From
the Crew 18/03/06 Marina Kouzmin From
the Crew 18/03/06 Marina Kouzmin
The first two weeks are over and all is going very well.
The boys are learning so much about Scuba diving and sailing and I am learning alot from them.
I am one of the people spending the most time with them and we have had some little adventures both on and off the boat.
One of my favourite days was when we spent a morning at Middle Percy Island.
I took the boys for a dive after breakfast, they had some 'out of air'
emergency scenarios to practice, and then we went onto the island. We
thought we would walk to the Homestead and that it would be a short trip but
the whole walk was a good few hours and lots of fun. We walked through dry
bushland, rainforest and along clifftops. The boys showed me the tracks of
kangaroos, cattle and goats, lots of lizards and where the best places were
to get fresh water. We stopped at a cliff top memorial to Andy Martin, a
very respected former inhabitant of Middle Percy, and then we arrived at the
Homestead where we met Nick and Lauren and their friend Cassy. They offered
us a cup of tea and we had a good chat.
After that we had to get back to the boat, we thought we would be late, so we were running downhill and through the bush. We then had to cut through some mangroves, the tide was out so we had nice soft mud to walk over. The boys thought it was hilarious that I could run downhills and walk through mud. I told them I wasn't too old just yet! We got to the beach and it turned out we still had half and hour before sailing time, so Pedar and Frank cut down two coconuts and we drank the milk and eat the jelly. Beautiful !
As for the diving, I have been able to dive on some pretty remote parts of
the GBR and I have learn a lot from the Marine Biologists about the
condition of the corals with respect to coral bleaching.
The boys have come a long way in the two weeks and I am proud to say they are one final exam and two dives away from completing their Open Water Scuba Diving License.
The sailing has been fantastic, so have the people and the food, ta Jayney!
So far, so very good.
Marina