Indian Ocean Invasion - 9. IOI Chapter 9

For the next two days, Mitchell and I did all the tourist things around the island, including teaching Mitchell how to scuba dive, which he really enjoyed. On the final day of Mitchell’s stay, we just did some snorkelling in the bay, checking out all the amazing sea creatures that call this island home, before having an early lunch.

Mitchell became quite upset, when it was time to say goodbye at the airport, and I gave him a big hug, and thanked him for spending time with his uncle, which made him smile. “Thank you for looking after me Uncle Lewis, apart from all that was happening on Christmas Island, I still had a good time” Mitchell said to me, before turning and heading through the gate to board his flight to Perth.

Once the plane had taken off, I went for a long walk along the beach, enjoying the tropical warm air and sunshine, and looking out towards the other islands in the group, before heading to the supermarket to get some snacks. “Excuse me, are you Lt Commander Shaw?” a lady who looked to me in her late 40’s with a good tan, and a Canadian accent asked me.

“I am he, but I do not know you?” I replied, “I am sorry, my name is Melinda Linderman, I am 1st mate and cook onboard the yacht Jericho” the lady replied. “How may I assist you Ms Linderman?” I asked, “well, my husband and I own the yacht, and our two crew have suddenly left to go back home, leaving us short of crew, and a three-day charter, starting tomorrow, and I was wondering if you may be able to assist us” the lady said to me.

“Well I have no plans, but I would like to see the yacht and meet your husband first, before I decide” I responded, “That is what I would expect, we are currently anchored just off the main jetty, to collect supplies, so if you can come by in say an hour, you can see the yacht and meet my husband then” the lady said.

I reluctantly agreed, and forgetting all about my shopping, I headed back to the motel. Once there, I went through my clothes, and selected what I would need for a three-day sailing trip, and with a small backpack, I placed the clothes in there, along with my mobile phone, wallet and I Pod, before catching a taxi to the main jetty, where I saw a Sunreef yacht anchored about 50 metres away from the jetty.

I was not sure what model it was, but it looked to be about 32 metres long and 13 metres wide, and after gazing at it for a few minutes, I noticed a small Rib boat heading towards the jetty. “Lt CommanderShaw, I am Peter Linderman, co-owner and skipper of the yacht Jericho” the man said to me as he arrived at the jetty. “Hello Mr Linderman, that looks like a good size yacht you have there” I replied as I climbed into the rib boat.

“Call me Peter, and yes she is great, a Sunreef 115 power yacht, with a fly deck and 3 other decks, containing a master cabin, 3 double guest and 1 twin guest cabins, along with the captain’s cabin and 4 single crew cabins, all with their own en-suite bathrooms” the owner said to me, “My name is Lewis Shaw, when not in the Navy, so please call me that, and I look forward to this trip, it has been a while since I have been yachting” I responded, as we set off.

I was pleasantly surprised at how roomy the yacht was, as I stepped onboard and was given a full tour of the yacht, starting with the fly bridge, which has a jacuzzi, lounge and dining area and bar. "Here we have the Captain’s cabin, on this upper deck, and apart from the bridge, there is also a gymnasium and an outside aft deck, upper saloon and two double guest cabins” Melinda said to me.

Next, we headed down to the main deck, “Here we have the main saloon, and formal dining area, then there is the 9-seat cinema, another double guest cabin, and in the centre is my domain, that being the galley, and forward of that is the master guest cabin, while to the aft is the casual lounge and dining area, and the sunbeds, plus a day bathroom.

On the lower deck, port side is the last double guest cabin, and forward of the stairs is two of the crew cabins, and the laundry. On the starboard side, there is the crew mess & galley plus the other two single crew cabins, the aft of the yacht contains two engine rooms, and between them is a sea craft garage, containing the large rib boat you just travelled in, a smaller two-man rib boat, two kayaks and two jet skis” Melinda said ending the tour.

This is quite an impressive yacht you have here, how long have you had her?” I asked, “about three years now, we had a Sunreef 75 before this, which had 1 VIP, 2 Queen and 2 Double guest cabins, plus the owner’s cabin and 1 twin bunk crew cabin, but the space for guests was a lot smaller in size” Melinda replied.

