The Saga of Our Lost Dinghy
4 Feb 2008
The 4 February was my birthday so we had gone ashore about 5pm to enjoy sundowners with a group of cruisers and divers at the lovely little outdoor bar at the Blue Lagoon Resort Chuuk and to have a bithday dinner in the restuarant. Tom tied up the dinghy at the dock in the usual manner along withside all the other dinghies.
We then watched the spectacular sunset and were just about to go into the resturant when Tom decided to go and check the dinghy as there was a swell coming in and a strong wind blowing. The next moment he was back saying that the dinghy with the 2hp motor chained to it had disappeared! Now as you can imagine we were not happy about this as we were at anchor in a lagoon with only a few other boats around and this was our only means of getting ashore.
So first we hunted around the waters edge thinking perhaps someone had untied it but this was to no avail. Next we asked the guard if he had seen anyone suspicious or heard the motor start. He answered that he only other person he had seen was another cruiser driving their dinghy back to their boat.
Then we shone torches out into the dark moonless night thinking that it may have slipped it's mooring or someone may have used the oars to paddle it away quietly. But we couldn't see a thing. By this stage reality set in as we had no transport to even get back out to Hamamas! So some of the other yachties very kindly took us out in their dinghy. We had decided that our number one priority was to get back aboard but of course this meant that we missed my birthday dinner. I don't think either Tom nor I could have eaten anyhow.
By the time we were on board it was quite late so we decided that we would work out a plan of action the next day. It was an unsettling time for us as we faced some major difficulties. First of all the dinghy and motor were worth about $8000 and our Yacht Insurance for that year was for total loss only so we were unable to make a claim. Secondly we were on a remote third world island with no major marine stores, limited transport options and virtually no police service.
Over the following days we made ever attempt possible to alert the authoritites, newspapers and coastal villages about our loss but all to no avail. We concluded that the dinghy was not stolen but had worked its way loose with the bobbing up and down in the swell and then had been blown across the lagoon by the strong wind.
We had no mobile phone or internet connection so we were thankful that we could send emails via the HF radio and use the Satellite Phone to call Marine Stores and even to call ashore to the Dive Shop to arrange for the dive boats to give us lifts ashore. Tom decided that he wanted to replace the dinghy with exactly the same type as it fitted the davits and was a reliable safe dinghy. So after may phone calls and emails he arranged for a replacement Swift dinghy to be sent from Brisbane by air freight to Chuuk. We decided could use our 15hp motor until we were able to buy a replacement 2hp motor.
Well the saga went on and on as Swift were slow to pack the dinghy and the Transport Company were even slower to pick it up from Swift. Then the Airline Company wouldn't accept it as it was too large to be put on the small plane from Guam to Chuuk! So the Transport Company had to pick it up from the Airline Company and take it back to Swift to be repacked and yes you guessed it, they were all extremely lax in their jobs.
Meanwhile, we had no transport ashore and so were relieing on others to get us there. In fact we eventually got so frustrated that we cancelled the Swift order and ordered a blow up dinghy from the States! Well you can imagine our surprise when a few days later the Swift dinghy arrived. Apparently, it had already been on the plane when we had attempted to cancel the order. Not long after the other dinghy arrived. Customs were extremely helpful and allowed the Swift dinghy in to the country duty free as it was a replacement so we only had to pay a small amount of duty on the cheaper roll up dinghy. So we became the proud owners of two dinghies! We won't be caught wanting again! The whole saga delayed our departure from Chuuk by about 2 weeks.
Fran Welsh
