Frontier - 5. FR Chapter 5

“You and I, Anton, will be doing five hour shifts at the helm, and Simon will do a two-hour shift. Once we are over the continental shelf, we will change course, and head for the middle of Dorre Island, on the eastern side,” Jasper announced.

I could see that Simon was about to ask where that is, so I beat him to it.

“Shark Bay. Excellent! This is going to be so awesome,” I said with a big smile, and Simon gave me a slight side bump with his shoulder. I just laughed.

“How long will it take us to get there, Jasper?” Simon asked as he gave me another bump, this time a bit harder.

“I checked the charts last night before I went to bed, and I would say 24 hours approximately, if we get good winds. That’s why we will be doing shifts at the helm,” Jasper replied.

“That sounds fine. What time are we leaving?” I asked.

“I thought at about 7pm, so we leave with no one watching, just in case someone has spotted us by air or sea during our stop here today,” Jasper announced.

“That sounds fine. Can I take the first shift from 7 till midnight?” I asked.

“Yep, and I will do midnight till 5, and Simon can do 5 to 7am. That gives you a good seven hours to catch up on sleep, Anton, before you start again at 7am and go through till midday. I will take the final shift to Dorre Island. Is that ok with you Simon?” Jasper asked his cousin.

“Yes, I think so. As long as it doesn’t get too rough out there,” Simon replied.

“It will be fine. I have checked the weather report, and it will be clear skies and smooth seas for the next three days,” Jasper said happily.

Once we had breakfast, and cleaned up, Jasper went up to the Jacuzzi, to soak and read a book, while Simon and I went for a walk on the island, returning in the late morning, to collect our snorkelling gear. We went off snorkelling for an hour, before returning for some lunch.

“You know I could get use to this sort of lifestyle,” Jasper said with a smile, as he finished the last of his lunch, leaned back and burped loudly, which made Simon and I laugh. “Did you guys bring any knives or weapons onto the yacht at any point of time?” Jasper asked us seriously.

“No, I just have my diving knife that I carry when I’m snorkelling, in case of sharks. That’s it,” I replied.

“Same with me. Just a diving knife for protection,” Simon responded.

“Ok, I just need to know that’s all. I have my service revolver and police ID with me locked away in the safe. Anton, I know that you know the combination. I ask you not to touch them please,” Jasper said to me and I nodded my head in understanding.

We decided to just relax in the saloon, and watch a movie, but Jasper would get up and go onto the fly bridge every now and then to do a search of the area with the binoculars.

At one point, he saw a small aircraft circling the northern islands of the Abrolhos Island group, but it never came southwards towards us, so we hoped that with us staying well to the south, we had managed to fool them. Jasper grabbed the sat phone and went out onto the deck to make a call to the police station at Geraldton, to report the plane, that had been circling the islands, before returning to the mainland.

About an hour later, the Sat phone rang, and Jasper answered it. Once he had finished the call, he informed us, that the two men who chartered the plane, had used false ID information. They had slipped past the police in Geraldton. The charter pilot had given a description of the two men, with one of them fitting my father’s description.

Ten minutes later the phone rang again, and Jasper jumped up to answer it.

“Hello, Isaac. How are you doing? Somehow Anton’s dad knew that we were heading, as a plane charted by him was circling around over an hour ago. The police at Geraldton missed catching up with them. I think we should keep our location just between you and me and the boys from now on, as there may be a leak in the service somewhere. I didn’t say anything to my colleagues about where I was going after here. I left it to them to presume that we would be hanging around here for two weeks,” Jasper said.

Jasper wandered out onto the aft deck for the rest of the conversation, and when the call had ended, Jasper filled us in on why Isaac had called. He had found my grandfather, alive and well, living in a nursing home, for people with dementia. Jasper informed us that Isaac had spoken to the nursing staff at the home, after he had sent photos and some information about Marcus Harrington, and the nursing home responded, when they realised that one of their patients was the man Isaac was looking for.

I felt relieved that my grandfather was alive, and I wanted to know more, but Jasper assured me that he was being well looked after, and that in a few days’ time, Isaac would be going to visit his old friend, and finding out some more about what had happened to him.

“I was thinking, because my ex father has been anticipating where we are going, do you think we should do something totally unexpected?” I said to Jasper.

He dashed into the study, and returned with the chart for the upper half of the Indian Ocean in his hand, and he placed it on the kitchen bench, in front of us.

“I like your thinking, and considering that we don’t have passports with us, what do you suggest?” Jasper said. I already had the place in mind. I just had to locate it on the charts, and I pointed to the location I had in mind, when I saw it on the charts.

Jasper smiled and nodded his head, when he saw where I pointed, as Simon leaned forward to try and work out where I had suggested.

“How long?” I asked Jasper, who got to work to estimate the distance.

