I’m not sure of t
he difference between a cyclone and a hurricane, is it something to do with the way the water goes down the plughole? Anyway we were told we were to cop the ass end of one that had given Mauritius grief, and would be up with us on Monday. Sure enough Monday morning strong winds, a few trees down and roughish seas, the wind kept the temperature down and it was really quite pleasant, we were also told it would last for four days.
(Tuesday) Tue is a special day for the inhabitants of Aride, it’s shopping day, by Mon evening or before, rangers, volunteers and wardens are out of nice food, beer and fags, so everyone looks forward to Tue. Tue morning we looked at the sea at 5.30am and 7.30 and we all decided it was too rough to make the crossing, deciding that we’d check again at 12 noon.
At 12 the most experienced boatman Gianni said “it’s fine man we go” I did think at the time, how much of this is bravado and cold turkey talking, but he’s the expe
rt, so we got ready. Four of us were to make the trip on our 4m RIB on the 11k crossing to Praslin, myself, Gianni, Regis, (rangers) and the young volunteer Ben. We made the crossing in reasonable time, and Regis did really well negotiating at least 10ft waves with next to no boat slapping,(Regis is the least experienced boatman) we got our shopping, which took less than an hour, and set off back to Aride, Regis driving again.
Grand Anse Bay on Praslin is very sheltered, but we knew as soon as we got around the headland we would again be into the 10ft waves, but this time going into the wind and we all joked about getting soaked. We turned the headland and within minutes the 10ft waves, had grown to 30ft and breaking on the crests. I looked at Regis, who had driven so well on way to the shops, and he nodded confidently, I looked at Gianni, the same confidence, I looked a Ben, not quite the same confidence, so I smiled and shouted at him “hold on tight,” a stupid thing to say, the lad already had white knuckles - I just felt I had to say something.
Coming with little experience of the sea I had, until then, quite surprised myself at the lack of fear of the ocean, on many occasions we’ve made crossings where you have to hold on for dear life, it just seemed good fun, but not this one. Because of the shallow sea around the islands, the sea behaves in a strange ways, the waves come at you from different angles and are not regular. Regis was, as far as I could tell doing fine, powering the little boat up the steep waves which without exaggeration, was like going up the side of my house in Godney, and all the time not just getting showered by sea water, but being battered, and of course the noise. At the top of some the waves, the sea opens up into a giant hole big enough to put a football pitch in, by this time I’m not enjoying the trip at all. On the way up a wave, Regis slows the revs as we get to the top to slow down for the decent, (it’s almost impossible to hear the engine now because of the sea and wind) we go over the top and head down the wave, just as we expect to feel the power to come in and drive us up, nothing, we all turn and look at Regis who’s franticly trying to change the fuel can. I look back to Gianni at the front of the boat, who is by this point screaming at Regis, directly in front of Gianni is a bastard wall of water that even with
my limited knowledge, I know if we don’t hit it with the front of the boat, we’re going to capsize. Gianni sees the wave and goes to jump, Regis is now screaming back at him and thank Christ he didn’t jump, we hit that one with the front. The rangers worked like crazy to start the engine, there was literally seconds between them starting the engine, and the next wave. The engine only fired up on one cylinder and just got us up the wave, I scream at Gianni to head for the nearest land, he screams back that he hasn’t got the power to turn; we can only go straight into the waves. I now think we are definitely going in the water, I shout at Ben, “don’t let go of the boat “as soon as I said it I knew it was a crap thing to say, if the boat had flipped the wave would spat it out like a cork from a bottle, I remember thinking to myself, when I go in keep hold of the life jacket, don’t let it come off what ever happens keep hold of the life jacket.
Even at times like these there’s humour, I tell Regis to phone Sal, and alert the nearest island to us, tell them of our plight, and attempt a rescue, his conversation started like this, “hello Sally this is Regis, we have a bit of a situation on the boat” I looked at Ben and said “a bit of a ------- situation!!!!” it was probably nerves but we both laughed. To cut it short, the engine stopped a few more times but they got it going, and we limped home on one cylinder. It turned out to be a faulty spark plug, it had been changed at the last service, so it was just one of those unavoidable things. I not sure how many of the 9 are left, but I know I used one on Tuesday.
