Our jet lag continues and we’re up every morning very early. Today we got a very early start out of Brampton Island. Not long after leaving though, we found that our main alternator wasn’t charging the bateries. So, after some diagnosis and no solution we decided to head upwind back to Mackay. About four hours and much seasickness later we pulled into the marina and back into the same slip. Both of us got green around the gills as we beat into the wind with side on waves. Even with medication Susan didn’t feel well. My seasickness ebbed and flowed.
Once tied up we immediately checked in at the office and headed directly for the electrician’s office here at the marina. As luck would have it, someone was in. John came over to the boat and played around with some things, changing nothing and the alternator started working again. Susan and I had narrowed down the problem to an oil pressure switch that is used to tell the alternator that the engine is on and it’s O.K. to make electricity. Apparently he had taken one of the leads off and put it back on. The were rusty. We’re pretty sure that was the problem. John further cleaned up the contacts on the switch and everything seems fine.
It was too late to leave, so we went off for a late lunch. It was a delicious tapas repast. We ordered 8 different things, although I think they brought us 9. Neither of us remember ordering the pork meat balls. Everything was great. It was so much food that I didn’t need dinner.
After lunch we got our cameras and headed across the street to see the lorikeets. We got some nice pictures of these very colorful birds. They let you get fairly close, but then just suddenly fly away.
Susan went off for a nap and I took a walk down the beach. I very quickly encountered a sad sight. A dead turtle in the sand. It’s not a species I’m familiar with. It wasn’t very decomposed, so I don’t think it was there too many days. The beach is also littered with cuttlebones. Just like the kind you buy at the pet store for your pet bird. I used to by them for Toby, my pet canary (well, he lived with Val & Forrest longer than with me).
Further down the beach is a park and a private beach club of some sort. There were people in a circle in the park singing and clapping while two of them did a kind of dance/martial art thing. They were singing in another language I couldn’t get. It was interesting to watch, but I really wonder what it was.
At the private beach club there was a wedding ceremony in progress. I could see the whole thing from the beach walkway. Heading back to the marina I ran across some raibowlorikeets again sitting on a wall. They were so cute and colorful. I took more pictures. Then there was the second wedding going on across the street. Her gown was much prettier.
Two weddings and a turtle funeral.
We will leave early tomorrow and head north and make it to Tongue Bay/Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. If we don’t make it all the way, there are lots of places to pull in and anchor.
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