Bulletin No 4. Throw Another Lobster on the Barbie!

Our second week on Lord Howe Island gave us the opportunity for a couple of adventures in perfect weather conditions. The first was an all day climb of Mt Gower. I know the walls weren't perpendicular - they just felt that way - but I was thankful for the provision of sturdy ropes to help you scale the rocks and reassure you when walking along narrow ledges. On the top, at 830m, there is a Mist Forest with Forest Palms, tree ferns, mosses, lichens and hundreds of white orchids. The birds on LHI have no predators and are fearless of humans. Our guide, by making some deep noises, attracted a dozen Providence Petrels that fell clumsily to the ground (one landed on me) to protect their nests from other petrels - you could even pick them up if you wanted to!

The following day we went on two organized dives at Ball's Pyramid, a spectacular 552m high rock about 20 km from LHI, the ultimate destination for game fishermen. We were a little confronted by the currents and surge,but enjoyed swimming with a turtle, and observing the large shoals of reef fish and the "men in grey suits."

After these two days of adrenaline rush, we were ready to escape to a remote reef 100Nm to the north for a rest. The permit to visit Elizabeth Reef, a National Nature Reserve, can take up to 28 days to be issued by Canberra, but we had Ian the Marine Parks Manager at LHI on our side, and he fast-tracked it in just 9 days. When we told the locals we had received our permit, the warnings about sharks followed: don't swim near your boat, don't swim in the pass, be careful of the sharks in the lagoon- they are very territorial. One Paul Hogan look-alike said there were so many sharks he'd had to kick them away! So when it was time for our first snorkel,outside the reef, away from the pass and the boat, I sent David (wearing his shark shield) in first! No sharks to be seen!

Culinary Corner: Fortunately David has shown fine hunter-gatherer prowess,which is just as well as food was mighty expensive on LHI ($4 for an apple!) First of all there was the lobster which he found in a crevasse about 8 m deep while he was free diving below Mt Gower. Very nice barbequed in macadamia oil, with enough left over for entree the next evening. Our permit at Elizabeth Reef allowed recreational fishing. On two successive afternoons we noticed schools of fish jumping out of the water as they traveled along the reef. We quickly jumped into the dinghy with trawling lines and a bottle of Vodka (to anaesthetise the fish) and caught a Kingfish the first day and a Yellowtail tuna the next - about 10 meals in all.

Some locals at LHI gave us a big bunch of home grown herbs for helping them moor their boat in difficult conditions, so all meals on Courtesan since have been "a la Fines Herbes." And finally, WE HAVE ICE CREAM! Easiyo makes an ice cream mix that contains acidophilus, and tastes good too! But the best thing about dining on S.V. Courtesan is that on most nights we dine beneath the stars of the Milky Way, augmented by just a scented candle and a Vietnamese silk lantern illuminated by a LED torch. I'm making Focaccia (a la Fines Herbes) for lunch, so I'll pass you over to

David.

With much love, Heather　

The Blue Water cruising life is not for everyone and thank goodness for that, or "out here" would be as crowded as "back there". Anchoring at a submerged reef in the middle of the ocean as the sun sets and the swell comes alive as high tide approaches is an experience. Then as the tide recedes the boat becomes still with the swell gone again, but the wind whistling in the rigging and nothing but ocean has a disconcerting effect. We have evolved a new watch strategy for open water when off the shipping lane areas. With the AIS in alarm mode and the radar on ''zone watch'' we both go to bed and sleep, then alternate rising every 60 minutes to check sails, wind course, fill in the log and scan the horizon. This effectively puts one of us on deck every 25 mins. but means we each get a good nights sleep of around 8 hours. The getting up hourly doesn't seem to have a detrimental effect. This strategy is not applicable in areas where navigational hazards, shipping density or the weather conditions require a full time watch, but it means we are not sleep deprived when we need to be fully functional. On longer passages when short handed, fatigue often leads to poor decisions particularly as an arrival looms. The desire to get there and get shelter and rest can overwhelm the "wait till daylight or the right tide" to enter an anchorage instinct.

Food for thought for those who will be out here making their own bow waves in the future. I got lucky with the cray; you are only allowed to free dive for them atLord Howe and after some hyperventilating I was able to have enough time to get down 8m, look in under the ledge, get a hand on her and make my way back to the surface with dinner. Two other more experienced divers with me came home empty handed even though we'd seen 4 crays; they were just too deep or too far back to get by hand.

TC Jasper has been wandering around in the Coral Seas above us and the squash zone between the low and the big fat high in the Tasman meant the wind was getting up to the hight 20's, not ideal for anchoring off reefs inmid ocean, so we pulled up the pick a day early and missed Middleton Reef this time round. 24 hours later and 180 miles away we have run out of wind, but not before a memorable code zero sleigh ride at the apparent wind speed [8 knots] this morning. Hez was heard to say "I like that sail" [ thanks Ryan sails].

I know the life of directionless sailing beachcomber all sounds like hard work. Particularly after the reading of Heather's trials; it's laced with deprivation [no TV or newspapers, we do get Radio National late at night with Phillip] and the terrible solitude[just me, the beautiful woman I love and the stars]. There are however moments of pure joy to compensate!

Like the foccacia just coming out of the oven for lunch to go with sashimi tuna...

Make sure you put out adequate rode, David.