photography

American lady on Deal Island

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That’s me. We use the VHF radio to communicate with local boaters. We provide weather information and sometimes they just want to check in with us. Then when they leave, they bid farewell. Yesterday, a group tried to hail me on the radio by calling, “American Lady on Deal Island, American Lady on Deal Island”. I must have been away from the radio because other boaters told me about it. Then I was referred to last night as the siren in Bass Strait because the majority of people on the radio are male. People come in lashed to their masts! I don’t get it. We’ve both been referred to as the crazy Americans on Deal Island. They’ve got that right.

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Since there isn’t a lot going on, we and all boaters, are big eavesdroppers. Boats hail one another, or us, on Channel 16 and then switch to another frequency to chat. Yesterday, we heard a boat we knew, arrange to offload fuel from a large ship (I guess the wind wasn’t in their favor and they ended up motoring more than planned). We get weather reports by radio when the internet isn’t working. We can hear boats check in with the volunteer Coast Guard service. They report their positions and ETA’s and are actually tracked. One radio man we enjoy listening to is at Tamar Coast Guard. Everyone in Bass Strait knows Brynn, the Welsh radio man. He broadcasts the weather four times a day and takes position reports and passes on messages. He is a legend, I think in his 80’s and a comfort to hear even when the weather news is bad.

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Yesterday we enjoyed a dinner at the BBQ down by the pier with good company. Boats are passing through on their way to a wooden boat festival in Hobart. There were beautiful boats and fun people. We’ ve exchanged contact information with many. The group yesterday included a former caretaker from the 1990’s. He never thought he would make it back here and delighted in the island and the many improvements in the compound and quarters. I wonder if we will ever get the chance to come back here.

Lightning Strikes

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Little Squally Cove and me

Weird communication zone, weather and spouse induced. Nice weather precludes the internet. Yesterday was fine and windy and we didn’t have internet all day. So, I enjoyed working in the garden, baking and a walk up Barn Hill.

Barn Hill with South Bluff in the background

Barn Hill is my favorite place of the week. It’s close to the house with tall cliffs and great views. Dragon's Tail Perhaps a man?

I explored the southeastern side with views over Dragon’s Tail.

And perhaps a man rock.

Today, there has been front after front rolling by with thunder, lightning and buckets of rain. Tim had just unplugged his computer when lightning struck the house and we saw a bright flash in the living room, where the phone, VHF, HF, internet, computers, fax, TV and copy machine live. The phone was out briefly but everything else seems to be in working order. Today, Tim is doing me a favor and won’t let me use the internet in an attempt to save my computer. In the meantime, he’s been surfing for hours.

There are two groups of kayakers hunkered down on the islands. Three are over on Erith Island who can’t go anywhere because of the weather and a lone kayaker is camped here, waiting to go to to Flinders Island. There is a strong headwind predicted for the next couple of days, 25-30 knots, so they will probably be here for the next few days. They arrived under their own power, 35 miles off the mainland, with another 35 miles to Flinders Island and then island hopping to the Tasmanian coast. In the meantime, the wind, rain and lightning keeps sweeping over the islands.

Yesterday, however, was fine. Fine is a legitimate term in Australia. It can be mainly fine, fine and windy, partly fine. I think it means clear or perhaps sunny. Two of the kayakers visited us yesterday and we were talking about brewing beer.An Australian company, Coopers , sells beer brewed in the bottle, which is not clarified. They use the slogan, “Cloudy but fine”. We wouldn’t get it in the states.

The garden started by the caretakers before us continues to produce. We’ve been eating carrots, beets, silverbeet, cabbage, lettuce, radishes, peas and beans. Tomatoes, cucumbers and corn are on their way. I only hope we do as well for the next caretakers.

Beans, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce Beetroot, sliverbeet, carrots, spring onions and tomatoes Corn is sprouting

Jack jumpers and spiders

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I think i stirred things up with cleaning and blogging. I cleaned the house and the next day awakened to several small, dead spiders in the house. Maybe they ran out of insects to eat or I destroyed their webs. I purposely left two spiders as sentries over the doorway to the sun room to keep the house clean of bugs. I took photos of the dead spiders in the morning and one I ran into at the lighthouse in the afternoon

Kitchen spider Sun room spider Watchful spider at the lighthouse

Then I blogged about vacuuming spiders. I got to put it to the test yesterday.

First, Tim was clearing a trail, while I painted the lighthouse stairs. I had the better of the jobs because once again the views were phenomenal. The wind was howling around the lighthouse and the tower was singing and groaning and the stairs were actually vibrating. What fun!

Another beautiful day at the lighthouse
Ruinsa at the lighthouse and Erith Island
Tim was working away on Squally Trail and was bit by not one, but two, jack jumper ants. I wrote about them earlier and have a link to a photo here. Yikes. At least he didn’t have an allergic reaction to it, which is fairly common. Then to make matters worse, he came home to shower and while he was in the shower, a huntsman spider

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was on the outside of the shower door. He couldn’t get out of the shower because if he slid the door, it would have run inside the shower and they are surprisingly fast. He called me to get rid of it. I was hysterical laughing because it is so incredibly huge. I got a litre container and the mouth wasn’t big enough. Then when I moved towards it, the spider started to go in the shower. I could hardly stand, I was laughing so hard. I resorted to extreme measures and got out the vacuum. The spider is about 3X the diameter of the hose but I got it running and managed to suck it into the vacuum. Then we plugged up the hose with a paper towel. How long until it dies in there? And is there a flap to keep it in? I hope so. It may turn out the dead ones are actually more dangerous but the huntsman are so big and ugly.
Plugged vacuum

Dinner aboard the Young Endeavor

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Young Endeavor in Garden Cove

We received a phone call in the afternoon from the Young Endeavor, anchored in Garden Cove. She is a 44 meter Naval Training Vessel, with a youth training program for kids aged 16-23. It focuses on personal development and growth sort of like Outward Bound and 10,000 kids have done it. This year they sailed with the Sydney Hobart racers as a support vessel. There is a crew of nine Royal Australian Navy personnel and 28 youths in training. A group came up to the lighthouse and then they invited us down for a tour of the boat. What a treat. The kids were a little green because they sailed here in 30 knot winds overnight and were happy to be on land, hugging trees? A cure for seasickness. They all climb the yard arms and have their first go at it in the dark so no one can really tell how high they are. By the end of the trip, they take over the ship for 24 hours and are observed by the Naval crew.

Aloft

The crew couldn’t have been nicer and more safety conscious. They met us on the beach with a dinghy and foul weather gear and lifejackets. There was a mildly dicey transfer to the ship from the bouncing dinghy up a ladder on the side. We had a grand tour and stayed for dinner! Very sweet. The wind picked up while we were aboard and we caught a ride back ashore. We landed in water up to our chests in the surf but luckily my glad bag kept my camera dry.

We hoped to watch them sail off today but for some reason they were delayed and our stomachs called us back home for lunch.

 

P1170123.JPG Naval Flag Dinghy returning to Young Endeavor
Then as I was finishing this entry and enjoying a cuppa, they came sailing through Murray Pass. Tim hailed them on the radio to say goodbye and I ran up Barn Hill to catch some photos. They poked around Erith a bit and headed on to Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria.
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Now we’re thinking of sailing on Tall Ships as our next adventure. Tim as mate and me as cook. We looked up a few in Maine and they all use wood fired stoves in the kitchen and are all looking for cooks. What does that tell you?