Wrecks from sea and air


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Africa » Comoros » Grande Comore
June 20th 1999
Published: January 28th 2013
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Unconventional off loading of cargo
June/July 1999

Grande Comore

Arrival.



Our flight arrived fairly late at night, on the main island, Grande Comore. It was great to see three familiar smiling faces greeting us at the airport: Willem, Elize & Lomé. We all took a taxi to the harbour at Moroni, where Bossi was moored. No sight of her, only other larger boats. Eventually we spotted her attached to another boat next to the quay, dwarfed by comparison by the larger boats. Our trusty familiar home for the next 10 days. To get to her we had to negotiate our way over rails and obstacles of the larger boat in the dark of night, with very limited lighting. Luckily none of us landed in the harbour water, filled with diesel and other unexpected particles. Because it was quite late already, we had a light dinner and stayed there for the night. Not the most peaceful place to spend a night, but we trusted we would be sleeping in sheltered bays that were far more appealing.



The following morning we woke up to cargo being off loaded from a larger ship moored just outside harbour because it was
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Balancing precariously on a shipping container
too shallow for the ship to enter. This was indeed an interesting and unusual sight to watch. Certainly not the conventional way of moving goods. Large shipping containers and vehicles balancing precariously on boats, were being moved from ship to shore. Imagine ordering a brand new shiny car, awaiting eagerly for delivery, with a couple of dents and scratches handed over to you with the keys. Damaged in transit takes on a whole new meaning! Is this all part and parcel of delivery in the Comores?







Underwater wreck of a different kind.

After breakfast we sailed up to the bay at the Le Galawa hotel and asked permission to moor in the bay and was told we could attach our boat onto a blue drum, where we could spend another night. While I was still hunting for my sea legs, Paul and our sons, eager to get into the water, decided to do an orientation dive. After about half an hour or so, I see them appearing with elated smiles on their faces, with a tray in Paul's hands, claiming 'Anyone for drinks?'. Those well known trays that are used by airlines!
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At least there is a crane!
They discovered that the very same blue drum that we were moored to, marked the wreck of the Ethiopian airlines flight 961 that crashed in 1996. This flight was hijacked by Ethiopians seeking political asylum, but ran out of fuel and about three quarters of the passengers, crew as well as the hijackers died. There were about 50 survivors with injuries. The people and staff staying at Le Galawa at the time helped with the rescue operation, using every boat available. Rumour has it if you have one of those airline seats in your house, it elevated your status on the island.



That evening none of us had a peaceful nights sleep. The reason being the movement of the currents and wind caused our twin hulls to continuously knock against the blue drum, or maybe it was the ghosts of the plane wreck talking to us! We all cursed that darn blue drum!







Wreck of another kind.

After a very disturbed night we all went for an early morning dive. My sea legs were still hiding from me, but I was told I had to go on this dive.
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Is that a car?
Hence we went early while it was still relatively calm. On entering the water I was greeted by bat fish, possibly because I was feeding them unintentionally! Then I looked down towards the sea bed and nearly stopped breathing - not a good state when you are under water, but instinct took over and I inhaled again. What an amazing sight: I could see the entire wreck of the Massiwa lying on the sand. This was our first wreck dive, part of our advanced open water certificate and visibility was great - at least 20 meters! Massiwa was a 260 foot cargo boat. Another island legend was that Bob Denard, a mercenary, used this vessel to launch his inflatable boats to invade one of the islands. I could have stayed down there for ages, watching the fish darting in and out of all the cavities. This was truly one of my most memorable dives in the Comores and one that I still remember clearly to this day.



Paul was managing quite well with his broken wrist apart from not having much strength in it. Every time he entered the water, he put on his 'wet' brace and
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That darn drum!
as soon as he was back on board, he removed it, I replaced the water proof plaster that was covering his stitches, which was working very well, even 30 meters under water.





Sailing from Grande Comore to Moheli.

Time to move on. That evening we set sail for Moheli. We decided to do a night crossing as it was a fair distance to the next island. As we set forth, my sea legs jumped ship and I was left stranded. The swells were fairly large and I clearly remember the drone of the engine as we vibrated and rolled over each undulation. As the night and journey wore on I was no longer just green around the gills. I lay and dozed on deck on the floor as I couldn't face going down to our cabin. After a few hours our skipper went to sleep for a couple of hours and Paul took over the watch. Then it started to rain. I couldn't care less what was happening around me while I was feeling very sorry for myself, wanting this part of the journey to be over as soon as possible. As I was
FreedomFreedomFreedom

Our sons having fun
wallowing in self pity, Paul standing at the back of the yacht, slipped on the wet deck from the rain and fell over backwards. With his broken wrist he had no strength to grab hold of anything with his left hand. Willem had strung a net of sorts at the back from port to starboard, to hold small items to dry and thankfully Paul could grab on this with his right hand, while he hurtled backwards, head over heels over the net, and clinging on for dear life singlehandedly. Somehow he managed to pull himself back up onto the deck, quickly pushed the MOB function on the GPS to mark the spot and told me what had happened. I was blissfully or rather wretchedly unaware of what had happened although he was merely a couple of steps away from me. This was one time in my life that I had no sympathy for anyone in distress around me. Had Paul fallen overboard he would not have been found as we were right in the middle of the ocean, between the two islands.



Land ahoy!!

As dawn broke we caught sight of Moheli where we would be
Instructions for dinner?Instructions for dinner?Instructions for dinner?

Philip chatting to Albert, our deck hand, and Jack of all trades!
sailing and exploring for the next few days.


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Sleeping on deck

Far more fun than sleeping in a cabin


29th January 2013

Man over board
You are lucky that you still have a husband, falling off bridges and falling off boats in the middle of the ocean. Not to mention being in 3 x shoot outs in Johannesburg.
29th January 2013

So true!
Never a truer word spoken in jest!

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