We said our goodbyes to the French Polynesian Islands & left for an 8 day plus passage to Tonga. But not before a few laughable incidents!
Still pottering about in the dinghy (if it was a car I’d have my L plates attached!) Thought no harm could come to me in the short trip across to the dock for a bag of ice -how wrong could I be! Halfway there the outboard begun coughing & spluttering. Having a good idea I was out of petrol I did the sensible thing - crossed my fingers & hoped I’d make it to the dock where someone could give me a tow back. It wasn’t the case & I was left with no power, no oars (had neglected to put them in!) & 15 knot winds, pushing me towards the coral. Typically no one was on the deck of their boat or could hear me shouting. 2 meters away from the coral I knew there was only one way out! I jumped into the water fully clothed & swam back to the boat towing the dinghy! I may have failed in my mission to get the ice but received brownie points from Bobby for not letting the dinghy & outboard get broken up on the coral!
Another good evening drinking at Bloody Mary’s was followed by more entertainment. Returning to our dinghies & unfortunately Chris (s/v Barefeet) stepped directly off the dock into the water completely missing the dinghy! He got off lightly with a small cut on his foot & gave us a few laughs!
Our SSB radio has been a problem since we set off in Panama. Boats had problems hearing us during the big crossing & Bobby was determined to get it fixed for the next leg, which meant ripping up everything in the bedroom to check wiring & replace copper bonding. On the edge of spending 2 more days changing wiring running throughout the boat in the deepest & inaccessible areas, Mike (s/v Wombat of Sydney) suggested the problem could be as easy as whistling into the mike prior to transmitting. Bobby was highly sceptical that the solution would be so easy & ridiculous.. Guess what…. it works!! Don’t ask me how, all I know it its something to do with tuning the radio with whistles!
Believe it or not I still have a milk tooth! It didn’t appreciate being chomped down on a muesli (granola) bar & required a visit to the dentist. Mark from Scholarship set up his dentist’s surgery onboard. Looking very professional in his white coat, I was provided with a huge pair of sunglasses whilst a table lamp was shone into my mouth. I had the full works & no longer have any problems. A big thank you Mark!
Filling with tanks with water at the dock was not as easy as it looked. Coral heads beneath threatened to take chunks out of the boat. After measuring the depth of the highest coral heads it was deemed possible for Barraveigh to tie up on the dock. We remained in place for Wombat of Sydney & Scholarship (larger boats with larger keels) to tie up alongside us where the water was deeper & filled their tanks. We had never noticed the slight tide change but when you are sitting above coral heads with only inches of clearance the smallest of tides makes a huge difference! Bobby dove under the boat to check it out & found he could touch the bottom of the keel with his little finger & the top of the coral head with his thumb! Luckily we got out of there with no disasters, said goodbye to both Bora Bora & the French Polynesian Islands.
Depending on the winds we will either head directly to Tonga or make a stop on route. Keep your fingers crossed that we will have nice weather.