At that moment Peter arrived, and we all sat down in the saloon lounge, “Right, what we are asking from you is to be the main deckhand and steward, plus if you like you can have a go at piloting the yacht too, since you are fully qualified. I know it is a lot to ask, but we will have to multi task for this trip, you can have the lower deck double guest cabin as your quarters.

Usually I have 3 crew members minimum, plus us two, we lost one crew member last week, due to injury and he flew back home to France.The other two left because they had forgotten to renew their work visas, so they had to leave Australia quickly, I am hoping they will come back next week or soon, if they can get their visas sorted out” Peter said to me.

Some of the Navy wives are here on the island, while this conflict is happening over on Christmas Island, that's how we found out about you, were you over there, on Christmas Island?” Melinda asked me, “Yes, I was actually on holidays before it all started, and only managed to get away yesterday, catching a lift with a Navy submarine” I replied, “Oh goodness, that must have been terrible, when the invasion happened” Peter said.

“I was lucky, I was located in very remote accommodation, and I was able to hide before the invasion force arrived in my area, and with my survival training, I was able to last till I was shipped out yesterday” I explained, “We noticed some sort of parade happening on the ship this morning, are you allowed to tell us about that” Melinda asked, and I smiled, and wondered if I should just say no.

“It was an award ceremony, I was one of the recipients, nothing big” I replied casually as possible trying not to make a big fuss about it, and thankfully they didn’t push me for any more information. Just at that moment, a telephone rang from somewhere, and Peter dashed off to answer it. “This charter tomorrow, starts at 10am, we will moor at the jetty to collect the guests.

The primary guests are a married couple, Jim and Jane, that have a successful real estate company in Sydney, they are in their mid-40’s and have two grown children, one of them - Marc, who is 21, will be joining them. The other guests are friends of theirs, Chris and Tania, also from Sydney and around the same age, and relatives of Jane’s, Liam and Anita from Wellington, New Zealand, who are in their late 40-s” Melinda said to me.

“So, I presume the primary guests will have the master cabin on the main deck, the other two couples will have the two double cabins on the upper deck, and the single guest will have the last double cabin, on the main deck? I asked, “Yes, that is correct, and we don’t have to panic about lack of crew, we have just found three more crew, that will be joining us later this afternoon” Peter said as he re-entered the saloon.

“Thank goodness for that, that means you can concentrate on helping Peter on the bridge and on the deck, while the others can help with stewarding and galley hand” Melinda said. “They are two ladies – Penny and Janine, both from the UK, and Lachlan who is from Scotland, and they are all in their early twenties, we have just a casual uniform here, so no dress whites at all, Melinda will get you your uniform shortly, if you want to start getting use to your new surrounds” Peter said to me.

For the next two hours, I checked every single storage locker, and the sea craft garage, so I was familiar with where everything was, before heading up to the bridge. “All settled in now?” Peter asked me, “Yes thanks skipper, I think I know where everything is” I replied.

“Tell me, do you have any other qualifications apart from being in the Navy?” Melinda asked me, “Yes, well I am a qualified Scuba instructor, I am fluent in Japanese and Malay, I am a qualified paramedic, and helicopter pilot, plus two university degrees, plus a couple of other things that I am not at liberty to say” I replied.

“Oh wow, you are very well qualified, how many years have you been in the Navy for, and have you seen active service” Peter responded, “I joined just before my 18th birthday, so nearly 8 years now, and yes, I have done three tours in Afghanistan, of which I was wounded by an IED on the most recent tour, which I am still recovering from” I replied.

“Oh, we have a real Australian hero onboard, is that what the award presentation was for?” Melinda asked, “Yes, I was awarded the DSC - Distinguished Service Cross, but it was nothing, I was just doing my job, nothing special” I replied, “well it must have been something special, that is quite a high up award, congratulations, and thank you for your service for our country” Peter said, and he held out his hand to shake mine.

