Month: June 2020

24/06/2020

Today, to the lighthouse.

In the morning, we went onshore and walked on the beach. It could be school holiday now, plus the national park had just reopened, so there were many people and four-wheel drives on the beach. Four red Ps drove past from the side and a bunch of young guys got off the cars and took off their shirt, started playing football. In Chinese we call them ‘little fresh meat. Like an auntie, I couldn’t help but looking back at their young bodies… After some inquiries, we found the way to the lighthouse. It was very easy to go. I later learned that it was built to supply the lighthouse so horse carriage could run on it in the early days. I said it’s good to be a light house keeper, with great scenery, simple jobs and undisturbed life. When I was about to reach the top, I met a person who was mowing grass in the bush path. He could be the light house keeper. Now that he didn’t need to add fuel to the lighthouse, he could only do some trivial jobs.

I finally reached to the lighthouse that used to guid me at night. It was newer than expected. The red top and white walls looked bright in the background of the blue sea and sky. Since 11th September 1884, the lighthouse has flashed its nightlight warnings to passing ships to avoid the rocky headland. The light in the lighthouse has also been replaced by a solar-powered light from oil wik burner in the past, so there is really not much for the light house keeper to do.

There is a small hut next to the lighthouse, which is an information center. There is nothing in it but two chairs and invincible views from the windows. It would be nice to use it as a art studio too.

In the evening, I walked by the red sandstones, watching another beautiful sunset…

Last night I used a homemade fishnet to catch a few Garfish to eat tonight. This fish is easy to eat, and the Japanese are good at using it to make sashimi, and then twist them into various shapes. They also use this fish to describe people with black belly (which means someone who appears nice, but hides something dark inside) because this fish has a black peritoneum in its shiny and transparent body. Not because of the accumulation of dirty things, but they evolved like this to prevent the algae in its belly from generating oxygen and make them float too much.

I also made garlic wombok vermicelli, with onion, ginger, and dried chili crushed sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce and marinade sauce, and the juice from the cabbage and sauce were soaked up by vermicelli, yum!

23/06/2020

J got up at 11pm last night to take over my shift. I went to sleep at 12pm. I set the alarm to 2am, but I didn’t wake up until 4am. It turned out that J quietly turned off my alarm clock… I quickly got up and take over his shift. So that he could go to sleep.

The route was simple and it had always been on autopilot. I sat behind the dodger(windshield) wrapped in a blanket and were eating chocolate, I only have to see from time to time whether there is a fishing boat or something in front.

When conditions are good, night cruising is actually very pleasant, and brings more thoughts and inspirations. Zhang Dai in the Ming Dynasty wrote “Night Sailing Boat”, where a group of scholars talking about everything in the world on a night boat, and came up with an mini encyclopedia. Beryl Markham conceived her “West with the night” during her night flight west.

The gentle west wind blowing from the mainland continued to fill up the sails, so the sailboat moved northward steadily. On the left was the ancient Australian continent, on the right was the open Pacific Ocean, ahead was the lighthouse and our unknown journey, and behind was the distant city lights and the trivial and busy world, overhead was the eternal and unchanging stars and Milky Way, I really hope that moment was eternal. However, it didn’t take long for the Venus to rise from the east, and lifted a layer of ‘fish belly white’ (a Chinese term for the colour of the early morning sky), telling me that an eternal cycle is repeated, and all the lives are just going in and out of it.

6:34am I saw in the first sunrise of our journey, also announced the success of my first night sailing.

9:45am sailing into Double Island Point and anchoring at Rainbow Beach. We sailed 105 nautical miles in total.

Then I had a very relaxing day, mainly eating sleeping and painting. Early breakfast was toast with avocado and cream cheese, late breakfast was toast with bacon and omelette, and dinner was Hokkien noodles with chicken, pine nuts, pumpkin and beans.

22/06/2020

At ten o’clock in the morning, the main sail was raised, the mooring was loosened, and the voyage was officially launched. Jamie whispered a quote from a sailor writer, the idea was that the moment the anchor was loosened, I felt free and thrilled…

Out of the Brisbane River, it can be said that the sailing was smooth and the waves were smooth. When going out of the bay, we had to choose whether to go a reliable route a little further or a shorter way that the charts in the GPS navigation software showed. After comparing the charts in the two different systems, Jamie finally took the risk and choose the shorter approach. Sailing steadily down the wind, not long after we said “it’s very pleasant” almost at the same time, the sonar system started to make alarm music, and then the boat stopped. We had to start the engine and slowly motor out of the sand. In fact, we have seen light-colored waters and strange waves, but the software still shows a water depth of 5-10m. It seems that the software cannot be blindly believed (the data in that area may not have been updated for a long time), and it depends on experience and intuition. It didn’t take long before we were relieved, but then we got stuck again, we hadn’t had time to start the engine yet, the wind pushed us through the sandbar. I said that these two hiccups should give me something to write in my journal tonight. After that we steadily entered the ocean in the deeper water.

The weather condition was very good. We decided to sail at night. In fact, night sailing is more comfortable. There are not so many ships and the beacon lights can be seen more clearly.

I made beef noodles and cabbage for dinner. They were made with the sweetened beef from the Korean-style beef don that was left over last night. It tastes good with a little spicy sauce. It’s very warming after eating it. J said it was a hearty meal. After whole day sailing, it’s nice to have a bowl of hot noodles.

Tonight we take turns keeping watch, Jamie is sleeping now, so he could replace me later and I can rug up and sleep:)

PS Jamie later found the original text he wanted to quote at the beginning: an exceptionally experienced English writer-sailor, Maurice Griffiths, who laid out his feelings upon heading out in a small cruising boat in these words:I found my pulse beating with suppressed excitement as I threw the mooring buoy overboard. It seemed as if that simple action had severed my connection with the life on shore; that I had thereby cut adrift the ties of convention, the unrealities and illusions of cities and crowds; that I was free now, free to go where I chose, to do and to live and to conquer as I liked, to play the game wherein a man’s qualities count for more than his appearance…