“Approximately 1400 nautical miles. About five days at the most,” Jasper said.

“He won’t expect us going into the open ocean. I suggest we leave straight after sunset,” I added.

“Oh, wow! Cocos Islands! That’s a long way out,” Simon said as he finally worked out our long-distance destination.

Simon prepared us an early dinner, which we ate at the dining table on the aft deck, as we watch the sun setting.

“I suggest you go due west for 60 nautical miles, then head for our destination from there,” Jasper said, as he headed to his cabin to get some sleep.

Simon went to raise the anchors, while I headed to the fly bridge, where I started the engines, and backed away from the island. I turned south for ten minutes to clear the reefs, before heading west.

While Simon kept busy tidying up the galley and dining room, I steered the yacht away from the mainland, and settled down to the start of a long five-day journey. As I lay down on my bed, at the end of my first shift at the helm, I began to think about what had happened over the past week, as I drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up just over 6 hours later, I could feel the catamaran going up and down a lot, and after a quick shower, and dressing, I headed out to the saloon. I made myself some breakfast, including a cup of tea, which I took with me as I headed upstairs to the fly bridge, to take over at the helm.

“Good morning, sailor. How are you today?” I said cheerfully, as I approached. Simon smiled and stepped to one side to let me take over. He snatched the cup out of my hand and took a long drink.

“Good morning, and thanks for the cuppa. Just what I needed,” Simon said to me with a huge grin, as he headed off down stairs. I looked at the compass, and the navigation display, before looking around the area, noticing the rather rough seas. A few minutes later, Simon reappeared with another cup of tea, and a small plate of toast with vegemite, which he handed to me.

“Can you please get me a weather report? I want to see what is ahead of us,” I asked Simon, who nodded his head and went down stairs.

About fifteen minutes later, Simon returned with two printouts, which he handed to me, while collecting the empty plate and cup and returned down stairs. I studied the printouts for a few minutes, glancing ahead every now and then, before placing the printouts in the drawer, just as Simon returned.

“So how did you like your first shift at the helm?” I asked Simon.

“Not too bad, mate. Just a little hard to handle things, when the seas started to pick up, soon after I had taken over from Jasper,” Simon replied, as he sat down. We chatted for about an hour, before he headed back down stairs.

I was enjoying the late morning weather, as we continued north. The temperature was warming up, and I was enjoying my time at the helm. When I heard Jasper’s voice it sounded like he was talking to Simon, but as he appeared I saw that he had the sat phone with him. He handed the phone over to me with a smile, as he took over at the helm, so I could concentrate on the caller.

“Hello,” I said unsure who was on the other end of the line.

“Hello, Grandson. It is good to hear your voice again.”

Luckily, I was very close to a lounge chair and sat down heavily, as tears filled my eyes.

“Hello, Gramps. It’s great to hear you too,” I eventually replied. Gramps asked me what had been happening since we last saw each other, and I painfully recalled the difficult time I had after Mum and Gramps disappeared.

Gramps explained to me, that he had a huge argument with my father, and all he could remember was that he had banged his head badly, and lost his memory, and that for the past nine years he had been living in a nursing home, for people with dementia. But as soon as Isaac walked into the living room, his memory instantly came back, and they chatted for hours, and all the following day. Gramps informed me that after a thorough examination from the nursing home doctor, he had been released, and he was currently at Isaac’s property.

By the end of the call, I had run out of tears, having cried through most of the conversation. I was so happy and also exhausted from all of the emotions that I was feeling. When I looked up towards Jasper, he smiled, and suggested that I go and wash my face, before getting both of us a cup of tea. When I returned to the Fly bridge, Jasper and I chatted for the next couple of hours, till Simon arrived with some lunch for all of us.

As we ate, Simon and I chatted about what would happen when we got to our destination. I said that I had no idea. That it was up to Gramps and Isaac to decide.

“You know, boys, I have really enjoyed this sailing trip. I didn’t realise how much I missed it until now, and over the past few days I have come to a decision, that I need to discuss with Uncle Isaac and Marcus first, before I let you know the details,” Jasper said to us, which got Simon and I wondering what he was planning.

After lunch, I returned to the helm, to give Jasper a short break, before he took over for his shorter shift, and when he did, I went down stairs to the study to check the weather report.

As I sat in the study, I looked around and staring at the right-hand side wall, I frowned before standing and walking next door to my cabin. I looked at the adjoining wall to the study and smiled. I decided to take a short nap while I was in my cabin, and I soon fell asleep. Waking up a few hours later, feeling the yacht pitching badly, I quickly made my way through the saloon and up to the fly bridge, where I saw Jasper holding tight to the wheel.

“Where did this come from? When I checked the weather report, it looked fine,” I said to Jasper, as I approached him. I glanced at the navigation display.

