Where is everyone ? Well might you ask waving a bottle of Brown Brothers on the beach at Peel Island. Steve and Kylie had been left on their pat malone as a weekend paddle morphed into a day paddle, then which day floated from one to another. The changes driven by alternative commitments, pet duty and conflicting weather predictions. Combine this with trying to get a mutual consensus – it really is like herding cats.
As Steve and Kylie camped out, the rest of the consensus managed to agree on a time, day and a place to meet to head over to Peel. It was a glorious sparkling blue bay for the remaining nine kayaks. ‘Securitae, securitae, securitae’ commanded the VHF – this could be interesting. A call to watch out for a whale north of Peel Island. Most did Jurg’s disappearing trick slipping into the mangroves behind Cucumber Point while Carol and I went around, looking hopefully northwards for a floating log brandishing a large tail.
Steve and Kylie had plenty of boating company. Platypus and Horseshoe Bay were chocker with a flotilla of white, a pride of jet skis, snorklers and who knows what else. Ross commented that when he paddled some years ago there used to be around 100 boats anchored, today the count looked more than 300. After stopping at Platypus and being treated to some of Carol’s delectable carrot and walnut cake we went in search of Steve and Kylie. They had gone. Mark and I went in for the usual second stop and lunch whilst the rest, unreachable via our antiquated UHF headed onward and we too were left wondering where is everyone ?
Last time I checked the BOM the predicted NE was green. Apparently it had changed overnight to blue and maybe this, combined with a rapidly ebbing tide, blew the others away. It was too low for us to scamper over the reef so we duly headed around SW rocks along with all the other larger takers. The wind was steady and the washing machine was starting to lump. We were making 9 – 11kph with limited effort aside staying sail side up with the confusion of some of the larger washes. Becoming reminiscent of the paddles of yester year when decisions were made by looking out the window. There was no green or blue and I now suspect blue was in vogue and we knew no different. However, some things may never change – including boaties love of Horsehoe Bay and the challenge of herding cats.
