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00:01The Big Cat Reality is finally back in the Bundaberg Port Marina after a grueling nine
00:07week refit at The Slip in Brisbane. The Big Cat had to have a complete refit, a new coat of
00:14paint
00:14and a few surprises too. Tempers were tested but she is now ready for her first trip of the season.
00:21The first stop along the way is Sweet Lipped Reef, one of the most picturesque sections of
00:28the Swain system. With perfect water depth and temperature Sweet Lipped Reef is definitely
00:34a fisherman's dream. Although on the full cast it looks like there could be bad weather heading
00:39their way, Captain James McVeigh cannot afford to cancel a trip, especially after having spent a
00:46quarter of a million dollars fixing the cat up for the start of the season. One boat, one crew,
00:54one hell of a good time. Take adventure to the next level with skipper James McVeigh.
01:03Exploring nature's hidden gems with the best in the business.
01:18There is more rod racks up the top so if you just maybe put two or three rods that you're
01:22going to use on the day or regularly, other than that you put all your other excess rods
01:26upstairs.
01:26With all the crew and guests now securely on the vessel, they can set off into the
01:31night. Arriving at the southern part of the Swains in the morning with high hopes of sunny
01:38skies, glassy seas and a cool bag full of fish. As the sun cracks over the horizon, the crew
01:49are up and at them, getting ready to weigh anchor. And to their surprise, the weather doesn't seem
01:56to be as bad as predicted.
01:57We have finally arrived and at the moment Brad's getting organised for the tenders. It'll
02:04be interesting to see how he goes because we haven't done it for a while and probably forget
02:08a few little things, but that's alright.
02:10With the anchor in, Captain James wants to be ready to drop the tenders into the water
02:14within the hour. That means his crew will need to work on overdrive to get everything sorted
02:20before it's time to put the boats in. James runs a tight ship. He needs to have the crew
02:26that function well as a team and these boys certainly do that. Right now, Chef Jeff and
02:32deckhand Brad are getting some bait ready for the guests, while newcomer Harry tries to
02:38figure out his way around the ship.
02:40So, young Harry. So, Harry's worked with us before with a previous operation that I've had
02:46as well. He turned up this season. He worked on the slip with us, so that's always a good
02:52test. He went really well. This is his first trip. He's young, keen, and he's a tradie.
03:00So I'm expecting big things of him.
03:03Greg is ready.
03:04I can see that.
03:06He doesn't have to go to eat it.
03:07Oh, nice.
03:08It looks awesome.
03:09I'll have a go.
03:10Dave's going to have to have extra then.
03:16Good morning. How are you?
03:17I'm good.
03:20Okay, you ready to go?
03:21This is an awkward lift this setup. The rest are a lot more controlled.
03:24I'll try and get her in the drink as quick as I can to stop that movement.
03:27This is one of the most dangerous operations the crew have to perform.
03:31They need to lower 0.5 ton tenders into the water.
03:46Captain James needs to be alert, as any rocking of the boat could send one of these tenders
03:52flying across and into a member of his crew.
04:04No worries.
04:06No worries, guys.
04:07See ya.
04:10After a full nine weeks of hard work, two full days in port, a whole night steaming, the
04:16big cat and her crew are finally out on the reef, free of guests, and can take a second
04:21to breathe and take in the astounding beauty that surrounds them.
04:26With stunning shallow lagoons full of life, Captain James can only hope that his guests
04:32can find and catch their esky full of fish and come back to the mothership with a big
04:36smile and ready to quench their thirst.
04:41It's good to be back out here.
04:43Of course, there's still stress.
04:44It's a different type of stress.
04:45It's completely different to the slip.
04:47But now it's all about the crew, the guests, and just enjoying the environment we're in.
04:56This morning went well.
04:58So it's the time, just about eight o'clock.
05:01So we've got a couple of new crew and, of course, the boat hasn't been operational for
05:04a while.
05:05Plenty of opportunities for things not to go quite right, but it all went real well.
05:09A few little things we've forgotten to bring along with us, but we'll make do.
05:13All the guests are happy.
05:15They're on the water.
05:16And now it's time we can finally sit down and have a bit of breaky ourselves.
05:20So I'm very happy with the way it's running so far.
05:28Hi, Big Cat.
05:29This is ten to three.
05:31Over.
05:32Yeah, right there, Chick.
05:3311-3.
05:34We'll see you back at lunch for 11-3.
05:36Roger that, Big Cat.
05:40Left to their own devices, the guests on the Big Cat are out and about in search of a
05:45hotspot.
05:46Everyone's got their own idea of where to head.
05:49For the first day of the first trip of the season.
05:53It's been pretty successful.
05:55All the boats have come back with a cool bag full of sweet lip and coral trout.
05:59And all look like they're in need of a good meal.
06:03A couple of laughs and a few beers.
06:31So even though a trip might be going really well, it doesn't take much to change the
06:35mood of the trip.
06:37The mood of the trip or a little thing goes wrong, all of a sudden it's a bigger drama
06:41than you wanted and the whole trip starts to take a turn.
