Boating 123 March 19, 2008
This week we received the three new mission boats from New Zealand. When the boats arrived, we brought all the boat drivers to Tongatapu for training. After the training was completed, we had to deliver the boats to three different island groups. Two were delivered by driving them to their locations, and one was shipped by carrier to it’s location. I was involved in all deliveries. It was another adventure.
There has been excitement in the air for the past week as people anticipated the arrival of the new boats. They are a funny looking boat, but they are really practical for this environment.
They are aluminum and have a cabin section so travelers can get out of the rain and/or sun. Each boat has a depth finder with a GPS, so the electronics are sophisticated, but no one knows how to operate them. No training was given on the use of these devises so we are on our own. Each boat has a 100 gallon fuel tank. It cost over $1,000 (Tongan dollars) to fill each tank.
After providing classroom and outdoor presentations about the boat, we launched them. It was so funny. They forgot to line up a tow vehicle so we used a small Toyota 4x4 truck.
It reminded me of towing our Calypso with our old Toyota Four Runner.
To gas up, we had to drive through town on Saturday morning, the busiest day of the week. Needless to say, we drew a lot of attention as we traveled back and forth with each boat with the little truck and the large boat.
At the ramp we wanted to practice loading the boat with each driver and practice pulling the boat out of the water, but the small Toyota truck didn’t have enough power to do it several times, so we did it only once. The transmission was smoking after the first pull.
After driving the boats on the water for a while, we tied two boats together, had lunch, and then had President McMurray offered a “dedication prayer”.
The boats were dedicated to the Lord for missionary work. There was a different feeling that radiated through the boats as the prayer was offered. We all knew that these boats now had purpose. They would become the vehicles to transport missionaries and other church officials to many islands throughout Tonga. The movement of these people would be for the building of the Lord’s kingdom--no fishing, no pleasure riding, just service, therefore, our feelings and emotions became more subdued for we knew, we really knew, how important they would become in the Lord’s work in Tonga.
Monday morning a few of us boarded two of the boats-Amoni (Tongan for Alma) and Molonai (Tongan for Moroni) and set off to sea to the Ha’apai island group. These boats, that looked so big to everyone when they were on the trailers, now seemed like little toys.
As we were out on the ocean, there were periods of time when no land could be seen. That’s when I realized how insignificant the boat was compared to the seas.
We traveled to Nomuka in record time (3 1/2 hours). This is the first major island in route to Ha’apai. From Nomuka we drove to Ha’afeva. This took another hour. We left one boat in Ha’afeva. After docking the boat I walked to the chapel to inspect a storage place for the boat. Some of the kids that greeted us at the boat dock followed me like kids surrounding the candy man. I stopped and took their picture. Kids love to have their picture taken.
Some of the people on this island provided lunch for us (a small pig, root plants, and, well, this was hard for me- lobster).
After lunch we traveled another hour to Pangai, Ha’apai. So, this little boat ride adventure was 5 ½ hours long.
When we arrived in Ha’apai, we quickly unloaded our suitcases and several boxes for the missionaries in Vava’u. It was our expectation that we were going to board a plane and fly to Vava’u (the next major island group north of Ha’apai). It was my job to receive the third boat that was being shipped, in a cargo ship, to Vava’u.
Well, we got to the airport and learned that the plane was flying back to the main island (Tongatapu) instead of Vava’u. Tongatapu is the island that we started our trip from. We started to check in at the airport and learned that they had oversold the plane. Some of our group had to spend the night in Ha’apai. Since I needed to receive the boat in Vava’u, I got to return to Tongatapu.
What happened to the boxes for the missionaries in Vava’u? Well, I had to leave them with those that didn’t get on the plane with instructions to put them on the next cargo boat- the Olovaha (this was the cargo boat that our mission boat was on).
While flying back home, another person made arrangements for me to fly to Vava’u the next day. When I was able to use my mobile phone, I called the service Center to get my flight schedule. I was told that I was booked on the 4:00 flight. “Great,” I said, “that will give me time to do things in the office before I go.” “No, Elder Thompson,” the person said, “the plane leaves at 4:00 a.m., not p.m.”
