Freddie’s Final Adventure

As I write the boat is still languishing on the hard, lonely, and distraught, like a fish out of water. The weather here in Cairns is not accommodating. We have had endless grey drizzly days with very high humidity. It is refreshing to have rainy weather, but the painting needed on Irene IV’s hull requires less than 50% humidity, with better drying conditions. Today is Tuesday, 30^th August, we hope to be back in the water by Friday. Rob and Louis are sleeping aboard, way up high on stilts in a dusty, grimy, noisy, and smelly shipyard. George and I are itinerants, hopping from hostel to hostel, now, however, happy guests aboard Seabird. Donna, previously alone on Seabird, offered us a cabin each with cozy mattresses and fluffy pillows to rest our weary heads.

On Sunday, after grappling with airport staff to ensure he had unaccompanied minor status from Cairns to Sydney to Dubai to Dublin, we said goodbye to Freddie. Eventually, the brave 15-year-old set off on his 38-hour journey home to Mum, Dad and 3 brothers. He has a multitude of wonderful tales to recount of adventures on the high seas as well as on the colourful land of Australia.

Freddie’s final adventure was one to be proud of! Both George and Freddie had not yet done a course for Open Water Diver certification. Now in Cairns, a mere 3 hours away from the Great Barrier Reef, we felt it was essential to sign them up and allow them to experience the splendors of the reef up close, eye to eye with reef fish, sharks, and turtles. It has been Freddie’s expressed wish ever since he joined us a month ago, to swim with a turtle. The boys watched all the pre course videos daily as we cruised through the Whitsundays and beyond. When they docked in Cairns Marlin Marina they had finished and passed the online test. On Wednesday, 24^th August, the 2 lads started their practical diving work. A day, from 08:30-18:00, of scuba instruction in the pool, had them famished and shattered. After a huge dinner they collapsed into a deep sleep.

The next day started early with a 06:00 pick up on a Pro-Dive bus bound for a Pro-Dive boat. Louis and I, plus Luke and Charlie-May from Makara, joined the boys for a 3 day live-aboard expedition to the outer reef. Inclement weather made the 3-hour trip, bumpy and less than comfortable. Nevertheless, we were all excited for this new adventure aboard a new vessel. The staff were young, energetic, and very professional. I was the oldest onboard and Louis next, by a long shot! We were aboard a floating youth hostel! Cabins for our 2 nights were double occupancy and comfortable. Louis shared with a charming wide eyed Dutch man, Robert, and I with a very young Kiwi girl, Sarah. It was inspiring to be in the company of young people at the beginning of their lives’ adventures. Likewise, I think we motivated them, with tales of our voyage, coming in the autumn of our lives. Seize the moment, carpe diem, you never know who you might inspire by the way you live your life.

The diving adventure included 11 possible dives! A tall order, but never say never! The boys, armed with knowledge from the videos they had watched, and one day in the pool, did not hesitate to leap into the swirling seas, with wet suits, masks, fins, BCDs, and scuba tanks, ready for their first foray beneath the salty foam. Over the 3 days, they achieved their Open Water certification as well as Adventure Diver certification and participated in 9 dives. What an achievement! We are so proud of you boys! They will gladly regale you with the sights they saw and the escapades they got up to with their new friends, above and below the surface. Happily, Freddie got to swim with turtles, as well as shark and countless reef fish and corals of every colour.

As an aside, Louis and I did well too! Not to toot our own trumpets, we are now Advanced Open Water divers! And we all got to experience the magic of a night dive. Charlie-May did all 11 dives and slept for a day and a night when she returned back to her boat, Makara. Her brother, Luke, with 6 dives, also achieved his Advanced Open Water certification. We are all delighted to have had the experience and to have met some great new friends. One fabulous new friend, Andrew, a 44-year-old sheep shearer, travels from station to station in his caravan as a professional sheep shearer, with all the back preserving equipment. He, like us, has circumnavigated the world, however he was on a bicycle (or should I say, 3 bicycles, he replaced his mode of transport 3 times). The other 13 visitors onboard were teens or in their 20’s, most on Australian student visas, some on university study exchanges, some getting work experience, some simply travelling – all bringing back memories of our own student days.

Back in Cairns there is a lot to do to get ready for the next few legs in our journey. We have some long passages coming up and a smaller crew than on previous long passages. Irene IV is still our loyal mother; we love her, she looks after us faithfully, asking nothing in return.