Life goes on in Mackay!

11/10/2016

 

Happy reunion with Steve and Chris

It’s been way too long since our last blog on 7^th July, when we were still in the dark about the nature and severity of Mary’s “skippity “heart problem!

Our first really good news was that Steve and Chris (our great sailing buddies from Scott Free), were going to fly up from Brisbane to spend a week with us boosting our dented morale! We must have sailed over 10 000 miles together, but our routes from Noumea separated, as we aimed for Bundaberg, with a 7^th December flight booked to RSA, and they had their hearts set on Sydney for New Years Eve!

We had loads to catch up together, not the least of which was their horrific night in Coffs Harbour Marina, which got smashed up all around them in an easterly storm, requiring them to leave the boat at 3.00am and spend the night in a police station! Luckily Scott Free lived up to her name, and escaped any damage!

Their company was obviously just what Mary needed, because her heart did not misbehave the entire week!

Mary's birthday prawn pig out

We hired a car and spent a rainy lunch time at the Eimeo Pacific Hotel…. a place which normally has a fantastic view!

We had better luck the next day, when we drove out to the Eungella National Park, to seek out the illusive platypus in the Broken River.

Beautiful view of the valley

 We managed to spot a few platypus, but needed the binoculars!!

On our return trip, we stopped at the Finch Hatton Gorge, to view some of the rainforest.

Kookaburra

All too soon the week flashed by, and Steve and Chris headed back to Scott Free in Brisbane. Mary’s heart then expressed its displeasure, and started up its nonsense again.. We had been advised to go directly to the Emergency section at the hospital “next time”.  Well, “next time” was Sat 9^th July, so we rushed off to the Mater Hospital PDQ! Mary was all plugged up in a flash, and the GP on duty diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation, which was confirmed by the Cardiologist on duty, Dr Kumar, who it turned out was “THE” specialist in that field! He prescribed some blood thinning injection and betablocker tablets immediately, and had Mary transferred into the ICU cardiac unit for monitoring.

Of some concern to us was the fact that the hospital would not accept our BUPA International Medical card, and required me to pay R23000 in advance, before she could be admitted. Australia is the very first country where we have experienced this problem. (Mary’s eye ops in RSA and NZ, plus my procedure in Tahiti, were all handled between Bupa and Service provider.)

Mary’s heart responded after 2 hours, and she was monitored for the next 24 hrs , before being discharged, with a whole new bunch of meds, and a much thinner wallet!

Back on the boat, we then set about getting back into our walking routines, and learning how to manage the “condition”. 

The walkway above the marina

Lovely beach walk

In fact, the first set of meds did not do the job, so Mary was put on another BB option. That worked a bit better, but it was not until Mary increased the dosage, and dropped her regular Amlopodine BP pills, that things really settled down.

We ended up spending 12 weeks in Mackay Marina. The Marina staff were fantastically supportive throughout. For example, every night while we were still trying to Catch a Fib on an ECG, they gave me a hire cars keys, just in case it happened when the office was closed. I would return the keys the next morning, with no charge. It was this service that enabled us to get Mary into the Mater at 5.30am on that Saturday. So a very big thank you to Jill and her team!

ARC boats all dressed up

During our time there, the ARC rally (16 boats) were coming through from Vanuatu and Noumea, in preparation for their next leg from Darwin to Mauritius, via Lombok (Indonesia), and Christmas Island. With 1 or 2 exceptions, we found them a rather snooty/cliquey bunch, very pleased with themselves, and their big, expensive, fully crewed boats.  I still thought we were the most striking boat on the marina, so we put up our biggest RSA flag, just to show we had sailed more miles than them…. And only 2 up!  

Another interesting neighbour was “Kayle”, an ex racing boat owned by an NGO called “SWD- Sailing With Disabilities”. Every day they did 3 trips, taking out disabled folk of all kinds, and ages, for a day of pure fun. All the crew were trained volunteers, giving up their time freely. Quite a humbling experience. I made a point of being on the finger to help them with dock lines whenever I could.

One weekend, the Offshore Formula 1 Racing event took place. There were 2 classes . 600HP, and 1000HP. There were in addition, 2 Maritimo boats which were Unlimited, doing practice runs for the World Offshore in Dubai.