06:46Getting ready for their second day on the water, the Big Cat crew have realised that something
06:51doesn't seem right.
06:53Captain James is now taking the reins to figure out what exactly is going on.
07:01Captain James has woken this morning by deckhand Brad, informing him that one of the tenders
07:07wasn't sitting properly in the water.
07:09If James has an issue with one of the boats, it can mean that he has four very unhappy customers
07:15without a boat for the rest of the trip.
07:17This is the last thing he wants.
07:38Having realised that the rear tender was full of water, James has made the executive decision
07:44to put the morning on hold, lift the boat and check out the issue.
07:54So what's happened this morning is we woke up to the back boat, which happened to number
08:00four, low in the water.
08:01So we realised there was a problem.
08:04Went over and discovered that it had taken a fair bit of water on board.
08:08Something we haven't had before is a trim and tilt button.
08:14Handle, trim and tilt switch is jammed on overnight randomly.
08:20Trimmed the motor up, flattened the battery, therefore took the bilge pump out and been
08:25in the back boat with a tidal area, it's quite calm but tidal area, so it had it stern to
08:29the
08:29weather and it's taken water on and had no pump to shut down.
08:35Harry, jump in, the trim button's on again, hear it?
08:40It's just doing itself.
08:41Just press down once.
08:44Just press it once down.
08:45That's it.
08:46That's randomly happened overnight, which is then trim the motor up, flatten the battery,
08:50it's doing it again.
08:52Righto, let's get it up.
08:55It's doing it again now.
08:57Okay, ready to lift.
09:01James will need to sort this out, so he can then focus on getting the other guests into
09:06the water.
09:07Everyone wants to make the most of what time they can spend out in their boats.
09:13Just press down.
09:15Let go.
09:17Just give a flick, wiggle.
09:22Take them off.
09:31A faulty switch, which may not seem like such a big deal, this will have major knock-on effects,
09:36making this entire tender unusable for the rest of the trip.
09:52If we lose the use of a boat now, our first trip out here, it's very disappointing for
09:58the fact that obviously it's going to impact on the guests' experience and we don't really
10:04have backup at this point, so it's critical we sort this out and make sure we get that
10:09boat back online as quick as we can.
10:11Right, JB.
10:12What am I doing?
10:13Because of the tide, I'm just going to race over and look at these moorings.
10:16If you want to prep the big cat up, ready for departure.
10:19I'll be able to work out if we can get them pretty quick.
10:21Other than that, we'll stand by to winch up and move over to that big knob.
10:24Having spent so long this morning sorting out the sinking tender, James and JB have now
10:29realised they have left it too late to get the moorings.
10:32And the tide has now risen.
10:35So with this type of operation, it is critical that we keep an eye on the whole sequence
10:40of events.
10:41For example, this morning we've had an issue.
10:43Obviously it's distracted us.
10:45We've focused on fixing that problem.
10:47But of course the knock-on effect is we didn't get the moorings out.
10:50Now the tide's changed.
10:51Now the float's below the surface.
10:54All right, Harry, let's go.
10:55Need a jacket.
10:56And we're going to get those moorings because they've gone.
10:58With the main mooring now sitting anchored to the bottom under a high tide, new deckhand
11:04Harry will have to prove himself and retrieve this mooring to impress Captain James.
11:13It's critical we do get this mooring back.
11:16Obviously we need it for our operation when we move to the next site.
11:19So whilst we can't get it at the moment, we've got a few options up our sleeves.
11:24But the sooner we get it the better.
11:25Can you just get a shot?
11:28With the tide roaring, James and Harry's surgical float.
11:31There it is.
11:32They've spotted it.
11:33There's only one thing left to do.
11:35You have a twice again and I'm by you.
11:44Oh, you Mehrан.
11:51Yeah, you have a twice again and out.
11:52There it is.
11:56You're watching the peppers.
12:01One, two, three.
12:04You have a twice a second.
12:04Look, keep keep keep keep keep keep height, mate.
12:06Hooked up? Still got him?
12:08While jumping over the side, obviously in the middle of the ocean, inherent risk with that,
12:13obviously marine life, currents, all that sort of stuff.
12:16It is important we get it back, he's a young fella, he's keen, he's volunteered,
12:20so it's a sacrifice we're prepared to make.
12:29With successfully finding the mooring, the boys now have to pull it
12:32from the bottom and into the boat.
12:44It's great, we've now got a few bits and pieces back in line,
12:48get a chance for the crew just to reset, get organised, get ready for the guests to come back
12:53and get the trip back on track. Now back on the mothership,
12:56the crew can raise the anchor and head to a more protected part of the reef.
13:01There they will wait for the bad weather to come in over the next couple of days.
13:05Harry did a great job jumping over the side,
13:07and I've saved the day with the mooring,
13:09so now that we've got to move,
13:11it probably suits us that one of the little boats follow us.
13:14So Harry's keen, he's a new guy,
13:16he wants to go for a bit of a fish on the way,
13:18so he's earned it.
13:20Good luck to him, I hope he enjoys it.
13:29That's a good fish on the big cat.
13:31He's probably 15 metres off.
13:37Ooh, that's a colour.
