Thom's account of the Pagan adventure

We got only six days!

On the day of our departure, after we had already loaded our gear on the boat, Garrett told me that his toe was sore. I looked at it and noticed that it was in-grown. We decided to leave for Pagan anyway and that we would do our best to keep it clean.

As we were approaching Pagan we could see steam being emitted from the volcano. It had just rained so we thought it was just the pooled rain steaming in the cauldron. What we didn't know was that an hour before an earthquake happened. 15 minutes after we stepped ashore the volcano had a small eruption. It silently blasted an ash cloud 6,000 feet into the air. STRIKE ONE!

The next day the volcanic activity had settled back down to just steam and we tried to set up Willie Castro's ham radio but the connection between the radio and the 50' antenna was broken. I used a wire brush to scrape the wires clean, stripped back the lead wire and looped it over the antenna. We were able to contact Saipan - but even though we heard them loud and clear they could barely hear anything we said. To even get this much communication it took two adults 2 hours and we lost 6 inches of the 8 foot lead wire for an iffy at best chance to reach Saipan. STRIKE TWO!

Twice each day we would change the dressing on Garrett's toe. It was impossible to keep it clean. Pagan's soil, even the grassy areas, are as if someone just emptied their charcoal grill ashes on the ground. Every step you take brings up a small cloud of ash dust. By the end of the week it looked like someone had stuck a marble under Garrett's skin. The skin covered half his toenail and it was oozing yellow pus. STRIKE THREE!

The fishing boat was still in the area but anchoring off Pagan every night. On their last morning I took the dinghy out to them and asked if they would wait long enough for me to break camp so we could come back with them.

We're back now, of course.

But the volcano has remained silent. Garrett's toe is mending. Willie's antenna is fixed. If we get another opportunity to go before June we probably will try for it again.

Thom