More adventures on AMARA

The gang hiking up to Cook's Lookout on Lizard Island.  (AMARA in the background.)

AMARA and crew made it successfully to Lizard Island.  Upon arriving, they immediately went on a three hour hike up to Cook's Lookout. Captain Cook climbed up to this point in 1770 to assess the Great Barrier Reef and figure out his way through it.  I can't imagine having to navigate the Reef without the modern tools that we have today to wind around it.  However, it should be noted that Captain Cook did do some damage to his ship while getting around the reef.  His ship, the Endeavor, had to do repairs for seven weeks on the beach in Cooktown because of the damage.

The remains of Lizard Island after the devastating tropical cyclone, Ita. 

The category 4 Tropical Storm Ita, hit Queensland in early April of this year.  Lizard Island didn't fair so well after the cyclone.  Sue sent me this photo of the effects of the storm.

What happens when you stay ashore too long and the tide goes out.

This is always my worst fear–coming back to AMARA's tender only to find that the tide went out so far that it is beached.   No worries though, the crew of AMARA found some nearby poles and were able to create a slipway to get the tender back in the water.

Martin wrote me and said that while on the hike, they saw lizards as big as 4 feet long.  Some were guarding their nests and seemed to be more like Monitor lizards than iguanas.

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They also went on a dive and saw giant clams but also found that some parts of the Reef had coral sections that were completely dead.

David diving the Great Barrier Reef.

A night out to the local pub and participate in a trivia challenge.  

One of the fun things about David and Sue is that we played LOTS of trivia games while on AMARA last year.  It was no surprise that this group came in second in the challenge!  It looks like fun and makes me sad that I'm not with Martin to enjoy the good times on AMARA.

This is what happens when someone yells, "Cell coverage!"  Everything is dropped, cell phones come out, texts are sent, Facebook updates posted and Skype calls are made.  But just as fast as it comes, it fades away.  Then back to sailing AND fishing...

Double fisted Tunas.

Which means...

Mountains of sashimi.  Yum!

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AMARA is now headed to Flinders Island, about 80 miles northwest of Lizard Island.  Flinders Island is known for it's interesting Aboriginal petroglyphs.  

I'll post some photos as they come my way.

Cooktown and Lizard Island

“I had ambition not only to go farther than any one had 
been before, but as far as it was possible for man to go."   

—Captain James Cook

Martin sent me this quote found on the statue above from Captain Cook.  Martin sent me the quote and I really liked the message.  

Turns out that AMARA's satellite stopped working, so instead of heading to Lizard Island as planned, they had to change course and go to the closest anchor off shore.  That meant, Cooktown.  Cooktown is a small town in Far North Queensland and is named after Captain James Cook when he beached his ship, Endeavor, to do repairs on it.   

After working with the satellite company until 3 am, Martin was finally able to get the satellite up and running again.  AMARA is very dependent on the satellite as it sends weather updates regularly to Martin and David which is very important information to have when sailing.  That is why they had to get to the nearest island with internet access and get the thing fixed before they could move forward.

An impromtu picnic.

The crew and Martin finally left Cooktown yesterday and headed for Lizard Island.  

I talked to Martin today and he said he was relieved to get the satellite up and going and that they had finally made it to Lizard Island after a nights sail.  When I talked to him, they were all getting ready for a hike through the island.

After Lizard Island, AMARA and crew will make one more stop and then head for Indonesia.  Their visit to the beautiful Great Barrier Reef is coming to an end and soon they will be on to a new country that will have new customs and even more discovering and diving.  

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Before we get ahead of ourselves with Indonesia, while in Australia, Sue cooked up some Kangaroo for the gang to give it a try. (Glad I wasn't there for that one.)

Sue also made some beautiful fish pies that deserve mention (notice the little fishes).

And let's not forget Sue's delicious tuna steaks...

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While sailing, they had some friendly visitors, swimming off the bow of the boat.

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We are also happy to say that John and Tamrika haven't jumped ship and are still enjoying their time on AMARA.  Here are some great photos of them enjoying their time in Australia.

Riding in the tender with AMARA in the background.

Martin has really enjoyed John and Tamrika and is so glad that they are having this experience.  

There is always plenty to be done... and fixed when on a boat.  John and David.

Internet access has come to an end (sigh) and now Martin and I are on to talking on the satellite phone to get daily updates from each other.  The good thing is that I still have contact with Martin, the bad thing is that now it costs $$$, so our conversations are short and to the point.  Our conversations now are something like...  Martin: "We are doing great and I love you."  Me responding, "Things are moving along and I love you too, K' bye!"  That's about all we can get out before we have to hang up.  Although the internet is now a faint memory, the satellite is up and running so I can still zero in on where AMARA is and keep an eagle eye on them.  

