Position: 18deg 42min South, 174deg 00min West � anchored off the South Western end of Pangaimotu Island (anchorage #10) � its very protected and very still.
Stowaway Sarah spent another night on board and after a radio sked with Sunstone who are now in Vanuatu, we went with Tusitala to Euakafa Island. Here we anchored on the northern side of the island. The island is flat topped 270feet high. We sent family ashore to do battle with the mosquitoes and do some exploring. Then Matt, Sarah, Mike and Daniel (from Tusitala) took the dinghies round to the reef on the Southern aspect. We took our scuba gear and dived the drop off which was very pretty � down to about 25 meters and then made our way East for about half and hour then came back along the face of the drop off at a depth between 5 to 10meters. We spent a good hour below and had a very good dive. Tusitala were kind enough to fill our bottles for us afterwards (a dive compressor is on my list of goodies along with water maker and wind charger)
On our return we were surprised to see 2 cats moored close to us. The husband of one the couples on one of the cats greeted us in his dinghy as we rounded the island on our return. The long and the short was that his wife had trapped her little finger in the hinge of one of the lockers and was sporting a not so good looking crush of her little finger. The wound extended from her nail bed down to bone and extending down to the palmer side with exposed tendon. Fortunately the tendon and neurovascular bundle was intact. He had done an excellent primary job of cleaning, dressing, and stemming the blood flow. We cleaned her hand and gave her a digital block. They had a good first aid kit on board including suture equipment. I cleaned the wound and with the aid of his reading glasses, sutured the wound with 4.0 dermalon. She needed 8 stitches to oppose the ragged edges of the stellate wound, a stiff drink and a lie down. It was a nasty crush injury and we now have her on antibiotics, paracetamol and some NSAID�s � will keep and eye on that finger for the next few days to ensure all is well. Good Job I did some hand surgery when I was a little boy � who would have thought I would have needed it out here.
Managed a good walk to the top of Euakafa Island, There was a reasonable path under a jungle type canopy with hundreds of palm trees. Near the top is the remains of a tomb lined with great big slabs of volcanic rock (I presume) � there is a story involving the burial of a princess in the tomb � but it is empty today. The view from the top was breath taking as one looked north back towards the main island.
The kids made our patient a chocolate cake and a card and we have anchored in the same place for the night � the ultimate house call.
Mom is making a delicious fish dinner thanks to the kind contribution of fish from Liberation.
Skipper
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