Getting out of there!
Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Fri 2 Oct 2009 05:33
Hello all!
It has been a while since we last wrote on this blog. In the mean time Miss
Molly has been happily sailing around in Vava'u, Tonga. But the time has
now come to head back to New Zealand. We spotted a nice, calm weather window
and started preparing to leave yesterday. All set to fuel up and go, until a
tsunami warning came in. Luckily Miss Molly was moored in 36 meters of water
in the protected port of Neiafu. It was only that they told us on the radio
otherwise we would not have noticed a thing from this tsunami. We just saw
the water level drop by about a meter within 10 minutes time and then things
came back to normal.
Not all boats had a similar experience. Some boats were anchored in shallow
water and before they knew it they saw the coral heads ahead of them being
exposed rather than under water before they ran out of water themselves and
bottomed out. No damage there either, just some very rattled people on
board.
Due to this warning the fuel truck would not come to the dock, so we had to
postpone our departure with another day. This morning things were back to
normal and after fuelling up we set sail for Minerva Reef, about 400 Nm from
Neiafu, 2 overnights away. Actually, the only sail we have set at the moment
is the mainsail. We are mostly motoring as 6 kts of wind is not enough to
get Molly moving. We are just passing a cone-shaped volcano island called
Kao in the Ha'apai island group. The forecast for the next few days is still
light winds so we assume we will have to listen to the engine a bit more.
This time it's not just Geoff & Merel on board, but also James, our
deckhand-apprentice. We are looking forward to more sleep since we can split
up the watch system between 3 rather than 2. It promises to be a clear,
starry night.
Cheers from Miss Molly @ sea,
Geoff, Merel & James