Please check back in a few days when I get a few updates and maybe some more photos of their time at Lizard Island...

Visiting AMARA

The wonderful part of having a boat is having friends come out for a visit.  Martin and crew were lucky to have our friends form Utah, Stan and Connie, come out to Australia and stay on AMARA for a few weeks.  While visiting, Stan and Connie were able to do a few dives, help to provision the boat, get in some serious fishing and help sail AMARA.  They even got to celebrate Stan's birthday (which proved to be a success from the pictures below).

Party Central on AMARA

Celebrating Stan's Birthday.

John and Stan catch a Yellow Fin.

Provisioning the boat in Cairns.  5 shopping carts!

Saying farewell to Stan and Connie in Cooktown, Queensland.

Stan and Connie stayed for two weeks and had to leave AMARA in Cooktown where AMARA had to anchor to try and fix satellite issues.  Martin says it was wonderful to have them here and hopes that they had a wonderful visit.  Safe travels to them and we are so glad you were able to come out and see AMARA firsthand!

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More pictures to come.  It's been a busy two weeks for both Martin and crew, as well as, for me out here in Utah.  Lots going on and now trying to play catch up.

Stay tuned for more posts in the next few days!

The Sailing Continues

Sunset and sails.  A great combination.  (Photo Credit to Stan)

I've got my Google Earth eye on you!

Well, it looks like AMARA made it to Cairns and is safely docked in a marina.

By using our tool, "Where In the World" on the right side navigation bar (on the front of our blog), I was able to zoom in and pinpoint exactly where AMARA is in the marina.  I love that I can check up so closely on Martin.  In fact, I sent him an instant message this morning asking him why they didn't dock outside the marina?  This was just to let him know that I am watching!

This application really is so much fun.  Give it a try!

The yellow tack on the screen shows exactly what slip AMARA is tied up to in the marina.

Martin and crew will be in Cairns for a few days as they are waiting for engine parts to arrive.  This is where Lily and I were to meet up with the crew, but alas, it looks like it will be another week or two before we set foot on AMARA.

Meanwhile, Lily and I are enjoying the most beautiful spring here in Utah.

Lily enjoying springtime at our home in Utah.

I'll continue to keep you updated and do a few more screen shots along the way to let you AND Martin know that I got my eye on him.  {wink!}

—Kym

Adventures on the Great Barrier Reef

I have been out of town this past week and fell a little behind on my postings.

Let's see, where is AMARA?

Picking up more crew in the Whitsundays.  

Well, to say the least, AMARA and gang have been busy sailing off the coast of Australia.  After a few nights at sea, they arrived at Hamilton Island.  The moorings opposite Hamilton Island were a bit tricky since many of the "pick up" lines were tangled around the moorings because of the strong currents running up and down the pass.  In typical David style, instead of finding a mooring that wasn't tangled, he just jumped onto the actual mooring and untangled the lines himself.

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The beautiful spinnaker that I helped to design.  (Thank you very much!)

After a few days at Hamilton Island, AMARA took off again to pick up more crew and arrive at the Great Barrier Reef.  Martin sent me a wonderful email describing their arrival to the "Reef" that I thought that I would just share.  It reads:

"We are 30 miles out to sea and spent the night here on the Great Barrier Reef tucked in a little sheltered lagoon.  It was perfectly calm.  On the way here we had dolphins playing on the bow on two different occasions.  We also caught another yellow fin tuna, and everyone loves your beautiful spinnaker!  Last night, for dinner, we had a wonderful tuna sashimi as an appetizer, and tuna steaks with sweet potatoes and green beans for dinner.  Sue is up to her finest.

The day before yesterday, we stopped at an ancient historic site and saw cave paintings made by the Ngora people who were early aboriginal people who lived here on the coast about 9000 years ago.

We also lost another cushion off the fly bridge.

I can't believe it has been over 40 years since I have wanted to get to the Great Barrier Reef, and now I am finally here!  We are Scuba diving today and I will let you know how it goes.  Can't wait to get in the water.   We will also be testing out our new dive compressor to refill our scuba tanks.  No more trips to the dive shop!  Dave made a nice home for it mounted in the port engine compartment. 

We are anchored here with a 360˚ view of just the ocean and yet there are no waves or swells.  The wind is only at 5 knots.  One beautiful day!

I'm off to get wet."

A giant and colorful clam in clear waters.  Breathtaking!

