Afternoon, and still no sign of or word from Nico on our third boat, the Ceres. He would have come in at first light had he been immediately outside Victoria. It seems that the story of his imminent arrival was not true. He may have engine problems, and under sail he might only be making 40 or 50 miles a day because of the adverse conditions. Ceres is supposed to be our fast, big, reliable boat.
Wolf meets with Hartmut and Pete, the skippers of the Vaka-lele and the Orpheus. It's agreed that we cannot wait any longer. We will leave for Saya at first light tomorrow in the two boats we have, leaving word with the harbourmaster for Nico. Vaka-lele and Orpheus will be extremely crowded and tightly packed with scientific, dive and metal working equipment plus all the steel, food and other materials that were to have been allocated to the Ceres. The skippers are satisfied this will be safe.
Peter Goreau hears that his wife, a surgeon in the US, may have a brain tumour. We feel terrible for her and for him. Wolf hears that his wife sustained a very nasty and painful hand injury in Thailand.
The rest of the afternoon is to be spent on loading the Vaka-lele and the Orpheus, but astonishingly heavy rain stops play for much of the time. The Johnson 35 has not been repaired as promised. It seems key parts are missing and cannot be replaced here in the Seychelles. Nico carries spare outboards, we hope. Frank makes yet another effort to get the satellite phone to work for outgoing email. His German becomes ever more robust on the line to Hamburg.
Until this afternoon I have not actually been on board the Orphee and I get a shock when I do. I knew that the roughly three metric tonnes of steel bars and angles lashed down, much of it near the keel, the rest on deck would make things crowded before we even consider the extra steel that is still to be loaded.
And I knew that there were problems with the mechanics, including a leaking fuel line and leaking hydraulics for the steering - neither of which has been fixed. But there are so many other things in a mess that it is hard to see how any reasonable person could consider the boat acceptable for an expedition to a remote and potentially dangerous place.
By evening tropical cyclone Harry, as it has now been named, has deepened. The Saya region is not far from the eye. Waves at Saya may be 8 or 10 metres (25 to 32 feet) high. We agree to delay departure until Harry moves far enough away. The delay could be two days or more.
Caroline, Steve, Roman and I play pool in the breezy upstairs space of the Yacht Club (a ship's bell from the Naess Scotsman over the bar). Comically inept shots (most of them by me) intersperse freakishly good ones (mostly by the others). After play we talk. The state of the expedition - including problems with crucial equipment and the lack of time left for something as ambitious as the construction at Saya of a coral nursery topped by a tower structure - is causing profound concern. We decide to call a general meeting tomorrow to thrash things out.
Friday... Tom starts off the meeting with a weather update. Cyclone Harry has moved west and slightly south. It is freakishly far north and late in the season, but that is what happens. We then discuss what can be salvaged from the situation. Frank clarifies that a priority for the Lighthouse Foundation, who have funded the expedition, is the collection of high quality scientific data.
Tom explains that data collection equipment can be positioned and extracted at Saya quite rapidly. There should also be time for some detailed mapping and scientific photography coverage of the area visited in 1997. He thinks there may be a bleaching event underway at Saya.
Wolf says he will would be content if, at the minimum, we get the steel out to Saya on this trip and deposit it at the location. Whatever construction can be done in the time available will be welcome, and he wants to try as hard as possible to make progress on this; but he thinks the steel deposited will last in good condition for around a year. Another team could return to continue and complete construction at a later date, should funding be available.
The passage to Saya could take four days, and, of course, another four days back. At the rate things are going, Peter Goreau, Roman and Steve will have three or four days on site before they must return to the Seychelles to catch their flights. The rest of us will have another week or so at Saya.
Roman says he is not prepared to sail on the Orphee. He will consider joining the expedition if Nico arrives with the Ceres. Roman is a knowledgeable, experienced sailor and a mature individual. If he doesn't join us it will be a grave loss. Many members of the expedition respect his judgment.
Among other concerns discussed is the lack of sufficiently powerful and reliable and outboards for the dive boats (tenders to the main ships). The Johnson 35 appears to be a write-off. A small outboard stored on the Orphee is not functioning properly and in any case will not provide sufficient power for likely circumstances. Wolf and Hartmut will try to find and purchase another outboard this afternoon.
A team goes to work on trying to prepare the Orphee for the voyage and we agree to meet again at seven. A breadfruit and cassava barbeque at the Scout Camp tonight may help lift spirits.
Caspar Henderson
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