June 3, 2015
In Tonga last season: We could save an hour if we could find a deep enough route out of the other side of the bay. We did it the old-fashioned way, dropping a weighted string as we motored along in the dinghy. It worked and we had a route out to the east. This year, we stepped up into the 21st century with a hand-held depth sounder and I love it (but then, I’m a gadget guy!).
This Vexilar sounder was part of our annual Amazon order. It was about $150 and a pure luxury that I’m so glad we bought. In the situation above, we would have used the oar as a depth sounder. Now, I just stick the end of this in the water, hold the switch forward for a second and it shows me that we have plenty of water, 4.4 feet of it to be exact, over this beautiful reef at Kouare Island, New Caledonia. (The water was so clear, it looked like mere inches.)
We haven’t used it much so I can’t speak to it’s durability, but so far, I’m very impressed. Here’s a link to it on Amazon. -Rich
