Day 17 - Thurs 17th Feb

Diving Day!!! Late start today while we waited for Chef Dale to cook fresh cinnamon buns (from scratch) on board Vis a Vis, sharing ovens with Antares (our oven didn't work!?). Delicious and even better than Nancy's Bakery in Lund (Sunshine Coast) - Nigel you will remember! Moved dive gear and 4 tanks over to Antares and cast off at 12.30 for dive site at Long Island Marine Park. Arrived at site and geared up with John and Enid (Kiwi skipper Richard's lovely Canadian wife) and began dive at 13.25. Full wet suit, hood, gloves and booties and 22kg of weight! Water about 15degrees C. and very murky. Visibility poor - approx 8 feet. Stayed at 10-15 feet to try and clear right ear (old wound of middle ear infection back in '79 in Red Sea still plays up!) and tried to descend to Enid on bottom - only 45 feet max. But as tried to descend, ear refused to clear. Enid on bottom, John still at surface, murky all around, no fish, no fun - had to decide whether to persevere or abort. Chose the latter and returned to the surface, disappointed. ($320 cost of rental). Lunch on board with chilled glass of Sauvignon helped cheer me up. Enid and John enjoyed dive til 14.15 and saw crayfish and tried feeding cod fish with sea urchin which Enid broke up with rock on bottom! Scallop season just over (enjoyed fresh scallop dinner last night on board - Richard bagged 190 on previous dive!!!). Will have to wait for fresh crayfish!
Motored to Ship Cove, dropped anchor at 16.00 and went ashore in dinghy to view Cook Memorial and read all about the infamous Captain James Cook. Walked up forest pathway to waterfall, sat at the beach looking our boats at anchor and tried to imagine Cook's tall ship sitting there and the life he and his crew must have experienced on his 3 voyages of exploration all those years ago (between 1768-1779).
Moved to inner cove to raft up for the night and enjoyed freshly caught green-lipped mussels and chilled Marlborough wine on board Antares. Sighted more dolphins offshore. Drank and danced on foredeck of Millenium Spirit until late, staring up at the waxing moon and Southern Cross and listening to Cold Play. AMAZING!!!
NOTE: First Voyage 1768-1771 aboard HMS Endeavour - sailed to Cape Horn, Tahiti, New Zealand (later mapped complete NZ coastline), E.Australia (landing at Botany Bay), Indonesia, Cape of Good Hope;  Second Voyage 1772-1775 aboard HMS Resolution - sailed to Antarctic, Tahiti, Easter Island, New Caledonia and successfully calculated longitudinal position of S.Pacific (navigational charting of large area of Pacific a major achievement);  Third Voyage 1776-1779 aboard HMS Resolution - Northwest passage, Hawaii, Oregon, Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island, Bering Strait, Alaska, Hawaii - killed 14 Feb 1779.
Interesting to also note that William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, sailed to Tahiti on HMS Bounty in 1787; and George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, led an exploration to Pacific North West in 1791-1794.