Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Category: Cruiser Connections

  • Euakafa

    The boat hadn’t moved too far from the buoy we dropped the night before. The bottom was about 30 feet down which is shallow enough to do some exploration with just a snorkel. I took an early morning dip hoping to find the missing fork but had no luck. I even moved the weight bad to see if we had a lucky (unlucky) covering and turned over a few large starfish. After the morning nets I tried again, this time with my tank on. I spent about 25 minutes searching around. I found some discarded carrots and the bones we through over the night before but no fork. There were a few deep holes from sea critters and I can only imagine it slid down one of those.

    Shortly after this failed effort we raised the sails and set off. The winds were so light we motor sailed all the way to Euakafa threading our way through the pass. With our GPS track and memories of the features it was a lot easier this time.

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    Euakafa is listed as having great snorkeling on the south side and a pleasant walk up to the summit where one can find the tomb of a princess. We arrived around midday to find Tim from Kamaya and Paul from Callypso working with Stuart (Imagine) on his four stroke engine. They’d all been out on the south side earlier in the day and had been tipped by a wave flipping the dinghy in the process. They’d had a bit of an adventure retrieving what they could from the flipped dinghy and even recovered some parts from the bottom at 70ft. I offered to help and lent some ignition fluid I’d acquired all the way back in Bequia when our hookah flipped. Stuart turned out to have some of that but I was ultimately able to help by giving some spare oil to allow another flush.

    In the afternoon Stuart (Imagine), Paul and Maureen (Callypso) and we all headed ashore to ascend the trail to the summit. It was quite a pleasant walk. We reached the site of the tomb first. Typical for Tonga there was no information. Just a series of slabs partially covering a deep hole now empty of deceased princess. The trail continued onwards to a bluff overlooking the anchorage giving us a great view to the north.

    We learned on the walk that Callypso had some TV Series we needed and we had some they did so after the walk we were able to exchange DVDs, etc.

    We spent the evening watching one movie and one episode of Top Gear which has become a recent routine. Now that we have a complete collection of Prison Break we could well get into that soon.

    No meaningful progress on our charger. We have received one forwarded communication which confirms the charger has reached the UPS office but is awaiting payment by some named individual presumably in someone’s finance office somewhere on this planet. No suggestion that anyone was doing anything about this nor any hint that our recent requests to have it sent to Tongatapu (instead of here) have been heeded. Certainly no tracking reference which would be a solid assurance that it’s on it’s way somewhere. We first requested assistance on the warranty replacement on August 18th. Anyone impressed?

  • Umuna

    We spent mainly a restful day aboard. We made one excursion in the dinghy to reach the island to our north – Umuna. A trail climbs up from the beach and shortly descends into a cave with brackish water at the bottom. We all took our face masks but only I got in. The water is inhabited by many shrimp which soon started picking at my skin with their tiny claws. I tried catching a few but all I ended up with was a tiny leg which a shrimp preferred to lose rather than be caught.

    Ben and I responded to a call from Andy and Rianne from Zephyrus who were currently aboard Gangada (the French boat involved with our dinghy rescue). They’d just tipped some fuel from diesel cans they’d filled in French Polynesia into their tanks. Andy had subsequently noticed a distinct odour of gasoline from one of the jerry cans which is not what one wants to put in a diesel tank. They had samples of diesel and gas from Gangada as well as samples from their cans which they wanted some additional smell testing on.

    Asking for a fully blind test Ben and I sniffed the four separate jars of fuel. The reference diesel was hard to spot and we pinned the petrol/gasoline. The two samples from Zephyrus smelled like a mix of the two but not the same. All four jerry cans had been filled from the same source. I suggested putting a match to the various samples as petrol should burn but diesel not. The reference samples from Gangada behaved as they should and one of the two samples from Zephyrus lit up. Andy was confident in his history and the only conclusion I could come up with was that the source from where they filled was contaminated with a mixture of gas and diesel and that they received a different blend as their cans were filled.

    After some discussion we lent them a spare can of diesel from which they could feed their fuel lines. Along with sailing most of the way, that would get them to Neiafu where they could drain their tank, clean it out and replace it with clean diesel. What a pain for them.

    In the evening we had a BBQ cooking up sausages and racks of pork which we later realized was lamb. Helen dropped a fork in the water. We have a weight bag with a line and float set up for these situations so this went in the water. The float sat about 5-10 feet below the surface so we should find it this morning and retrieve the fork.

    The situation with our charger is looking to be a farce. Senior management in Lagoon and CatCo all seem to be aware of the situation but nothing seems to be happening. CatCo have deferred to an independant to manage the problem but promises have been made and not fulfilled. The gulf between the commitment Lagoon/Catco gave and the reality of the situation is about as big as it gets. I hate to dish these guys in public as I really need them on my side. But this really is pathetic.

  • Recovered

    My original plan to retrieve the dinghy was to wait until the tide has risen sufficiently to float it off the patch of sand/reef it was stranded on. John from Tyee called me to say he’d rounded up enough able bodied men from the boats around to lift it off the reef sooner. Realizing that most of the nearby boats were planning to leave and that if my plan A failed I would have no help I agreed. After all, if lifting it off turned out to be impossible then I always had my original plan to fall back on.

