Nomuka

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomuka

We're heading out to a distant island in Tonga - called Nomuka, part of the Ha'apai chain. No internet connection there or phone reception it seems.

I hope I can handle this trip. Its going to be one month plus no contact with the outside world. No internet. No phone.

Life on boat is getting a bit testy. I'm not getting on so well with the other two crewmates. Personal differences I guess.

Sometimes self-inflicted as well it seems. Yesterday we had to fetch some water from land. There were two big water tanks for us to collect the water from but the guy in charge "Guy" decided to rely solely on a water hose - which being gravity fed - was taking a really long time.

The sun was up and scorching and he decided to sit in the boat with the hose and get fried in the sun. I'm not keen on suntanning. Sure, I like the sun on my back in the morning. But to bake in the sun... meh. It fries your brain as well I think...

Anyway to cut a long story short as I was getting back on the boat I wanted to use a small  pail of the drinking water to wash the crud off my feet. It seems obvious to me that if you want to transport water you should also make sure the boat is clean to avoid contamination. But the guy wouldn't have it and scolded me for wanting to waste water. Well, considering he hasn't taken a shower for over a week - I guess he didn't see the point. But his argument distracted me and I accidentally put my foot into one of the larger drinking containers - a tub of about 100 litres.

Oh fuck - its ruined.

Well, that set "Mr Save Water Don't Shower" dude. He went absolutely livid. I've never experienced being cursed out like that since my army days. Considering it took over 30 minutes to fill it - I guess I can see where he's coming from. But dude - chill man.

Then when he attempted to start the engine he lost the "kill switch" - something like a engine key.

Another potential disaster. Losing a key to your only means of transportation in the middle of nowhere is a major problem. But this time its his responsibility, his fault.

I didn't complain. I accept that accidents do happen. The severity of the accident should always be weighed upon the ability to rectify the damage swiftly. In his case however - it was serious. I thought maybe he would have gained some empathy. But no.

Thankfully the "kill switch" was found - it was dangling off the engine propeller and hadn't sunk to the bottom of the sea.

But "Mr SWDS" still wouldn't let my mishap go off - and kept on cursing at me on the way back to our main boat.

I'm not too good on confrontation. I'd rather avoid it as it leads to escalation.

But I really don't know what his problem was. All we had to do was to use buckets and we would have filled our water containers in no time.

And sure enough once we got back to the water storage area and started using buckets - our containers were refilled extremely quickly in a quarter of the time. It sure beats sitting in the boat getting fried by the sun. I didn't receive any appreciation from Mr SWDS for thinking about the buckets.

I'm not a strong man. I'm also rather lazy. I also like comfort. And I think I have better things to do with my time and sitting in the sun and baking my brain. So I always try and seek a more efficient risk free solution. Going head on was never my style.

Anyway...

I'm also a big believer in helping out wherever I can. Supplying the ground coffee for the boat. Sharing a good location to get a good internet connection, downloading the movies for movie night,  etc.. but no one seems to pay attention to that.

Small matters on a boat - I'm finding myself retreating into my inner world - reading my books - and just avoiding contact with the other two two members = who I'm pretty sure will start bonking each other pretty soon. I think they have the hots for each other and I'm just a spare wheel.

I don't give a shit. I just want to go diving on the wrecks and into bluer waters.

But I do need to buck up on my navigation skills and do more reading on the archaeological diving aspect. Obviously I need to motivate myself more. But out here on boat in the middle of nowhere with crew mates I'm rather indifferent - its getting a bit hard.