This picture documents the first
 fish caught off the stern for this leg of the voyage.

When in Australia... eat Vegemite!  John's first try.
I can't tell from the photo whether or not it was a success.  

"Anchored on the Great Barrier Reef in the best
conditions you could ever dream of!" —Sue

Fish #2.  Spanish Mackerel.  Dinner!

Bat Fish in the Whitsundays.

The best part of this whole voyage is that Martin has been within cell coverage most of the time while they have been sailing.  It has been great because all I have to do is check to see if Martin is on Skype and 9 times out of 10 he is! It has been easy to stay current and talk with one another two to three times a day.  I love this little luxury.

Martin told me a great story today.  They stopped in Townsville just for two hours in order to try and get some parts for the engine.  Martin went ashore to try and get to the place that would have the parts that were needed for AMARA.  As he turned the corner at the marina, he ran into some LDS (Mormon) missionaries.  He stopped and talked to them and in the course of the conversation, he found out that where he was headed for boat parts was actually clear across the island.  In true Martin fashion, he asked one of the missionaries if he could borrow his bike (since they were about to give a lesson in a park close by) and then he took off on the bike to cross the island.  After retrieving the parts, he came back to join the missionaries in the park and helped to teach three college-aged kids about the church.  Martin quickly joined in on the discussion and spent another hour sharing his testimony about the church.  After the discussion, Martin headed back to the boat with his parts in hand.  Never a moment wasted when it comes to my husband.

While in Townsville, David and Sue were able to visit with David's sister, Megan, who lives there along with his dad (who lives with his sister).  Martin said it was a lovely afternoon in spite of them only being there for a few hours.

Tomorrow AMARA leaves for Cairns (pronounced Cannes) and Lizard Island.  They'll need to spend a few days in Cairns provisioning the boat and waiting on more parts.  I had planned to join AMARA and the crew in Cairns, but as luck would have it (which doesn't seem to be on my side), I had another event come up that requires me to stay for another week or so in the states.  Lily and I hope to join the crew before the end of May.  I would hate to miss David and Sue, and of course, I REALLY miss my husband!  Speaking of which, Martin reminded me today that currently AMARA has 3 couples on the boat that are helping to crew, meanwhile Martin remains the odd man out.  Man...This is killing me... and him!

More adventures to come.  Stay tuned!

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If you want to know where AMARA is at these days, you can click on the section titled, "Where In The World" on the righthand side of the front page and you can zero in right where AMARA is anchored or sailing at all hours of the day.  I am loving it!  

And they're off... FINALLY!

On Monday, AMARA was set to leave "Boat Works" (the marina where AMARA had been docked) in Brisbane and head to the Whitsunday Islands only to find that the generator wouldn't start.  

Everything was working fine right before they were to leave.  Following proper protocol, Martin went down to change the engine oil and turned off the engines before he proceeded with this routine procedure.  After changing the oil, he went to fire up the engines and found that the generator wouldn't start no matter how hard he and the crew tried to troubleshoot the problem.  This then turned into a long session of the men trying to figure out how to fix the generator.

The troubleshooting session begins...

The worst part of this whole scenario was that it was a holiday in Australia, so the crew had to sit around for a day to wait for the mechanics to come in to work the following day.  The next day went smoothly with the mechanics fixing the problem (and figuring out that when we had the generator repaired back in October in Fiji it was, in fact, not fixed—just patched.)  It was actually a blessing that it broke where it did so that they could have qualified mechanics come in and actually resolve the issue and fix the generator.

....And they're off!   Well, kind of...  AMARA set sail Tuesday evening, once the generator was fixed, and continued sailing the 700nm toward the Whitsunday Islands.

While pulling out of Boat Works, the straps to the tender got stuck in the cradle.  Here, John holds onto David while David grabs the straps.  Yep, this should solve the problem!

However, about 86nm's (about 100 miles) into their sail, they soon figured out that the water maker wasn't working. They hadn't turned on the water maker in the marina because there was too much sludge in the water and it would have just clogged up the filters.  So once they got out into the open ocean, they turned on the water maker only to find out that it wasn't working.  Now another problem that needed to be troubleshooted!  The solution?  Martin was going to need to hitchhike back to BoatWorks in Brisbane, pick up the part that was needed to fix the water maker and then hitchhike back.

David still trying to pull the straps out from under the tender while trusting Sue to hold on so he doesn't go overboard.

So, they had to pull AMARA into Tin Can Bay and anchor her while Martin began his trek back to Brisbane.