 

Spectators on the breakwater

Mostly airborn

There were scheduled to be 3 x  30 minute races. Conditions however, were horrid. In fact the whole program was reduced to 6 minutes after the leading Maritimo 1000HP boat smashed up into 4 pieces, after a nosedive landing at 100mph. Luckily nobody was hurt. The event was cancelled pending better conditions, which failed to materialize.

A piece of wreckage is towed in
The following weekend saw a massive grandstand being erected on the beach, for the Annual Beach Horse racing Festival. Entrance tickets R250, Special box tickets R2500, and the Aussies love their betting!

We watched a bit from the side, and came to the conclusion that the best thing on show was the 1976 Volksie bus!

By this time Mary had not had a fib for 4 weeks, and we were itching to explore the Whitsundays before our ridiculous Medical visa expired on 1^st December! 

Mackay – Time for Big Decisions

29 June 2016

 

MacKay Marina has a tidal range of 5-6m

Daily walk

An unusual neighbour!

We made a doctor’s appointment for Mary on Friday morning, and left Dale to continue fitting the water pump without the assistance of his “appie”.

We hired “the Bommadore”, (a shagged out old Holden Commodore, aptly renamed by the Marina), and headed into the Caneland Medical Centre.  At this time, Mary’s erratic heartbeat was almost back to normal, but having listened to Mary’s history and experiences, the doc said that a 24hr monitoring Holter was the next step. This however involved joining a queue at the local hospital.  Once our cruising status was explained, the lovely young Doc managed to pull a few strings, at the Private (Mater) hospital, and Mary had the Holter monitor fitted on the Saturday, and removed on the Sunday.

The 24 hours tested, only included a few hops and skips, and none of the racing which was so alarming. Hopefully, we thought, the condition which triggers the erratic heart beat would be the same, and that the Cardiologist would be able to “read” the cause.

At 6.30am on the Monday, Mary woke up with the heart doing the racing number, so we hired the Bommodore and rushed her through to the doc asap. Once there, she saw the doc, and was rushed through to the treatment room to be hooked up the the ECG. At this point, her heart was beating at 200bpm.  Sadly however, the nursing sister made some error, and instead of saving the data, she managed to lose/delete it! Then by some quirk, Mary’s heart returned to normal, so when they took the next ECG reading, she was 100% OK!

The Sister was embarrassed, and we and the Doc somewhat annoyed, as this was the exact data that the Cardiologist needed to make the diagnosis. Mary was then sent off to have blood tests taken,  as certain liver and thyroid conditions can trigger the problem.

Since then Mary has had no further racing heart situations, and we are waiting for the results of the Holter and blood tests to be assessed and communicated to us. It is now Thursday morning, and we have not heard anything further from either the Cardiologist or the referring Doc. We are hoping that this implies that things are not too serious! The waiting is however very frustrating!

With all these issues, I decided to cancel the Indonesian rally, as we would never make the start in the first place, but more to the point, we had no wish to head off into the unknown without being 100% confident that Mary’s ticker was Ok. At the same time, I have also made the call that this is in fact the end of our Circumnavigation, and that we will NOT be sailing back over the Indian Ocean to RSA.

We have had 7 or 8 years of fantastic cruising , doing things and seeing places we would never have dreamed of when we set out. Health comes first, and it’s the right time to say “enough!”

Meantime, we have some great news! Chris and Steve,  of “Scott Free”, our good friends with whom we have sailed since Grenada, are flying up from Brisbane, to spend a week with us. This will help to take our minds off things while we mark time in the Marina waiting for Mary’s diagnosis and treatment program to begin. Steve’s son is getting married in Italy, and this is really messing up their seasons cruising plans as well, as they will be flying to Italy in 10 days! We have so much to share and catch up on since we were  together last November in Noumea!

And, while scribbling this update, we have just received a call asking us to make an appointment with the referring Doc, which we have done. Time to pack up and find out the news!

Sadly, it was a wasted appointment……all we ascertained was that the bloods were all fine and that Mary should now have an Echocardiogram.

This was done and still nothing abnormal has shown up!

Off to join the Rally!

