Invasions
07 July 2009 | Savusavu
While enjoying our beautiful bay we were visited by two giant wasp-type things, with long, dangling appendages. We weren't too concerned as although one kept flying into the cabin, it also kept flying away and out of the cockpit without appearing to want to attack us. However, after a large number of investigations into our main cabin, one creature disappeared into the folds of the curtain and started making amazing buzzing/squeeking noises. It then left, only to reappear later and visit the same curtain. Once it had left again, I summoned the courage to open the curtain and found it had laid a great smear of minute eggs over a large section of the curtain. Hysterical at the thought of lots of creatures hatching out I promptly washed the curtain thoroughly and then cleaned as best I could around the whole area in case the odd egg had escaped. We later saw the wasp/creature vainly tapping at the window to try to get inside to its eggs. Felt really bad.
Having got through this invasion, we then had another visitor. I woke up that night to find Michael standing in the corridor between our cabin and our bathroom listening at different points around the wall and floor. There was a loud echoing sort of squeaking sound which he had first though was something mechanical, but now though might be a cricket or similar. We searched but found nothing and went to sleep. Next evening, just after sunset, the sound started again and appeared to come from the bilges on our side. It sounded like a frog to me, but I couldn't think how a frog could possibly have got aboard. We decided to go to bed and explore the bilges the following morning.
Exploration the following morning found nothing, and Michael sprayed the bilges on this side with flying insect killer, to hopefully get rid of our visitor. That night we didn't hear anything at sunset, but when we went to bed our visitor had moved and was now singing from the bilges under our bed - somewhat muffled by the full locker and mattress above it. A couple more days passed and I was starting to get quite fond of our visitor's evening singing - although still totally at loss as to where it had come from. I was fairly convinced it was a frog, but Michael was not so sure and decided to do a further large spray with crawling insect & cockroach killer. He sprayed every bit of the bilges he could reach and we then shut up the boat and went ashore.
We had returned to Savusavu as we needed to buy some provisions and visit the Doc - I needed to get some antibiotics for my ear which had become infected.
We met up Storyteller and Harmonie in Savusavu and also were pleased to meet up with some friends who had been on the ARC last year. They have a large catamaran and two teenage boys. They left there boat in Tahiti last year while the boys went back to school and were continuing on this year. It was great to see them again.
After a meal ashore that evening, we went back to the boat and heard nothing from our visitor that night. The following day we mourned his passing, but were secretly relieved, although worried that his carcass would start to smell. While sitting in the bar at lunchtime, looking across to my laundry bag sitting outside awaiting collection, I remembered that last time I had laundry done here, it was very wet and there were lots of frogs on the grass. It suddenly occurred to me that a frog must have jumped in the laundry bag and hidden under the clothes - I remembered just dumping the full bag down stairs when we got back, planning to sort it out later. Presumably the frog jumped out and disappeared down the finger hole in the lifting hatch to the bilges. I was really pleased to have an explanation.
Talking to others, we decided that a frog could be quite an asset on a boat as it would eat any insects that appeared. I was still thinking about how to find the dead body of our frog and worrying that we shouldn't have killed him. We needn't have worried though - that night he started up again, but in the bilges on the other side of the boat. He must have found a way through from one side to the other - presumably desperate to escape the insect killer.
Currently Freddy is still with us, but we have been unable to find him. We are not sure what to do next. Needless to say we have had lots of suggestions, like sending other creatures of various sorts down to eat him, but we have managed to resist.