Martin called me on his way back and didn't seem to be the least bit bothered about the "planes, trains and automobiles" experience and was just glad that they were able to resolve the problem, get the part and fix the water maker.   Soon they were underway... again!

AMARA's Crew.  Sue, Tamrika, John, David and Martin.

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Today, AMARA motored up the Great Sandy Straights past Fraser Island (which is the largest sand island in the world).  While motoring, a dinghy came up behind them and gave them a bucket of prawns!  Now, their luck is finally looking up!

John and Tamrika showing the spoils from good neighbors on the water.

Bucket O' Shrimp

When in Australia, it's only appropriate to throw some "shrimp on the barbie" and as Sue said, "Show some yanks a real taste of Australia!"  I'm a little bit jealous... that sounds good right at the moment.

Tamrika enjoying the impromptu BBQ

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Today was also ANZAC day in Australia and New Zealand.  

ANZAC day is a national day of remembrance that commemorates all the Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all the wars.  It was originally about the troops who fought at Gallipoli during World War One.  

In 1915 allied tools set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula as part of Winston Churchill's campaign to open the way to the Black Sea and capture Constantinople troops.  They were met with fierce resistance in a 8 month battle that had no victory.  Unfortunately, 8,000 Australians died in the process.  At the this time, Australia had a population of fewer than 5 million people.  It was a huge loss to the newly formed country.  

In order to commemorate this day, throughout Australia and New Zealand, people gather at local war memorials and pay their respects at dawn.  On AMARA, the crew gathered on the top deck for their own commemoration.  They played the song, "The Last Post" which is a haunting trumpet solo played on this occasion, followed by a minute of silence to remember the sacrifice paid by all those who served and died.  Then they read the poem:

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn, 

At the going down do the sun, and in the morning,

We will remember them. 

LEST WE FORGET."

Following the service, the crew celebrated with tea and ANZAC cookies.  They are a kind of cookie that women made and sent in by tins to the troops during the war.  

David didn't get to join in on the festivity as he needed his sleep.  Sue says he will be attending the traditional "family service" usually held at 9 am.

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Well, I have already gotten a list of around 15 boat parts that I need to focus on now and track down and try and send back to AMARA with the next visiting crew member, so I need to call it a night for now and start working.  I'll keep you posted on the crew's progress as I continue to get updates.

I can't tell you how happy I am that they are FINALLY underway!  Let the adventure begin!

AMARA's 2014 Sailing Schedule

I had a chance yesterday to update AMARA's 2014 Sailing Schedule.   Take a moment and check out where AMARA plans to be sailing over the next year by clicking on "Our Route" at the top of the page.  I can't believe how much ground...err...ocean AMARA will be covering.  It will be so fun to visit all the countries and islands that we plan on seeing during this voyage.  After typing up the schedule, it seems like it will be forever before AMARA makes it to the Caribbean in December.  However, December will be here soon enough and there is so much to see in between.

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Since Lily and I aren't joining the crew just yet, Sue sent me some photos of how they are celebrating their Easter weekend in Brisbane.  The menu for Saturday night included fish pie and hot cross buns.  A perfect dinner to celebrate Easter.

The rest of the photos are of AMARA under construction.  Sue has been busy cleaning out cabinets and swapping out old cans of food with new cans of food.  Martin and David are busy swapping out the Eplex system (all the electrical units that keep AMARA moving forward).  Sue reports that it all seems to be going well.  From the pictures, it makes me secretly happy that I'm not there having to deal with the mess!

All 9 of the Eplex modules that had to be replaced.  
These do not come cheap, so let's hope we don't have to replace the new ones for a long time!

The headliners down...AGAIN! They had to be taken down so that the guys can get up into the ceiling to replace an Eplex module. 

Martin working on the now infamous Eplex System.

I love this picture of David with his head up in the ceiling.  This is a typical photo of him.
David is usually coming out of some hole or stuck in some nook or cranny in the boat fixing something.  

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I spoke to Martin this morning as he was on his way to church.  He reported that John and Tamrika arrived safely and have already gone in to check out Brisbane.  In fact, while they were walking around the city, they were lucky enough to see Kate Middleton and Prince William who are currently visiting Australia.  Can I tell you how jealous I am right now?

Martin says that they went to the grocery store last night and brought home 5 grocery carts "trolleys" worth of food.  I am now content knowing that Martin won't starve.  Since provisioning is done and the electrical system is now up and working, Martin says that they will be ready to pull up anchor on Monday and start the first leg of this journey.  I feel bad that I am not there for this part but Lily and I will be there soon enough.

Lot's of provisioning!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter weekend!  I am just settling down to watch The Ten Commandments... it never gets old.