Regis later admitted it was the worse seas he had ever been in...
he difference between a cyclone and a hurricane, is it something to do with the way the water goes down the plughole? Anyway we were told we were to cop the ass end of one that had given Mauritius grief, and would be up with us on Monday. Sure enough Monday morning strong winds, a few trees down and roughish seas, the wind kept the temperature down and it was really quite pleasant, we were also told it would last for four days.(Tuesday) Tue is a special day for the inhabitants of Aride, it’s shopping day, by Mon evening or before, rangers, volunteers and wardens are out of nice food, beer and fags, so everyone looks forward to Tue. Tue morning we looked at the sea at 5.30am and 7.30 and we all decided it was too rough to make the crossing, deciding that we’d check again at 12 noon.
At 12 the most experienced boatman Gianni said “it’s fine man we go” I did think at the time, how much of this is bravado and cold turkey talking, but he’s the expe
rt, so we got ready. Four of us were to make the trip on our 4m RIB on the 11k crossing to Praslin, myself, Gianni, Regis, (rangers) and the young volunteer Ben. We made the crossing in reasonable time, and Regis did really well negotiating at least 10ft waves with next to no boat slapping,(Regis is the least experienced boatman) we got our shopping, which took less than an hour, and set off back to Aride, Regis driving again.Grand Anse Bay on Praslin is very sheltered, but we knew as soon as we got around the headland we would again be into the 10ft waves, but this time going into the wind and we all joked about getting soaked. We turned the headland and within minutes the 10ft waves, had grown to 30ft and breaking on the crests. I looked at Regis, who had driven so well on way to the shops, and he nodded confidently, I looked at Gianni, the same confidence, I looked a Ben, not quite the same confidence, so I smiled and shouted at him “hold on tight,” a stupid thing to say, the lad already had white knuckles - I just felt I had to say something.
Coming with little experience of the sea I had, until then, quite surprised myself at the lack of fear of the ocean, on many occasions we’ve made crossings where you have to hold on for dear life, it just seemed good fun, but not this one. Because of the shallow sea around the islands, the sea behaves in a strange ways, the waves come at you from different angles and are not regular. Regis was, as far as I could tell doing fine, powering the little boat up the steep waves which without exaggeration, was like going up the side of my house in Godney, and all the time not just getting showered by sea water, but being battered, and of course the noise. At the top of some the waves, the sea opens up into a giant hole big enough to put a football pitch in, by this time I’m not enjoying the trip at all. On the way up a wave, Regis slows the revs as we get to the top to slow down for the decent, (it’s almost impossible to hear the engine now because of the sea and wind) we go over the top and head down the wave, just as we expect to feel the power to come in and drive us up, nothing, we all turn and look at Regis who’s franticly trying to change the fuel can. I look back to Gianni at the front of the boat, who is by this point screaming at Regis, directly in front of Gianni is a bastard wall of water that even with
my limited knowledge, I know if we don’t hit it with the front of the boat, we’re going to capsize. Gianni sees the wave and goes to jump, Regis is now screaming back at him and thank Christ he didn’t jump, we hit that one with the front. The rangers worked like crazy to start the engine, there was literally seconds between them starting the engine, and the next wave. The engine only fired up on one cylinder and just got us up the wave, I scream at Gianni to head for the nearest land, he screams back that he hasn’t got the power to turn; we can only go straight into the waves. I now think we are definitely going in the water, I shout at Ben, “don’t let go of the boat “as soon as I said it I knew it was a crap thing to say, if the boat had flipped the wave would spat it out like a cork from a bottle, I remember thinking to myself, when I go in keep hold of the life jacket, don’t let it come off what ever happens keep hold of the life jacket.Even at times like these there’s humour, I tell Regis to phone Sal, and alert the nearest island to us, tell them of our plight, and attempt a rescue, his conversation started like this, “hello Sally this is Regis, we have a bit of a situation on the boat” I looked at Ben and said “a bit of a ------- situation!!!!” it was probably nerves but we both laughed. To cut it short, the engine stopped a few more times but they got it going, and we limped home on one cylinder. It turned out to be a faulty spark plug, it had been changed at the last service, so it was just one of those unavoidable things. I not sure how many of the 9 are left, but I know I used one on Tuesday.
Regis later admitted it was the worse seas he had ever been in...
Mum & Dad - Don't worry it is not going to happen again!! Sal xx
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