#67 NOW July 29, 2005 0200 Zone Time UTC +12 hours  (Fiji Time)
S19’54.3 E179’54.5,  Temp. 73.8,  Pressure 1015 mb,  Heading 246’ magnetic
Wind from the SE @ 10 knots, Seas 6 feet, Para-vanes down,
Miles Completed 357, Miles to Go 777, SOG (speed
over ground) 6.2 kts.  1600 RPM

Greetings from the Eastern Hemisphere!

Yes indeed, we just crossed over the 180th
meridian of longitude, and we are now in the
Eastern Hemisphere.  We are on a direct course
from Tonga to New Caledonia.  It was with some
misgivings that we decided to pass up Fiji.  The
problem is we suddenly realized that we are
running out of time.  Carol has a return ticket
from Australia on September 8 and we still have
many miles to cover.  Rather than go through
another country with all its entry and exit
hassles we decided to press right on to Noumea,
New Caledonia.  The Pacific is BIG.

Tonga, especially the Vava’u group of islands, is
charming.  With all their little bays and coves,
they are fun to explore.  We spent one night
anchored out at Nuku Island, which has a five
star beach of fine white powdery sand.  We spent
the afternoon hiking around the island at low
tide, checking out the tide pools with all the
neat coral and sea creatures.  Then we did some
snorkeling along the extensive coral reefs.  It
was a great day of exercise and relaxation.

I am sure you have all had a bad day at the
office.  Well, you can also have a bad day in
paradise.  I hesitate to broadcast this next bit
of stupidity, but in all honesty, even I make
some major blunders.  It all started the next
morning after our lovely day at Nuku Island.  I
decided to move the boat about two miles over to
a new cove that looked real inviting on the
chart.  Now two miles is not very far, so I just
started the engine and headed over that way.
Normally, before starting the engine I always go
through a rather lengthy checklist (that’s a
holdover from my piloting days).  However, I
could almost see the cove, what could go wrong?
Answer, A LOT.

To start with, we neglected to close the window
in head (bathroom).  As we came out of the lee of
the island, great waves came crashing in through
the window.  Carol quickly got that under control
and I made a decision that our new anchorage may
be a little rough and we should go to another, a
little further away.  We found several other
boats anchored in this new bay and so we worked
our way in and finally found a place to drop
anchor in about 90 feet of water.  However, I
could not get a good set on the rocky bottom and
the water got deeper as we dragged it out.
Finally, at 110 feet I decided that there was not
enough room for me in this anchorage and if the
wind changed, we would be in trouble.  Done
Dreamin' has a 110 lb. Bruce anchor and 400 feet
of chain.  However, the windlass has seen some
heavy use in the past three years and the cogs
are worn.  Try as I might, I was not able to get
the anchor and all that chain up.  By now, we
were slowly drifting across the deep bay.  The
next step was to get the dinghy out, tie a rope
to the anchor chain where it enters the water,
and pull up 10 feet at a time.  Fortunately,
someone saw our plight, came over in his dinghy,
and gave us a hand tying the rope as I pulled it
up using the capstan on the windlass.  Finally,
with the anchor secured we got underway.  Well,
not exactly.  In all our maneuvering, our dinghy,
which was tied behind, flipped upside down.  We
rushed back and got it righted and bailed out,
and then it was time to fish for the oars, and
the fuel tank that were floating off.  By now, we
looked like Abbott and Costello on a Saturday
afternoon cruise.

We finally limped back into Neiafu, picked up a
mooring line and I got busy draining the water
out of the outboard, changing the oil and finally
getting it started.  Well, at least one cylinder
is firing.  I think some major repair may be
needed.  Paradise is not always perfect, but the
boat will dry out and the engine can be fixed.
As for our pride, that will take some time to
repair.

Life is a Cruise,  Larry and Carol

Larry Rick
Done Dreamin'
Nordhavn 40 #33
Site: http://gricknet.homedns.org/
Email: donedream@pacbell.net

To Georgs for Larry Rick,

We enjoy your logs and it always a good reminder to hear of the things that
can go wrong when we fail to do the preparation that we know we should.

I came much to close to running over a reef near Rhodes, Greece harbor entry
a few weeks ago because we changed port destination plans without proper
planning.

Regards, John Harris
World Odd @ Sea  N-4657