There was a period of silence for a while, as we all gazed out the front windscreen of the bridge, “Looks like we might get a thunderstorm tonight, while I am making sure everything is secure, how about you going to collect the rest of our crew, then we can get them settled in for the night, before the guests arrive tomorrow” Peter said to me. “We will put the girls on the starboard side, and the Scotsman on the port side” Melinda added, and I nodded my head in understanding, and set off to get the Rib boat ready.

When I arrived at the jetty, the new crew were already there waiting to be collected, “Good afternoon, I am Lewis, load up your gear, and let’s get going before this approaching storm arrives” I said to them, and they quickly carried their luggage down and climbed onboard, and less than five minutes later we were at the yacht, and the new crew climbed onboard.

Once the rib boat was empty again, I opened the garage door and loaded the rib boat back inside, and closed the door, meanwhile Peter was talking to the new crew, “I am Peter and this is my wife Melinda, we are the owners of this yacht, I am the skipper, and Melinda is the chef, young Lewis who brought you here, is the Bosun, so what he says you obey, do you understand? Peter said to the new crew.

“Right, Penny and Janine, you are on the starboard side single crew cabins, Lachlan, you are in the port side single crew cabin, before the laundry, on the forward set of stairs, get settled and meet back here in the main deck saloon in twenty minutes” Melinda added, and the new crew headed off to find their cabins. Once they had disappeared, Peter signalled for me to take a seat.

“Right, now an itinerary of our charter, once we have all the guests onboard, we will head 6 km’s north to Horsburgh Island, which will take about 30 minutes, where we will have a beach picnic lunch on the north side of the island, and give the guests time to explore the island, before we set off 4 km’s to the south East to Direction Island, where we will anchor for the night. We will give the guests the rest of the afternoon to explore the island, and we will have dinner onboard the yacht.

In the morning, after breakfast, we will set off 27 km’s north-north west, to Pulu Keeling Island, this trip will take 2 hours, the island is all National Park, and we will anchor in the tiny bay on the south east corner, which is the best sheltered spot for anchoring, where the guests can spend the rest of the day either exploring the island, soaking up the sun and having fun with the kayaks and jet skis.

On the last morning, we will set off on a south east course around the Cocos Keeling Islands, with a stop at South Island for lunch, and a swim, before arriving back here mid-afternoon” Peter announced, “That sounds perfect to me, I better go and study the navigation maps, so I know where you are talking about” I said with a big grin, and I headed up to the bridge.

When I came back down, to the main saloon, Melinda was handing out duties to the rest of the crew, “… and Lewis will show you Lachlan, what needs to be done outside, which is mainly covering all the outdoor furniture before the storm arrives, and make sure the jacuzzi is ready for use for tomorrow, the rest will have to wait till the morning, once the storm has passed” Melinda said, and I nodded my head and headed outside with Lachlan following.

“So, what part of Scotland to you come from?” I asked the deckhand, “the far north, on a farm, just out of Stromness, on the Orkney Isles” Lachlan replied, “Ok, I haven’t heard of it, I will have to look that up, to see where it is” I commented, as we started covering the outdoor furniture on the Fly bridge.

Once we had done the outdoor furniture on the main deck, I showed Lachlan the garage for all the water craft, and the two store rooms where the outdoor cleaning supplies are kept. “Did you check out the crew mess and laundry on the lower deck” I asked the deckhand, “Eye, and the other empty crew cabin in front of the laundry, where is your cabin?” Lachlan replied.

“I have the small guest cabin on the lower deck, behind your cabin, not just because I am the bosun onboard, I am actually an Australian Naval Officer, on medical leave at the moment” I explained, “Oh, so what rank do you have, and how come you are on medical leave?” Lachlan asked me. “I am a Lt Commander, and I was injured by an IED on my last tour of Afghanistan” I replied.

“Wow, now that I did not expect, sorry to hear that you got injured, so do you have any medals?” Lachlan asked, “Yes two, the main one is the DSC – Distinguished Service Cross” I replied, “Holy hell, that is one of the high-grade medals, so you are a Naval hero, to get that medal” the deckhand said, “No, I was just doing my job, in a difficult situation, and my superiors thought that I deserved it, that’s all” I replied.