    John arrived with Andy from Zephyrus and a father and son from a Gangada. With our Ben along we headed over to the other side of the bay – nearly 2 miles away. Getting onto the reef was a challenge but we made it although we had to leave John in his dinghy as there was nowhere to anchor. The dinghy was further away than we remember but nicely sitting on sand. The patch of the reef nearest the water was festooned with small urchins and plenty of pits and hollows which was a little forbidding.

    With the outboard locked on (key on boat) and with anchor chain and safety chain aboard it was all pretty heavy. We were able to carry it though with three at the back and one at the front. Each position was tiring so we would rotate after each short walk. When we reached the treacherous part we would carefully plant our feet and shift it forward one or two feet at a time. Soon we had it in the water and afloat. The engine fired up cleanly – a big relief. We then had to retrieve our helpers from the reef which took a little coordination. We gave plenty of thanks to our helpers and returned our separate ways.

    Later in the morning Ben and I went back ashore to Ben and Lisa’s island. I had left my camera ashore – Saturday was not my best day. We met Bill and Johanna there from Visions of Johanna. Bill is a doctor and was visiting Ben who had fallen out of a tree the night before. Hopefully he’ll be ok.

    On the way back from the island Ben and I dropped of at Tyee to say thanks again. While there we were able to help them fix a laptop which would not start up so all of us ended up happy.

    The afternoon we just relaxed. We really are pooped and tired from the last couple of weeks and needed the down time.

    Sadly we have still not received any communication about the latest tracking number for our charger from CatCo. It has taken six weeks so far and we have yet to overcome the difficulties this end. I have reached the point where if they’ve not sent it already we need to figure something else out. Tremendously disappointing. With no other issues getting to NZ with 1/6 of our charging capability lost is not that big a deal. It’s hard to fathom how so little can be accomplished in six weeks.

  • Found !!!

    Tyee are anchored nearby and once we saw them awake we gave them a call to see if they could help. John came over and took me over to the other side of the bay. We almost didn’t see it but our dinghy was up on the exposed coral tucked into a mangrove. No doubt it drifted off around high tide last night and floated into it’s current spot. There was a couple of hundred feet of exposed coral bed between the dinghy and the deep water so we left it there for later. High tide is around 2pm local time. Our current plan is to wait until around midday and take Dignity over and make an attempt to retrieve the dinghy. I still feel like an idiot but at least it’s a relieved idiot now.

  • Mariner’s Cave / Beach BBQ

    Around mid morning Ben and I took the dinghy over to the small island of Luakapa to snorkel as we’d read it was supposed to be pretty good there. The water was certainly clear and it was quite interesting. We’d brought the spear guns just in case there was something worth taking back to eat but there was none of that.

    On the way out and on the way back we popped by a few of the boats we knew to invite them to come with us to Mariner’s Cave in the afternoon. It was about 3nm away which is quite far for dinghies. It was recommended to go by boat – perhaps sharing to make it easier. In the end we had quite a few agree to come up – 16 folks in all from Delos, Inspiration Lady, Vagabond, Callypso, Ludmilla, Anthem, Jackster, Imagine & Arctic.

    Gary and Jackie from Inspiration Lady were a great help. Not only had they agreed to be the dinghy dock but they also came along just for the ride and social giving us someone to man the boat while everyone got in the water.

    At 2pm we had everyone aboard and we motored off to the cave. We found it easily enough as there were two other boats there when we arrived although they left shortly after. Our drop off was a bit far from the cave so we had a bit of a swim to get there. To get into the cave one has to swim down a few feet then along about 12-14 surfacing in a sealed, dark cave. The entrance tunnel was quite large so by going deeper there was no risk of bumping into anything. Inside the cave it is quite amazing. Despite being dark it is well lit from the outside. The surf created changes in pressure that could be felt in the ears. When a partial vacuum was created by the surf going out a mist would form inside the cave momentarily.

    There was a second entrance which I’d heard about before. It was about 40 feet down and a little longer – about the limit of what I can do underwater. Forgetting that I’d just done a fairly long swim I went for it. This turned out to be a scary moment as I was gulping for air even when I still had rock over my head. Reaching the surface took forever. I decided to remove my weight belt to help. Just before doing so I realized I shouldn’t do it over the deep water outside of the tunnel exit so I swam over the roof of the tunnel to let it go. In hindsight I could probably have reached the surface in that time. Nevertheless I am here to tell the story but I’ve learned my lesson. The longer underwater stuff can only be done when I’m totally relaxed and not after an exertion. I was soon back in the cave spending a lot longer inside this time with everyone else who were now all inside. Feeling more relaxed I again exited via the lower tunnel finding it a lot easier. Ben also made the exit the same way.

    On the way back Ben entertained us by playing on Bamboozle’s piano which we still have. We’d dragged a couple of dinghies out the the cave as a few folks wanted to visit Swallow’s Cave on the way back. We let them go about half way back and headed in.

    We agreed to have a beach bonfire/BBQ at 6pm. A few of us went ashore to collect wood while others prepared food. Soon we had quite a crowd ashore and two fires going. We stayed quite late with chatting and some music – mostly furnished by Fergus from Paleides on his hand organ. It was well after midnight before we were finally back aboard. Ben went back to Delos but it looks like he swam back at some point as he’s aboard and there were wet foot prints all over the cabin this morning.