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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Dec 6, 2010
Description:
After crossing some really rough deep blue water the sight of the aquamarine of Vatulele was a relief. I could also see that there might be an edge to the storm. Just in case I called the Suri. She had just plowed through the storm and said it was pretty on the other side. I decided to go around.
Date Taken:
Dec 6, 2010
Place Taken:
Vatulele, Fiji
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
Island_Refuge.jpg - Photo HTML
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Category:
425, Yacht Tending
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Dan Nickens - Dec 06,2010
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Fish tales abound in tropical water discussions. I’d heard none, however, about giant plane eating rays. Maybe I should have paid more attention.<br /><br />As I was circling Vatulele contemplating the dark clouds ahead, I flew over the small island community of Bouwaqa. It looked more traditional than most I’d seen on the mainland. There was no sign of power lines or satellite antennas. There were the traditional grass roofs and some small canoes. The only concession to modern life was the short grass airstrip just outside the village.<br /><br />Several miles from Bouwaqa I spotted a sparkling white beach, lined with palms. With a justifying glance towards the rain clouds, I quickly turned to make an approach in the protected waters.<br /><br />My turn took me back towards the village. I remembered Toi’s admonition about “sevusevu” or seeking permission to use the village’s waters. That seemed to be much too inconvenient for a quick splash and nap under the palm trees. I extended my approach to make sure I was well away from any native eyes just in case.<br /><br />The water was perfect: smooth and cool to the touch. The beach softly accepted the SeaRey hull with a quiet crunch. I jumped out and pulled the seaplane firmly ashore.<br /><br />The scene before me was too perfect for reality with a gentle breeze rustling the palm fronds above silky white sand caressed by aquamarine water. It looked like something from a Hollywood screen script. “Perfect for a quick nap,” I announced to no one.<br /><br />The frenzied shaking of overhead fronds jerked me from my slumbering. It took only a second to feel the sharply colder breeze responsible. My eyes quickly focused on the dark clouds moving directly for my nap site.<br /><br />Waves were being whipped up even in the shallow lagoon. The sight of the SeaRey moving uncertainly away from the beach finally spurred my body to move. I raced to the shore just in time to catch the rudder as it slide away towards the wind whipped water.<br /><br />I wrestled the SeaRey back onto the beach high enough for a quick dash to get my towel. I barely made it back as the sea and wind grabbed it again.<br /><br />Quickly jumping into the cockpit, I stashed the beach stuff, pulled on my flying gear and cranked the ignition. I was rewarded with a reassuring rumbling from the engine.<br /><br />The dark clouds were underlain by sheets of gray rain. I calculated I had only a few minutes to make my escape. I used those seconds to allow the engine to warm as I splashed through the frenzied waves.<br /><br />Out of the corner of my eye I caught a giant splash out by the reef. Staring I thought I could see a large gray shape moving deliberately through the shallow water. I couldn’t be sure, though, because the water had turned slate colored with a frosting of white spray.<br /><br />“Whatever, I am outta here,” I mumbled. With some innate caution, however, I pointed the nose across the wind away from the crashing reef and shoved the throttle full forward.<br /><br />The lightly loaded SeaRey surged forward. It quickly jumped on top of the water and I prepared to jerk it off of the hammering waves.<br /><br />Suddenly a great gray shoal seemed to rise dead ahead. The question to “drop or fly” never had time to materialize in my consciousness. Not flying was not an option. I sharply jammed the nose down into the water and jerked it back up. The SeaRey staggered off the water.<br /><br />The looming sight of the huge gray shoal made me hesitate before lowering the nose again. There really was no choice, though. I knew the SeaRey was just hanging in the air by a molecule of air. I had to accelerate to fly. That meant pushing the nose down.<br /><br />With the nose down I was now eyeball level with the gray shoal. It looked lethally close to the hull. Strangely, it seemed to be undulating. The surface was glistening. Being a rock fan, I’ve seen lots of reef rocks, corals and shoals. I’d seen nothing to match the huge, smooth rippling surface.<br /><br />There was no time to understand it. All I needed to know was that I passed over it by a few millimeters of water vapor.<br /><br />Accelerating in ground effect, I let me heart slow down. My mind could not come to grips with the near miss. “How could I have missed seeing a shoal that big?” I thought, shaking my head. There was a nagging thought that it couldn’t have been a shoal. Despite the rapidly approaching storm, I turned back to see it again.<br /><br />It was easy to spot. The massive gray shape was rapidly moving, turning in a sharp underwater arc towards me. All I could manage was an uncomprehending “huh?”<br /><br />I was still just above the water when it broke the surface. The massive body seemed to erupt from the waves. Like a granite missile, it was aiming for my plane.<br /><br />“Full throttle, stick back, yank hard” happened through sheer survival instinct. The gray monster flashed by the right side collision close.<br /><br />The first conscious thought was “don’t stall.” I quickly leveled the wings and pushed the stick forward. The red light blinking on the dash had no meaning until I heard the engine screaming. I was way over boosting the power. I throttled back to max continuous power.<br /><br />I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. Some huge sea creature had just tried to smash my airplane.<br /><br /> That made me mad. Whatever it was, it was not going to get away clean from an angry SeaRey flyer. I yanked the airplane into a sharp low level bank back towards the offending monster.<br /><br />My turn took me low over the palm trees. The SeaRey skimmed at tree top level back towards the churning lagoon.