Take a breath, don't panic, it will be OK .......

These signs are all over Far North Queensland!

OK, even though there are crocodile warning signs next to ANY small body of water and beach in Far North Queensland the title of this blog is not in relation to that danger.

It's in relation to the Louisiades Rally we're just about to depart on!

The past 9 days or so have been a whirlwind of activity.  Someone wrote one time, and I think it came from the Louisiades Rally enrolment form, that; "if you wake up one morning and find you've got nothing else to prepare or fix on your boat - then don't worry about it.  You're dead." 

We certainly felt like that when leaving Sydney to start on the coastal cruise.  It's even more pronounced when getting ready to leave for somewhere 4 days sail away, for a planned 30-35 day stay with no stores and no real help - at all - anywhere!  I've spent the past days provisioning which means cooking and freezing and buying and making lists.    The Captain has spent them tweaking and repairing and loading and, and, and.

The only absolutely wonderful stupendous time of the whole past 9 days was last weekend which we spent in Tim's house taking care of his dog while he went to Brisbane for the weekend.  I don't think I can explain in a few words just how special the 3 nights we spent there actually were!  First to be able to walk around a room - a number of rooms - and have SPACE!  Heaven.  And then to have a magnificent and beautiful Lab dog jump into bed to greet the morning with you while showering you with unconditional JOY at being alive.   Magnificent licks and tail wags and jumps on and off the bed! ... Loved it so so much.  I miss my Molly dog at home a lot.

The beach only a block or two from Tim's house - walking Callie in the evening.  Unfortunately just up the beach from where I took this picture is one of those crocodile signs where a dog was actually taken a while back!

So, back to 'Take a Breath and Don't Panic' .... the past two days we've been in 5 hour seminars regarding the trip run by the rally organisers.  The people running this month long cruise are executing well all aspects of this complicated trip - while doing everything in their power to make sure each and every individual boat/skipper understands that it is THEIR responsibility to take care of themselves, their crew and their boat.  Over these two days we've sat through one presentation after the other on how bad it can get out there in the Coral Sea.  Each day ends with story after story of boats that have been lost - run on to the reef, dis-masted, knocked down and generally blown to hell and back in 40 and 50 knot winds!  And every day I leave the seminar wanting so badly to say to my skipper, "That's it.  I'm not going!"  But I don't.

I've already had one colossal meltdown.  Earlier last week Catherine - who is joining us on the cruise and the person I'm depending on to help me get through this ... and who is coming all the way from the Isle of Skye to join us .... sent an email with her flight details which I interpreted wrongly.  I thought she wouldn't get here in time ... just missing customs clearance by a day.   Even with steely determination to not panic before I talked to her - I lost it.  Big Time.  Tears.  Sobs.  When I couldn't get Catherine on the phone I even called my sister-in-law, Angela .. in Ireland .. to check my assumptions with the flights (as usual, she was wonderful and helpful even though it was 11 pm at night her time.  Love you Angela!).  Needless to say, Catherine and I spoke later that morning and she assured me she would be here in time... just.

The Captain - my husband - has many great qualities.  However, outward displays of empathy and/or compassion isn't one of them.  So, unfortunately, I'm not getting anywhere near my quota of reassurances from him.

The others on the trip are lovely... a very diverse group with so many interesting people.  Additionally the people and the sights in the Louisiades islands we've heard about sound so special that I really want to go.  But the thought of it scares the absolute HELL out of me! 

I keep thinking that perception and reality are just a product of the way we PERCEIVE it to be - to ourselves.  The way we couch it in our self talk.  So, I'm doing all I can to keep saying this mantra to myself, "Take a Breath, Don't panic, It will be OK."

We leave this Saturday morning at 10:00am.  I will make it.  I will enjoy every minute.  It is the trip of a lifetime.  Take a breath, don't panic, it will be OK.

34 Years Married TODAY! ... and Yorkey's Knob (no relation!)

Me and the Captain - this was taken a while back but it's one of my favourites.

Today marks the 34th anniversary of the Captain and I getting married.  WOW!  That's a long long time.  And, like all relationships I suppose, there's been fantastic good times, good times and not so good times.  However, the real measure of the relationship I guess, is the fact that in spite of a half life's worth of ups, downs and sideways we still love each other.  The other plus is we actually LIKE each other too!  (I hope I'm not just speaking for myself!)

This morning in the early light of day, the Captain still lightly snoring beside me, I was thinking about our years together.  The phenomena that stands out above all else is how many things I simply would not have experienced, seen, tried and done without him pushing/pulling me to step way outside of my fears. 

Thanks to my Captain I moved all the way to the other side of the world from my birth city of Atlanta - without any other friends or family.  That worked out very well!  I learned to scuba dive when I could hardly swim and we've dived everything from beautiful coral to deep wreck dives in the South Pacific and all over Australia.  With his encouragement and many years of support  I found a career I loved, thrived and succeeded within.  I've followed him on bush walks that didn't have a path, camped, taken car journeys across and up this continent and now - the biggest scariest thing of all - our sailing trip to Cairns and then over to the Louisiades.  Through all of this I'm not ashamed to say I've been afraid - sometimes just plain scared shitless.  But, because The Captain is there, I persist and - Surprise! Surprise! - I end up doing things unheard of.  Surely that is the measure of a successful marriage!

Love you my Captain!  Thank you for helping me to be a better - and less fearless person - and for 34 great years!

Early on Friday morning we moved to Yorkeys Knob Boating Club Marina.  This is the staging place for the Louisiades rally so we'll be here until the departure date of September 14.  When I say - Early - I mean early.  We left Cairns at 5:30am to motor the two hour distance on the high tide and to avoid the 25 to 30 knot winds forecast for Saturday and on into this week.  The wind on Thursday afternoon was particularly strong across the Cairns Marina and I certainly did not want to come into this much smaller marina, with its very tight channel, in heavy winds. 

The best surprise - and most appreciated on many levels - was having Ian and Sharon from 'Bogart' get up to see us off and help with the mooring lines.  We've had so many fun times and shared lots of weather - good and bad - with them and the rest of the CC13 gang that its always bittersweet to say farewell again to people we are so very fond of.....but we'll see them again in December back in Sydney I'm sure.

Peter and Rob on 'Whimaway' pulled into Cairns after a long and hard sail to windward all day and the gang on 'Momentum' were not far behind them.  It was great to see everyone one more time before we moved on to start preparation in earnest for PNG.  Hopefully Pete, Rob and Ian will get a chance to come up this way before they start their trip back.

Yorkey's Knob Marina with the sun going down.

The YK Marina and facilities are not as nice as Cairns, or some of the other places we've stayed, but its still comfortable and the people are all very nice.  There seem to be a lot of people who live on their boats here - and some of them seem, at first meeting, that they've been doing it a bit too long.  They are real characters.  If we're here long enough it will be good to learn some of their stories.

Today we met the people off one of the other rally boats who had just come in.  They did the rally last year and said they had a great time and the trip over wasn't bad at all.  Good to hear!  I'm really looking forward to meeting the other rally participants and getting into "rally" mode.

Tim, me and the Captain at the 'Beach Almond' restaurant in Palm Cove.

Our very good friend Tim has been so good to us while we've been here.  Last night - Saturday - he drove over and picked us up for a dinner out in the beach suburb of Palm Cove.  We had a fun night with great company and good food.   Palm Cove at night was lovely with enormous and ancient melaleuca trees creating an exotic canopy over the road and foreshore.  I can't wait to see it in the daylight.