Exmouth

Rising early, I catch a dramatic sunrise as we approach our anchor spot at Exmouth. 

After two sea days, expectations for our excursions on land are high. Exmouth is a young, small tourist town on the northwest coast, adjacent to the Cape Range National Park and the Ningaloo Reef, a prime destination for divers and snorkelers. 

While preparing ourselves for the day, the Cruise Director announces that we may be in for some bad luck. A tender has already been to shore (with a medical emergency), but had great difficulty docking at the ship‘s landing platform. The waves are high and the tender bobs like a cork. The Captain will try to orient the ship to make it easier. 

Fifteen minutes later comes the bad news. The land excursions are canceled. We will weigh anchor and cruise on to Broome. 

There is some grumbling amongst the masses. However, there are also those, like Eve and I, who, while disappointed, fully accept the captain‘s decision. He has the responsibility to ensure the safety of all 1000 plus passengers. Climbing in and out of a tender boat is not easy in the best of circumstances. Many of our fellow passengers are less mobile than Eve and I. They bring their crutches and canes and walking frames along when they go to land. 

(Note to self: don’t stop moving as I age. Use all possible assistance with grace and humor!)

I use the newly found free time to finish reading “Chasing Venus”, the story of the international scientific collaboration to measure the transit of Venus across the sun in 1761 and 1769. 

The description of the trip made by the Astronomer Chappe d’Auteroche from France to Baja California is appropriate to the day’s musings about tendering and sea conditions. 

“The instruments and supplies had to be brought to shore with a tender. The small boat rocked in the rolling surf, as breakers crashed over her. Everything was soaked. Clothes could be dried, and some of the instruments as well. But if the sensitive telescope or chronometer got wet, they would be useless, and the entire expedition would be for nothing. 

Chappe wrapped his expensive timepiece carefully and held it close to his body, vowing to keep it dry at all cost. As the small boat was rowed to shore, breakers crashed without pause over it; the water surface was an angry boiling white spray. Chappe could hear the steady thundering of the breaking surf against the cliffs and onto the approaching beach. 

Chappe was not sure he would make it.”