<br /><br />It took only a moment to spot the gray monster just below the surface. I turned directly towards it. This time, however, I figured I had enough altitude that even an Olympic jumping fish couldn’t reach me.<br /><br />It was only a few seconds away, but I could see it moving at astonishing speed. It was making an arc back towards me. I could see its massive wing tips slapping the top of the waves. I could just make out a long, thin lance like tail sticking straight out behind it.<br /><br />“A manta ray? That’s a giant manta ray!” I yelled. But I didn’t believe it. How could a manta ray have a twenty five foot wing span? More than that, how could any creature move that fast in the water?<br /><br />I had only seconds to contemplate my doubts. In a heartbeat the giant ray had broken the surface of the water and was launched towards me.<br /><br />“Oh no you don’t!” I yelled, once more ramming the throttle forward and pulling the stick back.<br /><br />“Ha! Bad miss!” I screamed while executing a steep climbing turn. I badly wanted to get back around to see the splash when the ray crashed back into the water. “Revenge,” I hoped.<br /><br />There was no splash or crash. I couldn’t see the creature at all where I expected it to have smashed back into the water. There was nothing but wind whipped waves. In disbelief I continued my tight low circle looking for any sign of the monster.<br /><br />Suddenly the airplane was pitched sharply upward. It was like a giant hand reached up and smacked the bottom of the plane. I was pressed back into the seat at the sickening collision.<br /><br />As I grappled with the controls trying to fly again, from the corner of my eye I saw it. The great gray ray was underneath the SeaRey. It was still above the water, though the distance between us seemed to be rapidly growing.<br /><br />I couldn’t worry about the ray. I had my hands full flying a wallowing SeaRey. The engine was still howling, but the airspeed was critically slow. I was only holding her upright with the rudder. A quick glance at the left wing showed the wing float dangling in the wind stream. There was the wrinkle in the fabric where the spar attached that froze my gaze.<br /><br />That’s when the first squall hit. It was like flying into a liquid steel wall. The whole plane shook. Rain flooded into the cockpit. The world outside flashed to a deathly pale gray.<br /><br />Turbulence slammed the little plane up and down. As I fought to keep the airplane upright in the wild wind my mind kept flashing back to the wrinkled wing.<br /><br />There’s a certain time slowing calm that takes over in crisis. I swear I could hear my flight instructor telling me, “Just fly the plane.”<br /><br />Then again, my mind replied, “Yeah, like what else is there to do.”<br /><br />When there is only one task between life and death, it helps to focus one’s attention. First I made sure the airplane was upright and flying. Second, I made a reasonably shallow turn back to the opposite direction.<br /><br />In seconds I was spit from the storm. The rain abruptly ended at the shoreline. I flew into clear air out over the island. I didn’t turn back to look at the storm until I was on the opposite shore.<br /><br />Looking back I saw the gray curtain matching the southern shoreline. The way back east towards the village was still clear.<br /><br />There was now time to worry about the SeaRey. A quick glance showed the float still barely attached. The wrinkle was still there too, but it hadn’t gotten any worse.<br /><br />A look back towards the village showed the grass strip was still free of the rain’s grip. I turned directly for it.<br /><br />The rain may have not made the strip, but the wind had. The SeaRey shook in its malicious gusts as the grass rose up. It was only at the last minute I remembered to lower the gear. The gear came down just as the grass came up.<br /><br />A long held breath escaped. There was just a moment of relief before the left side dropped to the ground. The airplane swerved left off the grass and into the brush. It came to an abrupt stop just a few feet from the tall palms.<br /><br />I sat in the cockpit for a moment with the engine still running. Slowly and deliberately I reached over and turned the ignition off. There was an overwhelming moment of silence before I could once again hear the wind in the palms. Then the gray curtain descended.<br /><br />Content to sit in the airplane, I held the controls so the wind couldn’t whip them. Rain drummed on the windscreen and canopies. Fog quickly formed on the inside, blocking the view of the gray outside world. It felt like being in a cocoon, or maybe even a coffin, though I didn’t dwell on that thought.<br /><br />A great brown hand suddenly appeared just outside the fog. Large fingers slipped through the crack as the canopy slide backwards. They grasped the canopy, then ripped it off.<br /><br />That left me looking up through the rain into the grim face of a barrel chested giant of a man. In one hand he held the canopy. In the other he held a large machete. I didn’t move.<br /><br />“Bula.”<br /><br />It was a simple greeting. I didn’t think to reply. I just nodded my head.<br /><br />“You crash.”<br /><br />“Yes.”<br /><br />“You hurt?”<br /><br />“No, I don’t think so.”<br /><br />“Not good to fly aeroplane in storm.”<br /><br />“No.”<br /><br />“You come. Get kava.”<br /><br />Kava? My mind grappled with the prospect of drinking that earthy concoction again. I finally came to the conclusion that it didn’t sound all that bad. I climbed out of my seat.<br /><br />That’s when it struck me: I had nothing for sevusevu. I turned back to the airplane. Nothing for sevusevu, except, maybe, YES! Granola bars and lemonade!<br /><br />I’m sure the chief will tell the tale for years of the crazy white pilot that brought granola bars and lemonade for sevusevu.<br />
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Frank A. Carr - Dec 07,2010
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Ahhhh, finally. Thank you Dan. Wonderful.
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Dan Nickens - Dec 07,2010
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Thanks, Frank. Next time I'm taking Dave Lima and his bow (guns not allowed in Fiji).
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Don Maxwell - Dec 07,2010
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Well? Well? Is there a Part Two about fixing the gear after kava? And what about the ray that is no doubt patrolling the waters around the island? And where was the ship's masseuse, the while?
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