Get Lost On Purpose

Category: New Zealand

  • Tsunami in Samoa and Tonga 2009

    I believe this is in Pago Pago
    2009 Tsunami Damage-Latest Death Toll is 150 and Rising

    A story fresh off the AP covers the latest news on the tsunami that hit American and Western Samoa and Tonga on Sept 30, two days ago, while this brief article from Latitude 38 covers several cruiser’s experiences around the Pacific.  Sitting here in Neiafu, Tonga we didn’t experience much; only a small rise and fall of a few feet in water depth.  There was a lot of misinformation going on in the harbor.  One boat would come on the radio and announce that they just witnessed a 30 foot drop in water while seconds later, a boat no more than 500 yards away would say they just dropped 2 ft.   Meanwhile I’m sitting on one of the moorings closest to shore watching the water rise and fall maybe 1.5 ft, covering and uncovering a tire on the beach a few times.  Several boats only a few miles from here did see some crazy tidal shifts and standing waves.  A couple of boats dragged across the reefs, while others dropped their entire anchor chain to quickly escape to deeper water.

    We managed to escape the bad parts although the epicenter was only 250 miles north of here.  As peaceful as it seemed here in the harbor, the chatter on the VHF and SSB kept reminding us how different it was for others out here.  Thanks to everyone who checked up on us through email or on facebook.

    The past several days have been nothing but work for me.  The cockpit lockers are getting a complete makeover and now they’re so organized I’ve convinced myself they need a paintjob.  Yesterday, I did a complete engine fluids changeout, changed the belt, reorganized all the wiring, adjusted the transmission, and decided that if I’m painting the lockers, may as well paint in there too.   Today, I took apart the entire top end of the outboard for a thorough cleaning and inspection.  The carb needed some work and I replaced the spark plugs, but other than that the engine is in great shape.  I can’t explain how nice it is to have the Short Bus back!

    Meanwhile, Margie found the benefits of third world dentistry.  Two days ago, she tagged along Neiafu’s dentist and spent the afternoon teaching the importance of proper dental care to Tongan children.  The next day, she visited that same American trained dentist and had a filling replaced and a complete cleaning for $30US.  Now she has a lead on free crownwork from the Mormon dentists down in Nuku’alofa  on our way to New Zealand!

    Speaking of New Zealand, our second family on Zen left this morning.  We sure will miss those guys.  They had to leave early since Zen is coming out of the water for a huge refit including a new paintjob.  They are moving ashore in Whangarei while the work is completed.  Everyone else around here is starting to think about the weather too.  As for us, Marge and I begin looking at windows in 10 days!  Chances are, we’ll still wait around till the end of the month, but if a really good opportunity pops up, we seriously have to consider taking it.

    For all those who have emailed me about the sale of Dosia, I’m working as hard as legally allowed here in Tonga to get the page finished.  I decided on pricing and the equipment list is building as I clean and organize the entire boat.   There’s a ton more photos coming in the next few days.  I promise to get back to each and every one of you!  Thanks for your interest!

  • Luck be a Lady…

    You couldn’t wipe the grins off of our faces right now if you tried. We just heard s/v Gillaroo is turning the corner into the harbor here in Neiafu and as far as we know Shortbus is on there somewhere! It’s a believe it when we see it (and hear the outboard rev up) kind of deal but it’s here nonetheless. Drew’s dad posted on our Facebook fan page yesterday that if only the dinghy could talk what a great story she would have to tell, huh!? Drew and I…we are some lucky, lucky folks!

    It didn’t take news of our dinghy finding it’s way back to us to make me realize that I’m a pretty lucky gal. I’d be a blind, deaf, dumb dumb not to know that I have it good. On a daily basis I’m experiencing and learning things I never thought possible. Drew came back to the boat the other day after his close encounter swimming with the whales as excited as an eight year old boy at Christmas. A little bummed I had already gotten out of the water…well of course. Seven months on a boat together and aside from better women’s restrooms, no experience out here is completely complete if Drew’s not right there next to me. A day or two later it was like the whales were tuned into my disappointment so they decided to throw me a bone. Heading out the pass in their dinghy with Tom & Monique from Zen, we were gearing up to set anchor to do some reef fishing and snorkeling. Drew and Tom (twins separated at birth I swear it), being the eager beavers they are, were already paddling away looking for their first “victim” of the day. Monique and myself, well we barely had our fins on. Cheers to our slowness because out of nowhere a short distance away a mother whale breached almost completely out of the water. Our view…its only equivalent would be seats on the 50 yard line, about 40 rows up, to watch either my Dawgs vying for a National Championship or Tom Brady playing in the Super Bowl. Oh my gosh…don’t ever make me choose…
    Drew spear fishing the reef in Tonga Marge snorkeling the reef in Tonga

