Thomasina is back in her home port now safely tied up and prepared for the subtropical summer.
With heavy rain, strong winds and the potential of cyclones being the norm, good mooring lines are vital.
While back home its time for repairs and maintenance, hatches need to be fixed, varnish applied, hatch covers to be sown up.
But there's still time to spend the odd day or two anchored off the sandy beaches here, diving into the water to cool off and spending some quality time (mini-weekend breaks) in our little water front home over the long hot summer.
Thursday 10 November 2011
Wednesday 14 September 2011
Dolphin feeding at Tin Can Bay
You can handfeed these wild dolphins every morning (under the very careful guidance of the friendly volunteers who run the feeding sessions) between 7-8am.
I can also highly recommend having breakfast and coffee at the adjacent cafe too!
Here's a link with more information about the dolphins of Tin Can Bay.
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Thursday 25 August 2011
The beauty of a small boat
Thomasina isn't our first boat together. We had a 35ft Martzcraft in the late '90's - centre cockpit, roomy aft cabin.
A very comfortable roomy boat well suited to our subtropical climate.
But the timing was wrong (and so was the price to be honest - too much money tied up). We bought our first boat and that year's weather was the worst in decades - rain, rain and more rain. Now being stuck in the boat, in humid wet weather isn't any fun at all not month after month after month...
Plus we were looking for work and not having much luck.
So when someone knocked on the deck and asked if we wanted to sell our boat we said YES!.
Several years later we happened upon Thomasina sitting all alone in a marina looking more than a little worse for wear.
But under it all you could see a solid little boat with plenty of personality and style.
Soon she was ours and she's proved a perfect fit for us. Small enough to sail solo, less costs in marina berthing, less costs in maintenance and it means we not only have a boat, but we can have a boat and a house.
While there are challenges on her - even two people on board need to give way to each other and do end up getting a little in each others' way, but she is also cosy, warm in cold weather and easy to keep clean. 'It's a one-person galley' is the cry whenever anyone tries to help - and vegetables are often chopped seated at the dinette. But not a lot of boats have room for two cooks anyway.
She has everything we need - a great little galley, sink, cooktop, drawers, cupboards and even a fridge. A Magma BBQ mounted on the stern gives us all the benefits of both a BBQ and an oven.
There is a permanent dinette table set up (what joy not having to drop the table and make a bed every night!), comfortable new cushioning and the bed fits two. Two other adults could also sleep aboard at a pinch - one on the quarterberth and one on the sole. There is a head and holding tank and the cabin has plenty of storage for clothes (even hanging space), and the rest of the boat holds heaps of tinned and packaged food and we have a vegetable basket in the open and plenty of hanging netted bags to store fresh fruit and veg too. Plus there is room for the spares, spares, and more spares (as any of you with a boat know you can never have too many spares!)
There is a stereo/CD player and the 'entertainment room' a shelf with books and board games to keep us occupied. There's a well appointed chart table, marine radio and chart storage shelf too.
Being smaller also means most of the gear on her is 'oversized' - recommended for a much bigger boat - windvane, autopilot, anchor, winches, rigging... all oversized and strong she's a tough little boat and very safe to sail in.
One of her best features I think is the ventilation on board. There is the companionway protected by the dodger so it can stay open most of the time protected from rain and sun, a forward facing hatch on the bow above our berth, a central double sided hatch just aft of the mast and four port holes - two on each side of the cabin.
So regardless of which way the breeze is blowing we can always be assured of a cool spot to sit or rest up.
We love our little boat and are so pleased with her - small is beautiful!
Cheers,
Sonya
A very comfortable roomy boat well suited to our subtropical climate.
But the timing was wrong (and so was the price to be honest - too much money tied up). We bought our first boat and that year's weather was the worst in decades - rain, rain and more rain. Now being stuck in the boat, in humid wet weather isn't any fun at all not month after month after month...
Plus we were looking for work and not having much luck.
So when someone knocked on the deck and asked if we wanted to sell our boat we said YES!.
Several years later we happened upon Thomasina sitting all alone in a marina looking more than a little worse for wear.
But under it all you could see a solid little boat with plenty of personality and style.
Soon she was ours and she's proved a perfect fit for us. Small enough to sail solo, less costs in marina berthing, less costs in maintenance and it means we not only have a boat, but we can have a boat and a house.
While there are challenges on her - even two people on board need to give way to each other and do end up getting a little in each others' way, but she is also cosy, warm in cold weather and easy to keep clean. 'It's a one-person galley' is the cry whenever anyone tries to help - and vegetables are often chopped seated at the dinette. But not a lot of boats have room for two cooks anyway.
She has everything we need - a great little galley, sink, cooktop, drawers, cupboards and even a fridge. A Magma BBQ mounted on the stern gives us all the benefits of both a BBQ and an oven.
There is a permanent dinette table set up (what joy not having to drop the table and make a bed every night!), comfortable new cushioning and the bed fits two. Two other adults could also sleep aboard at a pinch - one on the quarterberth and one on the sole. There is a head and holding tank and the cabin has plenty of storage for clothes (even hanging space), and the rest of the boat holds heaps of tinned and packaged food and we have a vegetable basket in the open and plenty of hanging netted bags to store fresh fruit and veg too. Plus there is room for the spares, spares, and more spares (as any of you with a boat know you can never have too many spares!)
There is a stereo/CD player and the 'entertainment room' a shelf with books and board games to keep us occupied. There's a well appointed chart table, marine radio and chart storage shelf too.
Being smaller also means most of the gear on her is 'oversized' - recommended for a much bigger boat - windvane, autopilot, anchor, winches, rigging... all oversized and strong she's a tough little boat and very safe to sail in.
One of her best features I think is the ventilation on board. There is the companionway protected by the dodger so it can stay open most of the time protected from rain and sun, a forward facing hatch on the bow above our berth, a central double sided hatch just aft of the mast and four port holes - two on each side of the cabin.
So regardless of which way the breeze is blowing we can always be assured of a cool spot to sit or rest up.
We love our little boat and are so pleased with her - small is beautiful!
Cheers,
Sonya
Thursday 18 August 2011
Thursday 11 August 2011
New bimini
It fits perfectly and we've added detachable side curtains too, just for extra protection from the Queensland sun.
It also folds up easily for when we're underway.
We also did some work on the mast while we were there.
Saturday 30 July 2011
Great Sandy Straits
Calm waters as we leave the marina...
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