Jan 7, 2006 - Elan Update Part 5: Return to the Coral Sea
by Scott and Wendy Bannerot

At the time of the last update Ryan and Wendy had just flown out of Cairns while I was still aboard the Nomad Sportfishing mothership Odyssey 2, headed for a last fuel stop in Mackay before venturing out for five weeks of charter fishing work at remote outposts in the Coral Sea: places like Frederick, Wreck, and Kenn Reefs. We'd checked out Kenn Reef en route to Australia aboard our 41-foot sloop Elan in 2002, and then I'd spent last September there working for Nomad, before Ryan joined me for a month at the northern Great Barrier Reef outpost Lizard Island.

High adventure at remote sunken atolls in the Coral Sea is not normally a practical long-term prospect for sailboat cruisers. Nomad Sportfishing - with mothership Odyssey 2 along with custom fishing skiffs and game boats - for the first time makes it possible for folks to fly out and spend a week experiencing the unbelievable contact with nature, scenery, fishing, and diving on tap at these oceanic oases.

Somehow, as November wore in to December, throughout a kaleidoscope of fantastic memories guiding fishing clients in the pristine wilderness of the Coral Sea, Ryan's words continued to ring in my ears..."I'd like to come back in our own boat, Dad, so we can do more together when you don't have to work all of the time." Finally the charter work ended, including the filming of six episodes of "Spanish Fly" with ESPN2, and it was time to head back in from Kenn Reef nearly 300 nautical miles to Hervey Bay. We were all discussing arrangements for the 2006 schedule when Damon Olsen, the operator/co-owner of the company, approached me in the wheelhouse. "Look, Scott, it's obvious you can't be leaving Ryan and Wendy behind like this any more. What would you think about sailing Elan out here and commuting to work each day to do the guiding? That way the family would be together, and you'd be out cruising again like you want to be, and getting paid for it." I was on the satellite phone in minutes running the idea by Wendy and Ryan, and their reaction was the same as mine...Count us in!

Finally the long hiatus (some 36 months) from the sailing life appears to have an ending. We have some work to do on all fronts, including some fairly routine sprucing up and refurbishing aboard Elan, but it always lightens your step and puts a smile on your face when the departure date is only three and a half months away. It also puts many of the memories from the past month - like scuba dives in crystal clear waters surrounded by colorful reef fish, towering coral, and all kinds of other interesting reef creatures; nesting loggerhead turtles congregating in the sandy shallows before trekking up the beach to dig nests and lay eggs; the lightning-fast strikes of blue, black and striped marlin, and the deliberate, swishing takes of sailfish - into a different perspective. Next time Elan will be anchored just inside the reef wall and Wendy and Ryan will be out there to enjoy it too.

When people ask what was our favorite all-time destination, our honest reply is that we have found so much to enjoy everywhere we visited that it's impossible to say. Certainly selected locations and experiences stand out, and for us many of these involved remote reefs and atolls where we spent most of our time diving, fishing, and exploring the natural wonders of the tropical Pacific. We are looking forward to the unbelievable experience of doing this where there'll be a weekly seaplane and a mothership to visit - you know, if for some reason you want a current newspaper or a bowl of ice cream, maybe while taking in a movie on the wide screen, while you are living literally out near the middle of the Coral Sea! Obviously, too, this provides an unprecedented safety margin for cruising with a family far from shore. It would be an understatement to say that these new plans for 2006 in many respects exceed our wildest dreams, and we can't wait to throw the lines. I guess if you keep putting one foot in front of the other and take an occasional leap of faith, you never know what might pop up around the next corner. We'll make arrangements to report in faithfully from the Coral Sea and let you know what happens, although you might first have to do some sweating and grunting with us while we get the boat back together prior to departure.