14^th October 2009 – Musket Cove.

Sun’s out and 29 degrees C following a couple of rain and squalls days here in Musket Cove, and I can’t help but think there are worse places in the world to be. I arrived back in Fiji on 5th October, on my own unfortunately, Robbie being busier than ever with her work. I had left Splash Tango in Vuda Pt marina when Robbie and I returned to Auckland a month ago. It took me a day or so to clean all the dust and soot off her, polish the stainless and let her know she’s still loved, then head back out to Musket.

The morning after I arrived back out here was fine with a very gentle breeze. I was just thinking how pleasant it was to be back when a woman came along side in a dinghy and put a whole new slant on the day.

She said there had been an earthquake off Vanuatu of 8.5 and there was a tsunami warning out. It was due to hit Fiji at 1145hrs. I looked at my watch and it was 1100hrs!

It was interesting talking afterwards to the others there about their reactions. Some had amazingly been quite blasé. They had been there when the Samoa earthquake tsunami warning went out a couple of weeks previously and nothing had happened (in Fiji) then, so why would this one be different. They stayed put. Others had left their boats and sought higher ground on shore taking the attitude that the boat isn’t important. They are.

Personally, I felt a sudden sense of foreboding and a fairly high level of anxiety. I had read the news reports from the eye witnesses in Samoa, and seen the television footage of the devastation these things can cause. Not only in Samoa but in Thailand etc ‘06. It would never have occurred to me to leave the boat to natures whim. I cast off the mooring lines and headed for open water as fast as the old Perkins could push us. For readers unfamiliar with Musket Cove there is an inner reef inside of which the water varies between 30 and 50 ft and within which there are a myriad of smaller reefs and coral heads, and then an outer reef a couple of miles further out beyond which is open ocean. I cleared the inner reef in fairly short order and was headed for Nomotu passage on the outer reef  and open ocean. Mental calculations told me before I got there that around 1145hrs (when the tsunami was due to arrive) I would be right about in the middle of the passage. Not good! I turned around and moved to a position about a mile inside the outer reef and in 130ft of water and waited in neutral. I went below and locked all the hatches, put the wash board in place (to stop water going down the companionway), put on my life jacket and harness, packed a grab bag with epirb, sat phone etc and waited at the helm with camera in hand, - looking like a complete idiot. Once I had worked out my game plan and got settled I felt quite comfortable with where I was and my ability to handle any perceived eventuality.

The net result is that a lot of other boats wound up in the same area and after a couple of hours there were reports on the radio that the warning had been cancelled and the all clear given. We all headed back in and, being like minded sailors, a spontaneous debriefing in the Island Bar occurred.

A couple of boats head back into Musket after the all clear is received.

Albeit that it was a non event, what was interesting to me in retrospect was 2 things:

Firstly the different attitudes people had to the situation. I don’t question the judgment of those that left their boats and headed for higher ground. That was their choice. But at least they made a decision. Those that ignored it were in my mind totally foolhardy. You have to take these things seriously because there is a lot at stake, even if the alarm has been sounded a number of times before and nothing has happened.

Also, that this was a situation I found myself in very suddenly, for which I had given no previous consideration. I have always considered seamanship to be, in part, a process of working out in advance things that might go wrong or situations that might occur and taking appropriate steps to prevent them or handle them when they do occur. The more time spent thinking about the “what ifs” the better prepared one can be.

I think I was rational in the decisions I took but I had to think about it and that took what could have been valuable time. I live in dread of loosing the rig, so I spend a lot of time checking it and thinking about what I would do if I did loose it. Or the steering or what ever. But this one I hadn’t, so in the final analysis, and I suppose to state the obvious, the more game plans you have for as many situations as may occur, the better off you are.