this year is January 28^th,” Jordan informed me.

“Oh shit, I better call home,” I said and I dashed down to my cabin to retrieve my mobile. Ten minutes later, I returned to the main deck, annoyed with myself that I had lost track of when I was to return to school, which was indeed on the 28^th, and Dad was now arranging for me to fly from Port Lincoln to Adelaide, with a short layover stop, then fly to Perth and onto Geraldton, where Dad would collect me, and I would be leaving on tomorrow afternoon before the fireworks display happens.

“You were right, it is on the 28^th that I return to school, and Dad has arranged for me to fly to Adelaide tomorrow at noon, and then onto Perth that afternoon,” I said to Jordan, “Don’t worry buddy, it won’t be long before we arrive at your home town, and we can do plenty of sailing on the weekends,” Jordan said to try and cheer me up.

When the rest of the crew learnt that I would be leaving the yacht the next day, they were a little sad about it, but we had very little time to worry about it with the arrival of our newest guests, with Jordan and Tim agreeing to charge them at a less all-inclusive 4-star hotel rate since they were relatives of the senior crew.

The two families would be staying for a total of 6 nights, as the school holidays in New Zealand are a little longer over there, so they would be travelling on the yacht to Western Australia, where they will depart the yacht at Fremantle, after a day visit to Rottnest Island.

The following day was a bit of a shock for me, leaving the yacht for the first time in nearly three weeks, I caught a taxi to the Port Lincoln airport and caught the regional flight over to Adelaide, and three hours after landing there, I was on a flight bound for Perth, due to arrive in the late afternoon, because of the time difference, and from there I was on the evening flight to Geraldton.

It was well after 10 pm when I finally arrived home after Dad collected me from Geraldton, and we drove down to Dongara, after a quick hello to my Mum and Brother, I had a shower and headed for bed, and before falling asleep I was thinking of the catamaran yacht Stingray, which I was missing been on very much.

When I woke the next morning, I noticed that there were several text messages from Jordan, and I clicked on the first one, “Sorry that you missed out on the spectacular fireworks display here in Port Lincoln, we are heading off from here today, and we will see you soon buddy, take care and have fun at school, lol. Jordan.”

I groaned when I read this, and before reading the rest I headed to the bathroom, as my bladder was about to burst, and as I stood up, I glanced at my bedside clock, which read 11.27 am. “Oh good you are finally awake, come into the kitchen and tell us all about your adventures,” Mum called out from the other end of the hallway, as I exited the bathroom.

I groaned again and decided that I better get dressed first, so I headed back to my bedroom and quickly put on some board shorts and a t-shirt, before heading for the kitchen, where Mum was busy pulling out fresh muffins from the oven and placing them on a cooking rack, before slapping Dad’s hand as he tried to grab one.

“Not yet dear, let them cook down a little first,” Mum said nicely but with a frown at Dad, who smiled and nodded that he understood, and sat back down to drink his cup of tea. Half an hour later and many muffins later, I had given a rough briefing on what I had been up to since boarding the yacht, and what I had learnt in the time that we sailed from Auckland to Port Lincoln, via Lord Howe Island, Port Macquarie, Tasmania and Geelong.

After a traditional Sunday roast lamb and veg for lunch, I was so full of food, that I had to lay down for a while to let my stomach recover from overeating Mum’s delicious cooking, and later on in the afternoon, I had to finish all of my packing, which Mum was kind enough to start for me.

Early the next morning, after a cooked breakfast, Dad and I headed to Geraldton, for Dad, the start of another working week, and for me, the start of a new school year, and the second class of the day and year, was English Literature. “ Hi, and welcome back class. I hope that you all had a very restful break.

Now before we start, I want to announce your first assignment, which will be on what you did during your summer holidays, it will consist of a three-minute presentation up front of the class, plus 1800 words of what you did during the summer holidays, to be completed within the next two weeks…” our English Lit teacher announced.

I quietly groaned at this announcement, as I wished I was back on board the yacht again, enjoying the sun on my back and sea air and the salt water spray, as the yacht silently sailed through the water.