Some coral as seen over the side of the Chesapeake 17

The Chesapeake 17 at anchor at one of the Keppel Islands in 2007, Pelican Island.

I don't think I mentioned it but the last post was the year 1998, I think, I am a little confused about the year and the photos are from the film camera days, so the date is not on the photos in the computer.  Anyhow, here is what I prepared for the next post...

Richard and I did some paddle trips starting from the front of the marina, at the suburb of Wynnum-Manly, Brisbane City (in Moreton Bay), and I did some on my own in the Brisbane River up and down-stream from Bulimba Point (depending on what tide).  I was starting to learn the bird life around the place: there were Crested Terns, Pied Oystercatchers, an Osprey common around the marina (as well as countless Silver Gulls known to us simply as ‘Sea Gulls’).  On the river, a Brahminy Kite was in residence around the Bulimba Point area.  Richard also pointed out some interesting marine life that we could see in the shallows of the Bay: mostly coral.  On one of these paddling trips I saw a Dugong in the bay swimming along the surface; I was surprised how large the tail-fin was on it.  I had changed address, still in the same town, Brisbane, into a block of flats near the river.  Some of my flat-neighbours saw me paddling with a following tide on the Brisbane River, while they were waiting for a ferry-boat, and commented about how really fast I was going.  I tried to explain that I was not really so fast and it was tide-assistance but, they were determined I was some kind of kayak athlete.  On one occasion a sailing friend, who captained a down river ferry for a job, came up beside me in the river.  We were both watching on TV an old-time square ships drama, Hornblower, at the time and we exchanged some sailor-talk from the series (like ‘down-slack on the main brace’) much to the merriment of the passengers.  Ferries make paddling on the river tough as they are supposed to have right of way – they do up to twenty knots and we kayaker's do 3 knots, so it does not take too much imagination to realise we kayaker's cannot really give way to them.  Speaking of ferries, and the toughness of these kayaks, I was talking to someone at a boat ramp when I was in the kayak on the water and a ferry drove by, the wave from the wash beached my kayak onto the concrete ramp, lifted it up again on the next wave and ‘slam’ down on the concrete again, there was no damage to the boat and I continued on my paddle.  It had been a long time in the making, but I was really enjoying my paddling and the final reward of building was bearing fruit.  I did not have many paddling companions but was enjoying the freedom of paddling whenever I found time off study.

Some of the wash from a down-river ferry (Citycat) at the Bulimba Point boat ramp.  Note, this is my other kayak, a fibreglass one. Sorry to the plywood purists.