Another big Tongan feast, this time breakfast, followed by some motion sickness pills courtesy of Pat, set the course for the day.
We left the habour after 09:00 and by 10:00 we had reached the next dive site. As everyone kitted up I told Herbert that I wouldn't be diving today as I had trouble equalising yesterday and my were still popping. He seemed content with my statement. I didn't feel it appropriate to tell him my other reasons for not diving although Ian was fully aware. I made sure that he was comfortable diving without me and was happy to continue and let me stay out of the water.
While Ian was diving I read my novel and relaxed, even though the boat was bobbing around. Admittedly there was less swell than yesterday and the boat was far more endurable since I had taken the motion sickness pills. Whilst waiting for Ian to surface from the first dive the skipper asked me if Ian was my father! 'No!' I replied. 'He's not that old!' I couldn't wait to tell Ian on his return...
I was happy that I had made the right decision not to dive today. The real reasons I didn't dive stem back to my initial tuition from DTS and I am grateful to them for training me. Firstly, I didn't feel confident with our guide, whose mask incidentally was covered with black muck, possibly oil. He accepted divers on to his boat who didn't know how to strap a tank to their BCD. Today he made a habit of exiting the water before everyone had even surfaced. What if someone was having a problem beneath the surface? I was thankful I wasn't in the water. Secondly, the boat and equipment, in my opinion, is substandard. The equipment looks old. When informed that I got a mouthful of saltwater each time I inhaled through my regulator, Herbert told me that it was only three weeks old, although it clearly wasn't as it was very scratched. The wetsuits were old and there was such a struggle to find pairs of wetboots that matched or whose zippers worked! The fins were uncomfortable to use and my ankles were sore from trying to swim with them. Everything felt wrong. Everyone elses equipment was much the same, Chad ended up wearing dfferent colour fins as he couldn't find a matching pair of the same size! The regulator that I was using yesterday was left abandoned on the deck with the dust cap unattached.
I also noted that when people put their tanks and BCDs together that had them hanging halfway down their backs when they put their jackets on! Generally people didn't seem prepared to descend as they entered the water, all except for Ian I have to say who ensured he set his bezel on his watch before he descended everytime. I was very proud of him and pleased that he could continue diving without me.
The other thing worth mentioning was that as Herbert rushed out of the water after the first dive he went straight to the toilet below deck. As the Swiss guy was climbing out of the water up the ladder Herbert's faeces floated past him! It was foul!
It is also advisable not to climb up ladders wearing your fins in case you slip and fall or injure a fellow diver yet we were instructed to climb the ladder in fins to make the exit quicker. With regards to continuing the dive yesterday when I was so low on air, I did wonder why Herbert didn't put more than 200 bar of air in the tanks to start with if he wanted the dive to continue!
Nothing about this trip felt safe to me and if we'd seen and inspected the equipment on the boat before we left I don't think I would have gone to 'Eua, but it's difficult to say. Equipment doesn't have to be shiny and new to be safe, it just needs to be well maintained and regularly serviced. I relaxed at the thought of not spending a further TOD 1,080 on a five dive package on Tongatapu which means we will have the equivalent money in NZD to spend on the car hire when we return to Auckland, which is fantastic!
The journey back to Nuka'alofa took a further 3 hours. It was made easier by lesser swells, Pat's motion sickness pills, sleep and some secret cookie eating on my part, unbeknown to Ian!
It rained in Nuka'alofa again as we got ready to go out for some dinner.
Tonga, especially 'Eua, is home to many pigs who, like the cattle and goats in Africa, roam around the streets eating.
We had a Chinese meal by the waterfront and walked back to the lodge to find 'roachie', the affectionately named cockroach, on the square of carpet at the entrance to our bedroom door... Rain can be heard again outside...
Copyright 2002 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.