A few photos from Western Australia

[alnav]

I spent a Christmas in Perth in the late 80's via a US Navy Carrier Strike Group port visit. It was on the tail end of an IO deployment and my wife came over, we have great memories of the hospitality. I did get into a little bit of trouble with her due to our going on a winery tour via boat on the Swan River. If that boat is still around there are lots of my brain cells still aboard, hence the problem with my wife she never lets me forget.

The America's Cup races were being held there that year and we were worried that there would not be enough boats available for hire to get the carrier's crew to shore as she had to anchor offshore (the other ships went alongside in Fremantle). Our carriers did not keep many boats aboard in favor of using the space in the hanger for aircraft. It was my job as Surface Operations (among lots of other things) for the Admiral to gather up extra boats and find places on other ships to store them to include welding skids in open and otherwise unused spaces on a few ships. I spent most of the deployment working the issue and developed enough capacity to take care of the problem but, alas, when we arrived there turned out to be lots of boats for hire. I ended up going back and forth mostly by helo.

 

[nineeleven]

Now wait a darn minute....if AUS is on the southern half of this big world, why aren't those photos upside down?

.

Ummm...Mike, don't you know the Earth is Flat?

 

[AKBASSKING]

100%:thumbsup:

Now that is funny!

 

[JimFromMD]

I have been a viewer (with the occasional question) of this website for a couple of years, so thought it was time to post a few photos from Perth, Western Australia. Our main boating season is from November - April, although we can pretty much boat all year round. Our 300DA is penned (slipped is the US term I think) at Hillarys marina which is about 25kms north of the city. Most of our boating is along the Perth coastline with weekend trips to Rottnest Island which is around 10 mile offshore. Rottnest is easy to get to and once at the island there are many protected bays to anchor or use a mooring and a very good pub. We will also venture down to Fremantle for lunch and up the river to the city if the weather is good.

We have a reasonable number of Searays at our marina, although local flybridge boats such as Riviera and Caribbean tend to be more popular. This is our second Searay having upgraded from a 2008 240DA, I understand that our boat was a former fresh water boat from the US which was imported into Australia by one of the local boat brokers (they imported around 100 boats over a 18 month period) when the AUD was high against the USD.

Cheers

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Don't take my question the wrong way, but how big is your dinghy?

I have an 05 300DA and have thought several times about putting a dinghy on the bow like you have in the one photo. Do you travel with it on the bow or was it just there temporarily? Also, do you have any trouble seeing over it? What kind of motor do you use with it and where do you store it?

Thanks
James

 

[bjdunnie]

Don't take my question the wrong way, but how big is your dinghy?

I have an 05 300DA and have thought several times about putting a dinghy on the bow like you have in the one photo. Do you travel with it on the bow or was it just there temporarily? Also, do you have any trouble seeing over it? What kind of motor do you use with it and where do you store it?

Thanks
James

Hi James,

The dinghy on the bow was only temporary, I occasionally put it there if it is in the way when mounted on the stern, it does effect visibility when driving.

From memory it is a 2.5M Quicksilver Air Deck with a little 3hp Yamaha. It fits 2 adults and 2 kids with no problem - the kids love zipping around in it when they have the opportunity. The dinghy and motor are stored on a custom stern rail with snap davits mounted on the swim platform. Its easy to get in/out of the water and sits neatly on the back of the boat.

 

[Summer Fun II]

Cool pics. :thumbsup: . :thumbsup:.

 

[FastMarkA]

When you're anchored at Rottnest, do the massive bugs come over by the water, or do they only stick to the island?

Last winter I did the touristy trip over to the island and rode a bike around the entire thing. It was such a neat place and I thought, "it'd be fun to have a boat here and bring it to this island," but the bugs were more vicious than any other Aussie critters I've seen on Animal Planet!

Perth is a great place -- really enjoyed my time there.