The day started out normal enough. As usual, our clinic was the most popular place in town and patients were coming in by the busload. My preceptor, John Nett, was given the honor of being the sites Officer in Charge (OIC) and was kept pretty busy with both pharmacy and OIC duties. We broke for lunch around 1230 and enjoyed a delicious MRE under a tree on the beach. It was a rather agreeable setting until the rain came. In typical tropical fashion; it was sunny once moment and raining the next. It was as if someone tripped a switch and turned on the rain. Not being the type to allow a little rain to ruin a perfectly good meal, I simply grabbed my stuff and continued to enjoy my pouch of vegetable lasagna and my bag of osmotic cranberries under an awning of the hospital. Not as nice as on the beach, but still quite agreeable. Seeing as the rain has cooled things off a bit I opted for coffee…Field Joe to be precise.
For the uninitiated, MREs often contain a small packet of Nescafe instant coffee powder. To make Field Joe, you simply pour the powder in your mouth and follow it with as much water as your cheeks can hold. Then simply shake your head side to side and presto…fresh coffee, brewed right in your mouth. Sadly, I did not invent this wonderfully creative caffeine delivery system; the art of Field Joe was passed down to me from the all knowledgeable Dr. Cota, CDR, USN when we were on Savaii. For those of you wondering…it's awful and worse yet, the taste seems to linger for an unnaturally long time. But it served its purpose and before long I had all the energy I needed to finish the day strong.
As we were putting the finishing touches on our final prescriptions of the day (354 in total), word came that the weather was too rough to run the RHIBs. This meant that, for the moment, we were stuck on the island. What do you do when you find yourself stuck on a tropical island with no way home? Simple, you remember your Boy Scout survival training and seek out the necessities: food, water, and shelter. So we went to the bar.
The Mariner Café & Bar is literally the only establishment on the island. It is a small outdoor café/bar with 5 tables under a covered patio. Our entire medical team that day was around 25 people. When we pulled up the Mariner we realized that we were not the only ones stranded on the island. The engineering and veterinary teams had beaten us there…about 50 people in total. Needless to say, the place was packed and we soon ate nearly every bit of food in the place.
It was now getting late and word again arrived that there was no chance of getting back to the ship that evening. We now had to find accommodations for 50 plus people on an island without a proper hotel. Luckily we had the mission commander there to help. Through a herculean effort, he somehow found a place for everyone to sleep. I was lucky enough to get a rack aboard one of the Australian LCHs that was docked at the pier.
No sooner than I step inside the LCH do I hear "Safeguard! Safeguard!" go out over the Australian PA. It was very dark on the pier and one of the girls coming aboard the LCH missed her step in fell between the ship and pier and into the ocean. The people immediately behind her said she simple disappeared in front of them. She managed to fall through a gap no more than 18 inches wide without hitting a thing and without making a sound. Luckily, one of the tallest people on the entire mission was right behind her and was able to pull her out quickly. It was absolutely amazing that she was able to walk away from that with no more than a wet uniform.
The Australians were great. Not only did they find towels and dry clothes for the girl who fell in, but they really went out of their way to make us all feel at home. We had warm, comfortable beds and a hot meal in the morning. They even played Born in the USA over the PA as the morning wakeup call. The only bad part of the night was the lack of a toothbrush, for I still had the taste of Field Joe in my mouth.
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