    Anyway, my fear of whether or not there were hungry reef or tiger sharks below waiting to take a bite out of my wet suit covered tush quickly subsided and I was overboard. While we never were able to catch site of the whales in the water their presence was definitely known via sound. High shrills could have only been the calf saying “mom, look at me,” as s/he flipped and splashed around. Deep, rumbling I could literally feel in my chest must have been the mother saying “dear, stay where I can see you please.” I mean, mother instinct is mother instinct, right? Whale or not? Call it what you will, it was astounding. It is those memories that I have to tuck away somewhere deep and carry with me forever. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again that prior to my time here on the water, I would have responded to the idea of swimming with whales like, “Nice, that must be pretty cool,” but never would have really taken time to grasp the concept. Out here, when you’ve traveled hundreds of miles on the open water without seeing land for six days, it’s only then that you grasp just how MASSIVE its waters are.  Then, to see something that can look THAT big in something you already know is so huge, it’s mind blowing. It is something I wish I could share with every single person that I know and love. There are literally times where tears spring to my eyes consisting of a 50/50 mix of happiness and longing to be surrounded by f & f.
    Anchorage #30 in Tonga

    The two month countdown to our trip home for the holidays began on the 24th of this month. I told someone the other day that I am trying so hard not to rush through these two months. Trying very hard. I know the time out here in precious and will be very longed for in the future.

    For the time being I’ll continue to relish in the families we are surrounded by…the cruisers, the villages, even the whales. We are beginning to talk more and more about setting our pace for the long haul to New Zealand. Slowly, but inevitably surely, cruisers are beginning to make their way south. We’re not far behind. Our search for departure times will begin in a few weeks, mid Octoberish. Stay tuned!

  • Our Dinghy Rides the Short Bus

    There are certainly worse places in the world to hang out and wait for your dinghy to catch up with you. We’re in the out islands of Vava’u again; currently in anchorage #11, Tapana Island. Until this point in my sailing “career” I’ve not felt the need to give the dinghy a nickname but after a saga like ours has seen, I’m thinking it deserves one. We’ve seen and heard names like Splashback, Monkey Business, Red Rocket, and Cadillac in recent months. My pick is Short Bus. You figure it out.

    The decision has been made to pass on the islands of Fiji this year. We don’t know if and when the dinghy may arrive from Niue (we still may have to go get it ourselves) and we’re quite happy here in Tonga. There’s still two more island groups within Tonga to visit and looking at the chart of Fiji, we’d barely scrape the surface with its 300 islands and strict cruising laws. I don’t really mind. Hopefully they can get a new government settled in and we’ll make it through there on our next cruise before another military coup takes over. And there’s always the possibility of sailing back up there next year so I can market the boat to boat NZ and Australia without paying any sort of import duty. So we’re here in Tonga for another month and we’ll start looking for a weather window to New Zealand. We certainly won’t be alone. Kena, Follow You Follow Me, Karma, Carinthia, and many many others will be right here with us. Our second family on Zen, who is currently anchored about 100 feet away, will be moving on earlier than the rest as they have a huge refit planned for the boat in Whangarei and need to get there early. Luckily they are more accustomed to cold weather being from Rhode Island. We’ll be seeing them again on the big island.

    The pilot berth is filled with crap to sell or give away and I offloaded three huge bags of trash off the boat this week. I think the waterline rose an inch. I dunno what I was thinking with some of the crap I brought on this boat. Did I not think they would sell paintbrushes else where in the world? Five foot SS Piano hinges…seriously? How many times have I used this sleeping bag? And when exactly was I planning on creating and using all those CD labels? Umm..never. The important stuff stays; the spare autopilot, the 10 gallons of oil, and the Wicked Weasel catalogue.

    As I sit here and type this post, Tom from Zen just came over the net and reported that a boat was lost yesterday on an uncharted reef near Fiji. LaurieKouek, a single hander, who left here a couple of days ago lost his boat but luckily not his life because he happened to be sailing near the family on Bravado who was able to pick him up. It’s a little crazy to think that within a couple hundred miles of us, there is a guy working to salvage what’s left of his life by picking through the wreckage of his boat. I have no house, no car, no furniture, and barely any clothing that’s not on board. If I were to lose Dosia I would lose practically everything I own. It’s kind of a ghostly reminder.

    Here’s the cordinates on that reef:

    17 23’S 179 08’W near Mago Island