27 June 2016

We left Bundaberg at 5.30am, determined to make a good start to our efforts to make Cairns before we missed out on too much of the mustering info and camaraderie. 

The sea was still lumpy after the big easterly, and the wind was still 18-20knots. 

We made reasonable time, in what was an uncomfortable first day /night back on the water!  We eventually ducked in behind Great Keppel island for a bit of rest and respite, after doing 150 miles.

Not the most comfortable anchorage….rolly as can be!

Typical pre-departure chaos

Great Keppel rolly anchorage

The next morning we set out for Island Head Creek, 54nm away, which had been our original goal the previous day. This time we knew we had to get there in time, because another low, with northerly winds would be arriving during the night.

Passing Port Clinton on the way to Island Head Creek

We ended up motor sailing most of the way in gentle winds, and a strongish counter current. On arrival, we were thrilled to meet up with Heidi and Wolfgang, from Kanaloa, whom we had last met in Fiji.

Kanaloa

Himba from Kanaloa

Island Head Creak has a tricky little approach, but offers excellent protection in almost all conditions. This was just as well because during the night the winds still reached over 28kts in our protected anchorage. Heidi has encyclopedic cruising knowledge, having done 4 circumnavigations, and many hours were shared discussing routes and plans!

The next morning, just before we left, Wolfie came over in their dinghy bearing hundreds of all their Indonesian, Malaysian, and Indian Ocean charts… having decided they would be of more use to us now!

Leaving Island Head Creek

It was happy /sad farewell, as we once again set off, this time to Middle Percy Island, where after a good  days sailing we anchored in Rocky Shelf Bay. 240 miles done and another 400 to Cairns! Time for another early start and a big push through to the Whitsundays!

Approaching South Percy

Rocky Shelf Bay, South  Percy

We started off with a nice gentle breeze, which then died away, forcing us to resort to Lord Perkins once again. Somewhere off MacKay, Lord Perkins screamed and died. Water pump seized. 4 knots of breeze, 25 miles to go. We managed to do about 13, ghosting under the asymmetric alone, doing between 2 and 3 knots. 

Then the wind died completely, and the tidal currents took over. The ebbing tide sets south, and we were being pushed 33 degrees off course into the bulk carrier anchoring field. Of even more concern was the bulk carrier doing 13.5 knot coming straight for us 5 miles away. 

AIS shows how close the ship was and the ships anchored below us

Only after my 3^rd call, using his MMSI number, speed, course and closing speed, did he eventually respond, and change course! Very scary indeed.

At 11pm, we launched the dinghy and lashed it alongside. We wound up the little Tohatsu 8hp, and managed to make 3knots for an hour or so, until the current slowed us down to 1.3. By 2.30 am we had reached a point 1.3 miles off the breakwater, in about 11m of water, and the wind had picked up to 12 knots on the nose, and our little tug could no longer make headway! We decided to drop the hook and anchor, even though it was in a prohibited anchoring area.

A quick scotch, and to bed for 3 hours sleep before daylight. Daylight saw us anchored in the path of another incoming bulk carrier! The Pilot boat came up to us, and after explaining our predicament, said in true Aussie fashion, “no worries mate, I’ll just tow you half a mile out the way! Lift your pick, and lets go!”

The ship we were obstructing

So 20 minutes later, we were anchored again, now out of the way, and waiting for VMR (Volunteer Maritime Rescue) to come out and tow us into the marina, where we had made a booking. Although kindly and well meaning, the volunteer crew were complete green horns and actually made a complete hash of a very simple tow in. Thankfully, conditions were so calm, that we managed to get into our pen without any damage!

Trying to locate our berth in the marina!

Then it was all about confirming that it was only the water pump, looking up the Perkins part number, and trying to source a diesel mechanic with the skills and tools to fit the new pump, if we could find one!

Then we learnt that the next day was a public holiday, in MacKay. I persuaded the mechanic, Dale, to phone through the part number to the local Industrial supplier, and bingo! We were in luck. Dale agreed to pick it up at 8.00am on the Friday, and start the job when he got back!

Then Mary told me about her heart palpitations that were getting worse! And that made all our mechanical and sailing problems  completely irrelevant.   See next blog “ Mackay- time for big decisions!”