Well, the night was short. They picked me up at 3:00 a.m. We arrived in Vava’u about 5:30 a.m. In Vava’u we drove to the Service Center to find a place to sleep. The Service Center has a two bedroom apartment attached to it. When we got there we learned that one bedroom was already occupied. (We woke him up). I had with me a man (Brother Dallas) from New Zealand, who was helping with the training. He took the other bedroom, and I took a love seat that was in the entry area.
The love seat was wide enough so I could lay down with my legs over the arm of the love seat. When my back started to hurt, I laid on my side and let my legs hang out from the cushions. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well. We got up about 8:00 a.m. After brushing the ants off my shirt, I was ready for anything.
The cargo ship (Olovaha) was scheduled to arrive in Vava’u at 4:00 p.m. We spent the morning looking at launching ramps, tow vehicles, and storage facilities. During the day we learned that the Olovaha was not going to arrive until 7”00 p.m. Brother Dallas had a plane to catch at 7:00 p.m. to Tongatapu. He had to get back to Tongatapu so he could leave the next day to New Zealand. So he left me. I spent the rest of the day with our missionary Zone Leaders. We inspected houses and solved other problems. Later I checked into a motel on the wharf. I then learned that the Olovaha would not arrive until 10:00 pm.
Around 10:00 p.m. I could see, from my room balcony, the Olovaha.
I notified others, and we decided to wait an hour then go get our boat. About an hour later we drove over to the Olovaha.
It was pandemonium--trucks and cars in every direction jockeying for position to get their goods. It was hilarious.
There were two forklifts taking large shipping crates out of the Olovaha. After watching them for about an hour, I noticed that one forklift had broken down right in front of the Olovaha so the remaining forklift had to work around it. It is total chaos at this time--cars and trucks still fighting for space and position.
Finally, about 1:00 a.m., we see our boat. Eventually, they cleared off the goods in front of the boat. There were three storage bins next to our boat. The forklift operator retrieved the top bin and hauled it out of the Olovaha. On the way back the operator stopped at the top of the ramp. The forklift started to smoke to high heavens. It blew a water hose, so now it was out of commission. The ramp was now blocked with two broken down forklifts. It is now almost 2:00 a.m. We were really getting tired. What were we going to do?
We managed to get our small Toyota (4 cyclinders) truck past the forklifts. Then we were able to pull the boat out to the front of the Olovaha, but there, at the top of the ramp, were two broken down smoking forklifts. What a sight. Even at 2:00 a.m. I managed to laugh. It was so funny. I walked to the top of the ramp, looked at several Tongans who were surmising the situation, then, we all started to laugh. After a few minutes of laughter, several Tongans pushed one of the forklifts out of the way. Finally we were able to take the boat to a storage area.
The night was short again. We met at 7:00 a.m. to unpack the boat and get it ready for the water. We had arranged with a farmer to use his truck to tow and launch the boat. We couldn’t find him. He was somewhere out in the bush. So, now what is our tow vehicle?--a small Toyota pickup. Putting the boat in the water was a struggle for the small truck, but we got the boat launched. One boat engine wouldn’t start because one of the batteries was dead. So we sent one of the guys to the store to buy jumper cables. Eventually, we got the engine started. We rode the boat to the various islands where missionary houses are located and spent some time inspecting these homes. The islands and water inlets were beautiful. It was a wonderful day with the missionaries.
Now, getting the boat out of the water was another comedy. We knew that the Toyota truck could not pull the boat out of the water, and we couldn’t find the farmer. Resourceful minds were at work. After about a half hour, I looked out of the boat window. I couldn’t believe what I saw. A mini dump truck was towing our boat trailer. The driver backed up to the ramp and jumped out. He was Chinese, not Tongan. What a community project!
After unhooking the garbage truck from the boat, they decided to wash the boat using a new power washer. One of the guys rolled out a 100’ hose to attach to the house water faucet. He looked at the end of the hose and realized that it didn’t have any connecting fittings on it. In fact, neither end had fittings. We had a hose with no fittings. Well, we looked in the boat and found some fittings, but only enough for one end. We put the fittings on the hose and went to the faucet. It didn’t fit. The faucet threads are smaller in diameter that the hose fittings. So another person went back to the store for some more fitting. We finally got the water hose connected to the power washer, but the small gas engine was locked up. We couldn’t pull the rope out to get it started. Did they ever get the power washer started? I don’t know. I had to leave to catch the plane back to Tongatapu.
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