Locked in the Loo in Gero

The “ Beautiful Batavia Coast Marina” as it is called in the Geraldton Visitor's brochure, is a state-run facility with more amenities than many, but less than a private marina would usually offer. It's secure ... we have to use electronic keys to get in and out of the jetty gates and the ablutions block (read that toilets, shower, laundry). We were issued a separate key for the trash tip (dumpster) though it was unlocked and overflowing when we made our first contribution. The marina is unattended and all questions and discussion about what is and is not working or available is by telephone between 8:15 and 4pm, Monday through Friday. It's not the Ritz, but it's not bad. It is quite expensive by our standards ($50/day), but it's certainly convenient for repair of the windlass (yes, we'll talk about that soon) and for check-out procedures.  

There are a couple of issues we've experienced, however, that are rather disconcerting. The shower block for marina residents is separate from the public toilets which is good. The showers and toilets, however, are unisex … little compartments, all in the same room … which could present an issue at times. We went late last night … all primed for a good, relaxing hot shower, but alas … no hot water. What a disappointment after stripping down and waiting … and waiting … and waiting for the hot water to kick in. There wasn't any. No switches to switch, no knobs to turn, nothing to plug in … no hot water. Ah, well … we'll call the Department of Transport – Marine Division in the morning and see if they can help.

One morning at 0615, I headed to the ablutes for my morning toilet run. It's a dark, dank, eerie sort of place especially in the morning when the sun's not quite up. The dim lights are on a photo-sensor, so you're in the dark for a second or two when you first step in. The floors are concrete. There are no windows, just vents along the roof line. I used my electronic key fob to get in, but to get out you need to press a green button. There's no keypad on the inside, no other door and no other exit options. I did my business, then pressed the green button to exit. Nothing happened. I pressed it again … nothing happened. Hmm … I must be doing something wrong, although I'm usually adept at pushing buttons, especially when there's only one large green one to choose from. I tried another 10-20 times without success. Aha … I'll push the door closed tightly and try again. Nope. I'll pull the door and push the button. Nope. I'll pound on the door and perhaps catch a passerby. What could they do without an electronic fob to either open the door or open the jetty gate to get David? I leaned against the wall and contemplated my possibilities. Waiting seemed like the only option. I moved around a bit to make sure the lights didn't go out. David would eventually discover I was missing and perhaps come to look for me. More likely, he'd need to use the ablutes, too, at some point and he'd rescue me. When, however, was the big question. He was very distracted when I left, absorbed in windlass thoughts. I really needed to be patient (not my long suit!).

Every 3-4 minutes, I'd try that stubborn green button again … always without success. I'd press it hard. I'd press it gently. I'd press it once. I'd press it 20 times in a row as fast as I could. It seemed futile. My thoughts turned to dying in an ablution block. How embarrassing! What if there was a fire? I'd be cooked! I really needed a cup of tea. There was nothing to read, no windows to look out. Woe is me. I pushed that damned green button again with a fair bit of cursing involved. Lo and behold … the door opened. I couldn't believe it. Free … free at last. I stomped back to the boat.

“Didn't you miss me? I've been gone well over an hour!”

“Oh, were you? Sorry, hon, I've been working on a windlass solution. I didn't even notice.”

Yup, I could have died in there!

Geraldton - A Cursory Glance

As always, I was anxious to check out the town of Geraldton and discover what there was to see and do here. We had decided we'd treat ourselves to a couple of days in the marina just before leaving which would facilitate our check-out procedure, final provisioning, laundry and allow for hot showers. As it turned out, the windlass was making strange noises during anchoring and David's initial observations didn't bode well for a quick, inexpensive recovery. Working on it at the dock made sense, but we'd stay at anchor one more night till we got things sorted out.  

We wanted to check out the marina berths before bringing Cups in and since it was such a short distance from the anchorage, we launched the dinghy and headed through the breakwater into the Batavia Coast Marina. We tied up at a convenient dinghy dock and headed into town. My Maps With Me app on the iPad (I love this free app!) provided a good layout of the town and we knew where the Visitor's Centre, Dept of Transport (to arrange for our marina berth) and Customs were all located and set about to visit them in that order.

As it turned out, the Visitor's Centre is almost directly across the street from the marina entrance. It's housed in the historic Victoria District Hospital (c. 1877) facility which was also used as a regional prison for awhile. Glenda and Melanie were the pleasant, most helpful volunteers-on-duty when we visited and offered lots of local information, maps and brochures. There were several sights to see … possibly between chores and windlass repairs. One disappointment was that the wildflowers had already peaked, not as colorfully as had been hoped, due to lack of rain.

