Lock down, what lock down? ......oh, that lock down

Strange times indeed.

Our Prime Minister  exhorted us to self isolate because of you know what. So following his instructions we set off as we had already intended, for a spot of waterborne isolation, ending up once again at Lady Musgrave Island.

 Weather was perfect and when we arrived at the lagoon there was only one other vessel there. Great we thought ,we can pick up a mooring.

As we approached the moorings designated for our size of vessel it was somewhat annoying to find the only other yacht there was anchored in such close proximity to the moorings it precluded us from picking up two of the three available. Somewhat inconsiderate, but it takes all sorts!

When the moorings are occupied its easy to figure out the swing distance of any vessel using them. Vessels at anchor are completely different story. Nobody knows how much anchor chain you have out except you.

My own rule of thumb is an absolute minimum of 4-5 times the depth of water, so in 6-7m of water I would have at least 30-35m of chain out. Add to that my boat length and at full stretch I could be sitting 40-45m from where I actually dropped the anchor and with any wind or tide change may swing in an arc of that length. I always assume that other yachts should be using approximately the same idea, perhaps more,so finding a yacht anchored about 20m from the mooring buoys was a pain.

Ah well ,the lagoon wasn’t busy! We set about enjoying the environs.

 We did note the daily tourist vessel hadn’t turned up, nor did it turn up the next day-odd!

 Even odder was that we hadn’t actually seen anybody on the anchored yacht. After two days this was a bit strange. I know some yachts are sailed single handed and perhaps the sailor is very happy with their own company , but usually at some point they can be glimpsed at least  moving about on board.

 One of the things that I came to appreciate when I was on board in SE Asia was that my life goes on quite satisfactorily even if I don’t have news updates about the state of the planet. What ever happens, will occur whether I know about it or not and I have no influence on world events. So really when on board the only thing of relevance is the weather- another element I have no influence over but it does allow for contingency planning. So we get the weather reports when available.

At Lady Musgrave, courtesy of Bundaberg VMR (Volunteer Marine Rescue) we can get the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) updates twice a day on scheduled bulletins via the VHF .I can also get them via HF radio, and if the wind is blowing the right way we do very occasionally manage a connection to the internet! Local radio via AM band also available .

 All the inactivity, no other yachts and the lack of activity on the anchored yacht  was increasingly odd.

Turns out when we bothered to tune into the news that self isolation had morphed into a lock down across the country. Yes China had imposed it on the citizens of Wuhan, but who would have thought it would/could happen here in Australia. Suddenly no one was at work, everyone was supposed to be staying home.

Supermarkets were being bought out with panic buying - how bizarre!

 That then explained the total absence of the daily tourist boat.

Now I was concerned about the anchored yacht and the lack of activity, so I called it in to VMR Bundaberg. Before doing so we had gone over to the vessel, called out ,banged on the hull all to no response. Odd indeed! The cabin was unlocked , there was no sign of a dinghy ,no sign of life at all and quite noticably when we did a complete circuit of her there was also a substantial chunk of its bow around the anchor roller missing! Despite what you may  see in movies , boarding someone else’s vessel uninvited is a complete no -no, so we  returned to K’Gari and  relayed the details of the vessel to VMR  Bundaberg.

 Later that day , we were asked if we were prepared to board the vessel at the request of Qld Water Police. I asked for that request to be repeated, so that I was able to record it and our answer in the affirmative- just in case, proof that our actions were indeed sanctioned, if ever in the future it were needed.

 We boarded the mystery yacht -  with video on phone running to cover ourselves.

 Nothing , nobody (literally no body)- thankfully !

This we relayed to VMR.

Much later in the day, we were advised that the owner had indeed been located by the police .Very much alive and ashore!

He had apparently managed to get ashore with the daily tourist vessel to obtain some requisite supplies to attempt to repair the damaged bow section- (it was a ferro cement yacht) then the shut down had commenced and he was now high and very dry ashore, with no means of returning to the lagoon.

 I doubt we will ever again be the only humans in the lagoon, no matter how often we return. It was a blissful experience having the entire place to ourselves.                                                   

                                                    https://youtu.be/BioEgF-V85E

 How the world had changed when we rejoined the rat race!  

Strange days indeed.