Lots of moving around the Gold Coast, extremes of temperature from cool to sweltering, too much waiting around for our liking have characterized our last two weeks, but we have been sorting ourselves out. So let’s catch up with what has been going on.

Bird watching

First, some photos of beautiful birds, taken while we were at Tiger Mullet, hiding from a blow. It was so nice to shoot these but hard because of the wind and being a bit rusty with this type of photography! The Curlews were taken from the dinghy, the birds in flight from the back of Anui, neither craft very stable in the conditions!

Eastern Curlews, critically endangered wetland birds, were on the sand islets at low tide in large numbers, just next to our anchorage. We had never seen so many. Brahminy Kites and Whistling Kites were also in the air, hunting, looking magnificent. Here is a slideshow of our feathered friends.

Body and Boat Maintenance

Once back at the Gold Coast, we got a few things done!

• Agreed with Chris from Shine Stainless Steel Marine Fabrications on the design of two new davits that will bring the dinghy up high while on offshore trips yet stow it safely without spoiling the view at the back while coastal cruising.
• Lined up Scott Keogh of SK Yacht Rigging to re-rig Anui in February while we are hauled out.  Although the rig is only 9 years old, we don’t want issues with boat insurance next year when the 10 year rigging change deadline comes up nor do we want any problem while we are offshore! We are very pleased to have Scott organized for February as he is excellent but hard to get.
• Managed to finally re-insure Anui. What a rigmarole that was! See our separate section in this post.
• Dentist check up – all good
• Medical check up – all good
• Annual full body computer scan for skin cancer risk assessment – Chris got off unscathed but Wade’s face has a suspect patch on his cheek and he has just had a shave biopsy. We will see what happens next!

In between appointments, we have enjoyed catching up with friends, as well as some surfing and drone flying at the end of South Stradbroke Island, just near the Spit.

But then as the northerlies settled, Blue Bottle jellyfishes appeared on the beach, as well as these two species: the Velella also known as By The Wind Sailor, and the stunning and stinging Blue Glaucus or Blue Sea Dragon. Both we had seen in reference books but not washed up on the sand before! That was the end of the paddling for Wade and now he is not allowed to get his face wet anyway!

Fun and Games with Boat Insurance

While many land based people are struggling to get home insurance, especially in areas prone to flooding, we have had major problems getting insurance for our purpose-built home on water! We had a stressful month after our boat insurer of the last two years, Red Sky, decided to get out of Pleasure Craft Insurance. We know of many other yachties facing difficulties insuring their boat annually. It is getting harder, more expensive, more restrictive every year. So what follows will be of interest mainly to Australian yachties amongst our readers.

The search for alternative insurance was painstaking! Our original broker was only able to supply a quote from Pantaenius that had terms we found unacceptable. We then approached a number of insurers directly, including Club Marine, Trident, Top Sail, Nautilus and New Wave, none of which were prepared to insure us. Their biggest issue appeared to be that we were permanent live-aboards with no residential address. It seems insurers have a view that live aboards have no financial capacity and are thus unable to keep their boat seaworthy. They think of the rotting hulk on a mooring that somebody lives on because it’s cheap. Another issue for some was that Anui is not a production boat and is 22 years old.

Feeling quite worried, we approached Tudor Insurance Brokers and explained our situation, providing complete information about our circumstances. Brokers can often be more effective at securing cover with their ability to talk directly to the underwriters with detailed information about individual cases. They were able to provide a policy which met our needs although at 1.5 times the cost compared to the previous year, a sign of the times!  We are now insured by Hiller Boat Insurance, which is associated with New Wave interestingly enough. A big thank you to Lauren Davis (03 9707 3033) who would be happy to talk to any yachties about their boat insurance needs.

Where to next?

We have a few weeks to kill between now and our haul out on 30th January. We are staying in South East Queensland as our activities will be dependent on the results of the biopsy and the weather. Fraser Island and the Southern Reefs are on the wish list but we will see how things develop.

Merry Christmas to you all.