We have whales in front of us.
What the actual heck.
Ferry's too.
As we duck under the Harbour Bridge and sail to a secluded spot north of Sydney.
I'm Kristina and this is John. Together we just packed up our lives.
Kristina Costalos joins me now. Put our careers on hold to sail around Australia. In our new home
Tucana, a 50-foot Jeanneau Sun Odyssey. Join us as we take her to the Great Barrier Reef.
If you're new here welcome and thanks for joining our crew during our 62nd hour straight at sea.
We're currently trying to get Tucana, our yacht, from Melbourne up to Sydney direct.
While dodging covid outbreaks, wintry weather and whales.
This was my first encounter. It's raw, I mean I still have food on my face, as I'm trying to work out what to do,
on watch, by myself, as my boyfriend John tries to get some sleep below deck.
Tucana to Skyfall.
I'm unprepared for this encounter with just three weeks of sailing experience under my belt.
There are whales in front of us and I'm not sure what to do, like do we need to. They are literally
right in front of us, oh my gosh.
We have whales in front of us. They're literally right in front of us.
Reluctantly I have to wake up John, knowing a solid sleep is worth more than gold right now.
Sorry I had to wake you but this tail literally came out and I was going to move but I'm a bit nervous.
Okay, well steer around them.
Just hit auto and steer around them.
Okay.
And as I walk up to the helm.
Go right, go right. 10? Go 10 degrees right. I have.
I have. I just went 10 degrees right. I just went 10 degrees right.
What the actual heck.
I'm so glad I woke you up.
So after watching that, 60 000 whales are currently migrating and that's obviously why we're in that situation.
They're heading up north because they're going to warmer waters to give birth and to mate.
I obviously didn't have much experience at that stage but besides that there are a few points that we wanted to make.
The idea is to stay away from the whales as much as possible.
What we were wondering about is what is the best course of action.
Some people have said to us who are quite experienced with sailing and whatnot that if you're motoring they can hear you
and your best to stay on course so that the whales know where you're going and they'll move out the way.
Other people have told us that as soon as you see a whale you should do your best to alter course to get out of their way.
Um so yeah curious about that one.
Yeah obviously the States have some good rules and regulations around how
close you should get to whales or how close you shouldn't get to whales.
We're not really talking about those it's that unexpected scenario where they pop up.
We'd be really interested to hear if there any sailors out there what your thoughts are on it or even if there are some marine biologists perhaps
who have a educated opinion on this. It'd be interesting to know because there are an awful lot of
whales up the coast. Every time we were out there were at least a dozen whales
I feel like that we saw. Yeah, it happens very frequently
like every few hours at least. Yeah, definitely. They are most active between
April and November.
But they go North and then they go South again.
Exactly yeah. So then around November.
And we were right in the thick of it. Like it was crazy
and as you'll see that wasn't the first time that we had an interaction with whales.
It's a huge mission for these humpbacks, a 5 000 kilometer journey
that takes three months.
Their numbers are increasing by around 10 percent each year which is amazing considering
there were just around 200 of them left in the 1960s when commercial whaling ceased.
There seems to be a common theme here that every day we're all growing and we're all learning and
respecting the ocean more.
We have just one more sleep to go after our last supper at sea.
We have a very balanced diet on board, all the food groups are taken care of.
What do you reckon? Pretty good!
A new day, a new adventure,
as together we creep up on arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
As we approached Sydney Harbour caffeine was a pre-requisite as Johnny Cash blasted through
our speakers. I guess I just said to myself holy moly we bloody did it we're here finally after
four days straight at sea. Our longest stint yet.
I mean our eyeballs were popping out of our heads, mostly though
because of this view. We ended up finding a mooring at rush cutters bay.
90.
I can't even think.
Take 2.
I think we're crazy. We haven't stopped. Instead of sleeping we're putting the solar panel on the deck.
Obviously I was in no headspace to explain why solar panels were so important.
So here's Kristina from the future to explain why
the solar panels were so important at the time.
So up until now we've obviously been in a yacht club so we've always just been plugged into main shore power
but now that we're out and about and we're wanting to go exploring well
we can't just simply plug into any power outlet we need to make our own power and so
that's why we've decided to go with solar.
So the reason why we had to put solar panels right there and then is because we were on a mooring
which meant we weren't in a marina anymore we had already spent eight weeks at a marina.
In Australia they can cost anywhere between $60 to $150 a night
so we had to find a way to be able to charge up these bad boys
which live under the aft cabin here.
So just like your mobile phone you plug it into a power outlet when you want to charge it.
You can drain your battery down to zero. With our lead acid batteries you really don't want to drain
them below 60 percent. I'll ask John why. Hey John...
Are you filming. Yeah I'm filming. You you have to say action. Action.
Righto. Straight out of the manual. Depth of discharge versus battery life. Battery...
Oh my god this is so boring.
as shown in this chart here. Okay.