We passed by the Old Gaol (jail) which now housed Aboriginal Artists and crafts and then the Old Railroad Station, a sign out front inviting us to “Platform Markets” on the weekend. Both places might require a bit more investigation in the next couple of days. At the Department of Transport, Debra answered all our questions, booked us a berth, gave us our keys in advance to save us another trip and handled all the billing issues. We headed to Customs, but thought we'd have a kebab (we know them as Mideastern shawarmas) for a late lunch along the way. That's when I spotted the sign for “The Camel Bar and Restaurant … World's Largest Collection of Camels”. Now, I know we had places to go and things to do, but really, how can you pass up an opportunity like this? I couldn't. We munched through our kebab in record time and walked on over to the Camel Bar … just for pics. My … what a fine camel collection. Camels playing poker, camels in the desert sands, camels riding motorcycles and driving race cars. Camel cigarettes and Camel Beer and camel signs and then just lots and lots of camels … big, small, tall, fancy, tiny, on mugs, on mirrors. This might be a good place for a beer sometime.

On we trudged to the Custom House which was at the opposite end of the marine foreshore, close to the commercial docks as expected. No one was in attendance at the moment … call or come back later. Later was fine with us.

We headed back along the foreshore to get some pics of Cups at anchor. She looked rather lovely and graceful, bobbing gently in the light swell of blue-green water.

The foreshore area is well done with public art, bits of exercise equipment placed here and there, public art displays, a playground, a cafe, a beach. In general, a nice place for walking along the shore and enjoying the day. One public art work entitled “Wajarri” (The Emu in the Sky) was a grouping of stylized emu eggs decorated in Aboriginal designs with an accompanying story about the native Yamaji people and their tradition of collecting emu eggs in season.

We'd heard somewhere about the Rubik's Cube toilets in Gero and forgotten all about them till we spotted them up ahead. They look pretty much like toilets on the inside (I checked, of course), but they're pretty darned colorful on the outside. Glad you don't need to solve a puzzle before you use them.

We couldn't help but remember the Hundertwasser Toilets we saw in Kawakawa, New Zealand. That's our friend, Fay, in the pic. We seldom take pics of our friends coming from the toilet, but this was an exception.

And then we were back at the dinghy heading back to Cups and thinking about sundowners and windlasses and things we might do in Gero and windlasses and dinner and maybe a movie and windlasses ...

Hanging on the Hook - Geraldton, Western Australia

The weather has been benign for the past few days … light, variable winds and warm, pleasant, though sometimes overcast days. We spent two gloriously calm, quiet nights on the Port Denison Jetty before heading north once again for a quick 45nm trip to Geraldton … Gero, to the locals. Continued settled weather is expected for several days and though we could have stayed in Port Denison very easily due to lack of wind, we decided we'd rather motor-sail to Geraldton, get all of our pre-departure chores out of the way and be poised for the next weather window that would have us off across the Indian.  

The exit from Port Denison was oh so different than the mind-jarring, teeth-rattling, boat thrashing exit from Two Rocks. A local fisherman offered to toss our lines. We motored out of the harbor ever so calmly, coughing a bit from the lobster boat exhaust in front of us, then put up the sails and headed north without incident.

The day was mostly overcast and light winds were forecast, but we sailed for a couple of hours before the wind disappeared altogether. The seas were flat and we made good time, arriving in Geraldton mid-afternoon. We saw fewer whales today … maybe only five or six. We were spoiled the other day with so many sightings. Still, none of them venture very close to the boat whether we're sailing or motoring. That's probably a good thing in one way, but I'm dying for some close-up whale shots.

The only marginal excitement of the trip was avoiding lobster pots. They seem to be strung in fairly straight lines with another row parallel and about three boat lengths away. We thought we were in deep enough water to avoid them altogether, but evidently not, since we saw a lot. It's not bad if they're white or brightly colored, at least you can spot them pretty much in advance as long as you keep a good look-out. Black ones though, are so hard to see. The thoughts of fouling the prop or dragging a lobster trap with us are not pleasant.

The entrance to Geraldton Harbour is a well-marked ship's channel. Our AIS told us there were three ships at anchor and another ship and a pilot boat just exiting the harbor. We stayed out of the channel till the exiting ship passed and then headed in. We could see the candy cane striped Point Moore Lighthouse as we approached.

It's a wide, deep channel to accommodate the large ships which carry primarily iron ore from the port. The channel meanders a bit, a dog-leg here, a left turn there, but we eventually made it to the East Breakwater, our anchoring spot for the night. Calling it a breakwater is a bit of a stretch. It's not solid like most breakwaters, but rather a broken wall affair just above sea level. It appears, however, to do the trick. We anchored in about 12' (3.7m) of clear, turquoise water.

As we tidied up, we watched people at a lookout at the end of another breakwater taking our picture. If they'd only known, I was taking their picture at the same time. Tourists!