“I’m a bit surprised too, but we are coping ok so far, so we just have to bear with it, and see how things are when the seas calm down,” Jasper replied to me with a smile.

About an hour later the seas calmed a little, just in time for Simon’s shift at the helm, and I stayed on the fly bridge, to keep Simon company, and give him any help if he needed it.

For the next few days, we battered through a variety of seas, some of it near calm, and some of it very rough. On day five, soon after dawn, when we had our destination in view, we were all very relieved, and over the next few hours, we all remained on the fly bridge, watching the islands get closer.

When we were in line with the southern-most point of the islands, on the eastern side, Jasper turned the marine radio on, and switched it to channel 20.

“Catamaran Frontier to Cocos Island Police, over,” Jasper said.

“Cocos Police to Catamaran Frontier, what is your present location, over?” came a reply almost straight away.

“Due east of the southern tip of South Island, over,” Jasper responded.

“Very well. Make your way to Direction Island vessel anchorage, and remain on board, until you have been cleared through customs and quarantine, Cocos Police Out,” the police officer announced, and Jasper put the radio mic back in its place.

Over twenty minutes later we came around the top end of Direction Island, and approached the anchorage, where we found another catamaran yacht of the same make, but much larger already anchored there. As we approached, we could see that it was a different model from our yacht.

“I would say it is a Blue Coast 160 Trimaran, 48 metres long. I have been on board one before. It is an incredible yacht, and there only a few of them made. It has a main bridge on the main deck, as well as the fly bridge, on the central lower deck. There is an aft master cabin, two double guest cabins, a queen guest cabin and a twin guest cabin, all accessed from the central stairs,” Jasper said to us.

“Stairs from the bridge/office, lead down to the main galley, dry & cold stores and freezers, crew mess, and also to the forward crew cabins, a double, twin and single. Behind the Master cabin, there is a fold out swim deck, that is also a storage area, big enough to store a car and the main dinghy. Each of the two pontoons, also has two double crew cabins in it, with the pontoons, retractable for narrow spaces. Forward of the double crew cabin is another storage area, for the smaller dinghy,” Jasper added to let us know all about the trimaran yacht.

As we neared the yacht, Jasper burst out laughing. I was confused why, until I looked at the rear of the other catamaran – “Last Frontier” - and I joined in with the laughter. Simon who was down in the galley looked up the stairs at us, and I pointed to the other yacht, and he understood, smiling as he turned and returned to the galley. Not long after we had dropped anchor, about fifty metres from the other yacht, an AFP - Australian Federal Police launch arrived, and two officers boarded our yacht.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. May I have some ID from all of you, plus the yacht’s registration papers?” the first federal police officer said, with a big grin on his face, as Jasper and I arrived from the fly bridge, and Simon came out from the galley. When the officer saw Jasper’s police ID, Jasper handed him an envelope, which the officer opened and read, before returning it to Jasper. He then looked at my former school ID, which was the only ID that I had with me.

“Mr Hamilton, I have some good news for you. Three days ago your father was arrested and charged, and he is currently in remand. So you need not worry about him for a long time. Your grandfather has arrived on the island. Gentlemen, you are cleared to step onto the Cocos Keeling Islands. Welcome and enjoy your stay,” the officer said with a smile and they stepped back onto their launch and left.

Shortly after the federal police launch had gone out of sight, Simon noticed a small boat approaching.

“Hey Anton, there is another launch approaching,” he shouted to me from the fly bridge.

“No need to shout. I am on the aft deck,” I responded.

“Sorry,” Simon said from the back of the fly bridge.

We watched as the launch grew closer, till we recognised Simon’s grandad on board, and another man standing next to him, which I knew to be my Gramps”.

After a long hug, I stepped back from the embrace with my grandfather.

“My word, how much you have grown since I last saw you,” Gramps said to me, with both of us having tears in our eyes.

“Come inside. I have some morning tea prepared for all of us,” Simon said from inside the saloon, as he placed a large tray on the coffee table, and we all sat down to chat.

About half an hour later there was the sound of a boat approaching, that caught everyone’s attention. We stepped out onto the aft deck to see a dinghy approaching, with a middle-aged couple on board. When they arrived at the swim deck, Gramps turned to me.

“Anton, this is Mr and Mrs Kenworth. They have invited all five of us over to their trimaran yacht for dinner tonight,” Gramps said with a smile, as the visitors stepped on board, and introductions were made to everyone. We all returned to the saloon, where Simon quickly brought out some more refreshments for everyone, before he began work in the galley preparing lunch. Seeing this, I invited the guests to stay for lunch, and they accepted. After a very enjoyable and delicious meal prepared by Simon, using fresh fish that he had caught the previous day, the guests thanked us for the hospitality, and they returned to their yacht.