Bang, bang, crash, crash are the noises of the night, but that is the end of the story. It
is early morning and I am taking down our GPS position, getting ready to update our
Yotreps position, so you can see us on the internet; just go to www.tomjohnsonfamily.com
and click on "Where is Bella Donna? ". Today we leave Pago Pago, American Samoa for a
passage to Vavau, Tonga. Everyone is busy with chores. John and Ant are changing oil,
Deborah is getting everything put away and secured; the calm water in this protected
anchorage will change dramatically as we enter the open ocean. Thet say the passage from
Pago Pago can be a rough one.
We are checked out and fueled up, so we raise anchor a little after 10AM or we try to
raise anchor. Willey Nelson's song "On the Road Again" is playing, the anchor is raising
then we realize a 2 inch in diameter steel cable is hooked by our anchor. Willie is put on
hold and we work with the cable until it lets go of us. The other day Bella Donna dragged
its anchor due to a big ball of fishing line that prevented the anchor from getting a good
bite.
Willie starts singing again and we make our way slowly through the cut in the barrier
reef. Almost immediately Bella Donna is pitched violently this way and then quickly that
way in a very angry and confused sea. Seasickness prevention methods are deployed; no
computer work, no reading, actually no anything except relaxing and going with the flow.
Actually this pretty much describes the day. By the time we execute our final navigational
turn heading for Vavau, we have the Genoa partially deployed in 18 knot winds from the
east. With the port engine at 1800 RPM we are doing 8+ knots speed over ground (SOG).
On this passage we will loose one 24 hour day in a heartbeat; we will cross the
International Date Line along the way. We will wait until we arrive to recognize the loss.
Actually Tonga is still in the western hemisphere; therefore, the dateline should be west
of Tonga; however, Tonga elected to recognize the date line early. This means we will
arrive in Tonga on Tuesday morning instead of Monday morning.
I finally succumbed to seasickness just before dinner. I probably would have been OK
staying at the fly bridge helm; the thought of eating made me sick. I made the mistake of
going down to the salon and trying to eat; one bite and I left for the cockpit couch where
I stayed and slept until midnight. The thought of getting up and fighting the rapidly
shifting deck and stairs to get to my cabin seemed equivalent to climbing Mount Everest. I
had to at least take my medications and refill my insulin pump that had just gone dry. It
took some time to get this done and by the time I completed the tasks I was again
exhausted and fell into a deep sleep.
It was between 3 and 4 AM when I awoke to a loud bang, bang. It sounded like someone was
hitting something with a hammer in the solon above. Bed felt so good, I did not want to
fight to get up, but something was loose and banging and must be silenced. I struggled to
my feet almost falling flat on my face as Bella Donna lurched two ways at the same time.
Up in the salon I could here banging in the kitchen. Down into the kitchen I went to find
the glass sliding door in the starboard forward cabin shower was sliding open and shut
with the beam to beam motion of this beam sea. Constant motion had loosened the locking
mechanism. Just as I secured the door a beam sea rouge wave hit and I heard a loud crash
and the sound of glass breaking. A lamp had been thrown from its resting place. Well, see
you later.
God Bless Bella Donna.
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