Is that it?
Essentially the deeper you discharge your batteries the less life cycles you get out of the battery.
That's for AGM.
So you might be asking, well why do you even need batteries on board?
To keep our fridge cold, we also need them things like our bilge pump
which is under the floor. For example if Tucana started taking in water the bilge pumps
rely on battery power.
All our navigation runs off of electricity and obviously we need that to sail.
So that is why..
We have to turn that off because people know where we are.
You may find it interesting one of the biggest consumers of power on the boat while we're sailing
is actually the auto part.
We need to make our own power and so that's why we've decided to go with solar
and that's why we are installing solar right now
because we are on a mooring in the middle of Sydney Harbour.
We want it lined up here on the edge of these.
If you want to know more about our solar panels, let us know in the comments below and I'll get
John to give you the rundown.
In the meantime we're rolling around the double-sided foam to secure our new setup.
Is it useless? No no, so the one on the back one of them is doing 3.5 amps...
Look at the state of this boat we've literally just arrived. Jerry cans, crap everywhere.
Washing everything was a bit damp inside so we thought we'd bring it all out dry everything out.
Dry everything out.
So you guys also sent us a heap of questions on instagram and these were my favorite.
Can I just ask you five quick questions?
Did you puke? No
What was the most memorable moment?
Arriving in Sydney. Oh.
What was the hardest part?
Arriving in Sydney. No honestly, what was the hardest part?
Uh sleep deprivation.
What was the scariest part? Going through the islands at the bottom of Wilson's prom at night.
Admittedly I threw this one.
And who was the better cook? You were.
After the installation we did some errands on land. So we haven't slept yet after our sail
but we have gone to the laundromat and the grocery store. IT'S LAUN-DRO-MAT.
and now we're about to go on a dinghy.
I thought you're gonna fall in then.
It's not going to get wet is it? I don't know, I hope not, we've just spent 10 bucks on the dryer.
Just be careful because it rocks. Yep okay.
Careful.
How good is the new tender? Our boat is the very last one
I don't know how far away do you think it is John?
200 meters.
Imagine doing this maggot.
There's like more than a ripple, we're, we're going down.
It was hard to believe we had just arrived and yet tomorrow we were off again.
At least the tender's still there.
Morning sunshine.
Up until now Australia had been able to essentially eradicate coronavirus from the community.
Overseas travellers returning back to Australia spend time in hotel quarantine
but somehow the virus escaped and it was now bubbling away in the community
threatening the city into lockdown. But no one really knew what was happening and after four
days at sea, John and I briefly wanted to stretch our legs and so we did a bit of sightseeing.
Our favorite spot? The cruising yacht club of Australia which
is actually where the Sydney to Hobart kicks off.
Everyone from around the world looks at the Rolex Sydney Hobart race as one of the races of the world.
It's where we've organised to meet BA and Tracy.
who were on the other boat Skyfall.
Well... that was fun.
This time one of us may have been a little maggot...
but a view like this was about to brush off any hangover.
We're about to blast under the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge but first let's introduce you
to our newest crew member Chris.
One of John's friends.
One of our friends should I say. I was like one of John's friends Chris has joined us. It's only been like 15 years.
We all went to school together.
And we are heading to the Hawksbury today.
For a second he had me.
Oh my, there's another ferry!
Do we wave? Yeh.
They're like, okay, you guys are crazy!!
The bridge is arguably one of Australia's seven wonders. It dates back to the 30s and was nicknamed
the coat hanger for obvious reasons. This colossal structure
will stand as a monument to British engineering, skill
and courage. Designed to span the greatest arch in the world.
Luna Park is at its doorstep and the Opera House is a stone's throw away.
It was designed by a danish architect in the 50s.
As we leave Sydney Harbour we're about to put up Tucana's sails. This next spot we're about to
show you is a sailing mecca.
Well, this is the first time that John and I are going to put the mainsail together and
I'm a little bit nervous but we have to do it at some point.
First we have to put away the headsail before turning into wind
and then we'll get the mainsail ready and unzip the covers.
John has to do the honours because I literally can't reach the mainsail halyard.
So we are now putting Tucana into wind.
Overcoming fear I think is pretty powerful thing,
as you know knowledge grows so does your confidence.
We will get better.
And just as we were celebrating friendship and this incredible milestone um you guessed it,
another bloody whale.
The 30 nautical mile trip from Sydney to Pinta Bay
took us about five hours and this little nook tucked up in the Hawkesbury River is
so secluded but it hosts two free moorings and one was just waiting for us at dusk.
Stunning the light at the moment the lighting is absolutely phenomenal everyone's taking photos.
The lighting is absolutely stunning and it's just like such a good atmosphere.
Coming up next, we finally launch our brand new dinghy...
but the outboard gives us grief...
before a visit from Marine Rescue New South Wales.
I can't believe that we just had them come on board and visit us!