crowded seas and dangerous volcanos
Panulirus
CR and KN Williams
Sat 17 Jul 2010 19:41
|
21.00S 170.44E
0715 18/7/2010
C has moved us 20miles to the south to avoid an
underwater volcano which was last reported active 15 years ago. She's quite
right, one can never be too cautious.
The Pacific now resembles the Solent for traffic,
after seing nothing for 4months and 2000 miles we've seen two cargo ships and 2
fishing boats in the last 24 hrs; traffic separation zones next?
Radar is a wonderful thing, my very modest
equipment sited 12m above the waterline can pick up a ship 25miles away (at the
same time there was one occasion when there was not a glimmer from a 60ft
catamaran complete with reflector, only 50yds away). If my little thing can
do that I presume the kit on an american aircraft carrier can not only say which
direction I'm facing as I type this, but also explain why the keyboard keeps
sticking. MARPA is a bit like fluid balance charts, interesting and not to be
ignored, but not to be believed either.
K
3.20
I definitely didn't like the look of 'Mont Gemini'
'volcan sous marin'. The least depth seems to be 39m which looks
shallow compared with the 2000m of the
surrounding ocean and probably causes horrid choppy seas. If it
erupted I think we'd be stuffed anyway.
My favourite new toy of the trip is an insulated
mug which has an integral cafetiere. Yesterday morning the sun was hot by 8a.m.
and there was little wind and calm sea so I found my bikini and some cushions
and lounged around drinking real coffee and reading a Clive Cussler thriller. He
assumes his readers are thick and explains everything in words of one syllable
so no thought or imagination is necessary.
C
|