" A LADY TRIP " Sailing around the World
A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Fri 11 Jun 2010 20:22
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FRIDAY 11th
JUNE 2010 ( Presently
in "Vaka'eitu, Vava'u ,, Tonga )
02.00hrs Skipper and aileen were woken
up by a voice shouting in the distance, cripe's where is that comming from
!
The shouting began to get nearer , so we went on
deck to investigate.
Criky, there was this little local motor launch (
no more than 20' long ) just ahead of us, about 6 guys in the water with lamps
on their heads
and diving up and down to the bottom,
The lads had no diving gear, just the lamps, and
the boat had huge lights shining into the water, and a strobe red and white
light going also.
They got closer and closer , untill they were only
5 feet away from " A Lady" The lads , still diving up and down
to the bottom,
and bringing up sacks of something, They
looked like sand bags, but that has to be a wrong guess,
As they were so close to us, skipper asked what
they were doing, but NO answer,
Scotty joined us on deck to witness the
milee........ they had to push our rib out of their way, as they got so
close, but they
were very intense in what they were
doing.
They made a lot of noise, and for us , they were
fasinating, ( once we got over the idea that they were pirates and comming to
attack us. )
So what ever they were diving for was hardly
illigal. otherwise , why all the noise.
After 45 minutes, they reved up and shagged off
into the dark,
And , Fats and Margaret slept through the whole
thing... Well we know that nothing will disturb " Fats " and his solo
Orchestra, ( snoring )
08.00hrs all up and about, another beautifull
day in Paradise, and every one was feeling much better today,
yesterday, every one was slightly wrecked from the
drink the night before, and thats not good on a boat full of
crocks,
Fats recovering from his " Cook Island Tatoo
"
Margaret recovering from a knee replacment
operation,
skipper suffering from hip trouble.
And to boot, on top of all this, the chat much of
the time is a about our parents, who are really crocked,
* skippers mother " Gladys " is 93 and lives with
Rom & Verna, His emails about her are very funny, she is a bit deaf, a bit
forgetfull,
a bit fragile, but still going strong.She is
as thin as a whip.
* Aileens mother " Peggy" is 90
and lives in a nursing home in the lovely " Killarney" She is as strong as
a horse, but her
memory has left her completly,
* Margarets Mother is 88, lives in the U.S. and is
still hail and harty, but as thin as a whip also.
* Margarets father is 85 and is
now in a nursing home in the U.S. and very unwell, but thats men, they
dont have the staying power of women.
10.00hrs we sailed out of " Vaka'eitu " and
headed around the corner to another Island called " Avalau " this is a
small island
with lovely beaches,coral reefs, and pale blue
water,
11.30 hrs we dropped anchor in 8.5m of water,
and believe it or not, we got the Rib " painter" fouled on the propeller,,
OH Shit !
How could we be so stupid, elementry stuff ,
Watson..............................
How dumb, dumb, dumb,,,
Anyway, Scotty got into action and jumped over the side and cleared the
ropes from the propeller.
The girls did a light lunch, and then went ashore
for some paddling and swimming, while skipper took a short nap,
Fats took his usual afternoon Ziz, and john went
snorkling,
15.30hrs, skipper snorkled around the Island,
What magic corals, some like " antlers" some like giant " nuclear
clouds" and all different colours, even green ones, and of course
lots of beautifull fish, The
SE, South, SW part of the Island had the best corals.
This little round the Island
trip took 2.5hrs and skipper was almost numb at the
end... the hands had gone white at this stage.
Because the skipper was missing for so
long, the girls sent scotty off in the rib to search for him,
thinking he had drowned or his radar had
broken down and had lost his
way..........
18.00hrs The girls prepared dinner,,
yupeeeee, A change of personnel in the Galley..
We had large helpings of Fillet
Steak with onions, baked sliced potatoes, baked beans, green beans, &
Whiskey jelly
We ventured a glass of wine again tonight to wash
down the lovely food , prepared by the two lovely ladies.
Later, We watched a DVD, or two.
Then hit the scratchers,
zzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzz
Signed :- Stephen
Hyde ( Skipper )
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