And another one ...

Another picture relating to Andy's latest blog

The picture above is of the 'Morning Escort' as mentioned by Andy in his latest blog.

Our stay in Ulladulla was short lived, but action packed. Spirit of Mystery, as always was open to all, and thanks to the efforts of ABC Radio we had a constant stream of people with a fascination for Pete's project, whether it be from a boating, historical, adventure, Cornish angle or just someone looking into see what the fuss was about. Whatever their interest, Spirit of Mystery seemed to charm all and leave a lasting impression, which is why it is such a pleasure to be part of this project.

In the evening we were having a chat with Doug Musker, the previous night's skipper on Encounter and Division Commander, when he took a call from the Water Police. They were receiving a signal from an Epirb and needed to mobilise a search team and possibly a rescue team. Doug and his wife immediately initiated a well rehearsed sequence of events, calling crew, organising radio operators, working out ETA's and sorting out some basic vitals, this was a mission without a time limit. It was a privilege to see a well oiled machine jump into action, a machine made up purely of volunteers. It turned out that Encounter and her intrepid crew, gave tow to a fishing boat that had lost power and returned to port at 4am. Spirit of Mystery headed off that morning at 7am, with Encounter and the Lewis Dunn, an inshore life boat, giving an escort out of Ulladulla.

We kept a Cornish theme within the crew, with Julie and Adrian joining us, both avid supporters of all things Cornish. Julie provided us with monster size Cornish pasties, double hander's with the overhang resting on your knees!! Graham's statement of the day was: "you think your life can't get any better, then you get a pasty" and he's from Yorkshire.

The conditions were perfect, with the morning sun climbing up into a rich blue sky and a following wind to push us on. Whales were soon to be spotted, along with Australia's highest cliff, which marks the approaches to Jervis Bay. When you sail into Jervis Bay, past the towering cliffs under the watchful eye of the resident seals, dolphins and sea eagles, you are sailing into one of nature's little gems. This is a place that I know I'll be reluctant to leave.

Cheers Andy