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American Spirit II - Day 221; Dinner with Nexus; Thursday, August 14, 2014



Up at 7:35 AM. Coffee for me. Joel and Jeanine were still sleeping. Overcast and cool out. No rain...yet.

Breakfast at 9:10 AM: scrambled eggs, cut up potato and raisin bread.

After breakfast Joel and I 'fueled' the boat using a siphon hose with a check valve. We added the diesel from 3 jerry cans into the main tank. Then we took a tour of the town; and ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant that had very good guacamole, according to the boat's guacamole expert...Joel. He also had his favorite beer from home; Negro-Modelo. His first one since we ran out of it somewhere in the Caribbean Sea last January.

After lunch and our tour of the town, we headed back to the boat and Joel and I got a 4 wheeled trolley from the marina and loaded the 3 empty 20 liter (5 gallon) jerry cans onto it. We then towed it to the Mobil gas station in town a quarter mile away. While I filled up the jerry jugs with diesel, Joel went and purchased the one last provision item we needed. One case of beer, Victoria Bitter Beer.

After delivering the fuel and beer to the boat, we walked back to an area outside of Target. This Target was the smallest Target I've ever been in in my life. About 1/10th the size of a regular Target back home. The Target had free Wifi, so we sat at a table outside of the main door and opened up our computers. I had to contact Apple because someone had hacked my I Tunes account and not only changed my password, they changed my User ID and my birth date. I finally got it sorted out after calling Apple Australia, which was really a call center in the Philippines. I know, I asked. The call center in the US was closed when I called. It closes at 10:00 PM Central time.

We got back to the boat at 4:49 PM and headed off to Nexus for a pre-dinner cocktail hour at 5:00 PM. Nexus is a catamaran and one of the largest boats in the fleet. Laurie had cooked up a special appetizer that had brie cheese, mango chutney and a pastry covering. It was delicious and the empty bowl was a testament to that.

We departed Nexus in the rain for the Port Douglas Yacht Club at 6:30 PM for dinner. Our party included Russ, Laurie, Brian and Lauren from Nexus; and myself Joel and Jeanine from American Spirit II. I had baramudi, an Australian fish very popular in restaurants. A light, white fish. It was very good. We ate outside but under a large, very attractive and functional tarp. Like a miniature Denver airport roof. You'll know what I mean if you've seen pictures of that airport or been there. After dinner Joel bought 2 bottles of wine, which we had to finish before leaving. By the time we were done, I for one, felt very 'European.' Europeans drink a lot of wine. I can't remember if I mentioned this in a previous log, but one boat, which will remain unnamed, left Europe for the Rally with 480 bottles of wine stored in the bilge. You may be asking yourself, how is that possible? I don't know because I didn't look in their bilge. But that's a lot of wine. And its a very large boat.

After dinner we walked back to the boat in the rain. Three of us had umbrellas. Back at the boat at 9:15 PM.

From 9:30 PM to 11:30 PM we watched the movie 'John Carter.' Not bad. Science fiction. It didn't do that good in the theaters, though.

After the movie Joel and I went over charts trying to decide if we were going to Lizard Island, which requires one overnight to get there, with Nexus tomorrow; or straight up the coast to Seisia at Cape York; which would take 3 overnight's. When we went to bed at 1:00 AM it looked like 'Lizard Island' was winning. Coastal overnighters in Australian waters are more tedious than open ocean sailing because you have to keep away from reefs, islands and ships. Go figure.

Brian Fox

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