13:50Yahoo!
13:51Ha ha!
13:53Yes!
13:55Woo!
13:58Overwhelmed with the excitement of catching his first GT,
14:01Harry continues on his way to meet up again with the mothership,
14:05but he's found that the big cat is in action stations.
14:21The boys who lost their boat earlier this morning
14:23don't seem to be missing out on all the fun after all.
14:26James is excited that he finally gets to use the new rear fishing platform
14:31and his external ship controls.
14:38Oh no!
14:40Yes, he did that much!
14:54Good work!
14:55Good work!
14:56Well done, Steve!
14:58Floating gap, how good is that?
15:06How long a gap, Franks?
15:09With a lanyard!
15:10With a lanyard!
15:15Ready?
15:16Hey!
15:21As a day of ups and downs comes to an end,
15:23the crew are finishing off their duties.
15:27One of Chef Jeff's duties is to fill up the day's catch on the back deck.
15:31He seems to gather a fair audience while doing so.
15:35And that's not just the other guests.
15:49A myriad of sharks gather at the back of the boat for an easy feed.
15:53Lemon sharks, bull sharks, whaler sharks and even a nurse shark
15:57all work in one pack to feed on the leftovers from the day's haul.
16:01It's a spectacular sight, and a good bit of entertainment for the guests.
16:28It's 2pm on the afternoon of the third day of the trip out to the Swains.
16:33The guests have been out all day.
16:35The guests have been out all day.
16:35facing the wind and rain to catch as many fish as possible,
16:39before the bigger storm front heads in.
16:43Captain James has just received an emergency call over the radio
16:46from one of the tenders in need of assistance.
16:49If one of the boys gets caught up and their anchor's stuck,
16:51if he hasn't got the gear handy, we're going to buck out and sort it out.
17:02Obviously, the easy option is just to cut the anchor,
17:04it's just an anchor, you know, blah, blah.
17:07However, if they don't have an anchor out here,
17:09whilst we do have a couple of spares,
17:11basically that's their handbrake.
17:13If there's no anchor, they can't operate safely on the reef,
17:16so to recover it is the best option, and that's our first option.
17:20With the storm front now starting to make its way towards Big Cat,
17:24James and Harry head straight into it to try and reach the trapped tender,
17:29but before they can help, they have to locate the boat in very low visibility.
17:36So I've located the guys, they're well and truly stuck,
17:40there's no way they're getting them by themselves,
17:42so we've got the gear here, so I'll race down and have a good look.
17:47James is diving into unknown territory,
17:49and has no idea where or how the anchor is stuck,
17:53and who knows what else could be lurking around the bottom.
17:59So certainly in deep water on the way down,
18:02I can see it's right in the middle of a bommie,
18:04and quite deep in the formation.
18:09Being completely alone,
18:11Captain James places down a camera
18:13to capture his salvage of the anchor from the reef.
18:18In these shark-infested waters,
18:21James needs to stay alert to his surroundings.
18:27So we went on the bottom,
18:28clearly the tide was pulling pretty heavy on the chain,
18:31and the current was pretty strong,
18:34so basically I had to be pretty quick in my releasing the anchor,
18:39so that I could at least grab the camera
18:41before I basically had to chase the anchor as it drifted off.
18:56With the anchor now safely out of the reef,
18:59James has had a win,
19:01but the job isn't over.
19:03The boys need to front the storm as it pushes back towards Big Cat.
19:23The
19:24events such as these are what defines a skipper.
19:26James could have easily made the guests cut their line
19:29and leave the anchor on the bottom,
19:31but instead he went out of his way to make sure
19:34there is nothing left behind to litter the ocean.
19:39While we plan to fish in all the locations that we intend to do,
19:44clearly the weather's the ultimate dictator of what we can get away with.
19:48The boys are happy to head back, we'll get an early finish,
19:50and they can get organised and start to head home.
19:54Now back on board and in some dry clothes,
19:57James has a chat with the guests about possible options,
20:01now that a larger storm is headed their way.
20:04So we'll just take our time, increase speed in about probably ten minutes,
20:08and then just keep heading south.
20:11Is everyone happy with that arrangement?
20:13No worries, thanks very much guys, cheers.
20:16The crew and guests have made the decision to bunker down on board.
20:19They're going to punch on home into the storm and arrive back early.
20:24It will be a rough trip, but that's what adventure is all about.
20:34The guests still make the most of being out on the water,
20:37and a few of the boys throw out a couple of trawlers.
20:40As Big Cat intersects a large school of yellowfin tuna,
20:44two of the guests hook up a good double catch
20:46to put an early finish to a good trip.
21:13So that's the first trip completed after the big slipping.
21:17It's all gone really well.
21:18A few little things weren't quite
21:19right but the crew did a great job of keeping the guests happy and safe and it feels good that
21:25we've finally delivered our first trip and now we'll fix up those few little things that we
21:29could do better at and get ready for the next trip. With the first trip of the season coming
21:36to an end and bad weather settling in, James and the crew head home to have a warm shower,
21:43a good sleep and some time with their families in preparation for their next big adventure.
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