|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Diane's DiaryDecember 7 Sunday We had a bad night's sleep last night as there was zero wind so lots of mosquitoes. Plus, the local bar plays loud music every Friday and Saturday night that starts at 11pm and goes into the wee hours of the morning. The music is so loud we really hear it a lot from the boat and it keeps us up. So, we didn't get a great night's sleep. I made some cheese omelets for breakfast. I went over to the dive shop to get some weights for my BCD. I also went to the marina to get rid of the garbage and get some water. We can't run the water maker since we are getting such little wind so it's just cheaper to buy water rather than use the engine. I am going to go diving with Ray and his family today. I figured I would just go with the dive shop but then thought I would rather give Ray the money. But even though we offered to pay, he never took any. Anyway, Larry couldn't go because of his foot so I went with them. It was extremely nice that they took me since I am a new diver and I didn't want to hold them up. I didn't know to wet my tank strap for the first time before using it so it almost slipped off underwater! Thankfully, I knew something was wrong, told Ray and he adjusted it. Anyway, we had a very nice dive and really enjoyed it. I had a little problem clearing my ears but not too bad. I was definitely nervous but seemed to do OK once I calmed down a little. December 8 Monday Another bad night sleep as we had zero wind, it was hot and we had mosquitoes. We have tried everything to get rid of them- mosquito coils, electronic bug zappers and finally have to put bug spray on. We arrived at the dinghy dock at 9:30am as the Internet time slot we bought was for 9-11am. It was cheaper to buy a card for a specific time period. Then we went to WannaDive and bought Larry's BCD. I went to the phone company while Larry was in the Internet café and got them to give me a new phone card for the one that wasn't working. In the afternoon, I went diving with Ray and Suzanne from Skyus in her last dive for certification. Bruce and Peter came too but they just dove by themselves and I went with Ray and Suzanne. I had a very nice time and it was nice of him to invite us. It's too bad that Larry can't dive yet as I know he is anxious to go. December 9 Tuesday We went to get the 2 dive tanks refilled then went down to Divi Flamingo to pay for the other tank. The guy was not very nice when I told him the o-rings needed to be replaced immediately- he was not very nice and I definitely would NOT recommend anybody to his store as it was a very unpleasant experience. When we showed him the damaged o-ring he didn't say anything. We should not have even gone back to pay as it was his error not ours that we didn't pay for the additional tank and we had to use all the dinghy gas to go back down there. They didn't have a clue about good customer PR. Anyway, we got back to the boat around 11 and I made chili and pressured cooked some red kidney beans. I made conch steak for lunch and it came out terrific. We had our first dive together today but it went very badly. We wanted to go to the dive site very close to our boat called Something Special except a dive boat was already on it. So, since we didn't know too many sites, we decided to go all the way up to Andrea I as we had snorkeled it and felt comfortable with the site. Well, Larry's BCD had a problem and didn't work. So, we couldn't continue the dive and had to go all the way back to the dive shop where we bought the BCD. Since WannaDive is in the process of putting in a new dock we couldn't get in there by boat. So, we had to go into the marina and then Larry walked over from there. They fixed it right away. We went back out again and by this time, Something Special was free so went there. We didn't get to the dive site until 4:30 so it was rather late and we missed the fish lecture that we enjoy going to on Tuesday nights. However, the equipment seems to be working fine and even though we were both nervous on our first dive without an instructor, it went well. This is a very nice easy site to dive on and is great for beginners. December 10 Wednesday Larry had 1200PSI of air left in his tanks so he cleaned the bottom of the boat with it. I did the dishes and did some emails. Ray and Nightwinds stopped by while Larry was underwater. We went to the dive shop to refill our air. We had lunch and then went diving. We decided to just go diving off the back of over boat, as this is a nice easy dive. After we finished the dive and were headed back to the dive shop, Peter told us of a seahorse near the last boat mooring. Naturally, Larry wanted to see it, so off we went. We actually did see it although it was difficult to spot- it was in between 2 mooring blocks way at the bottom. This was the first seahorse we had ever seen so it was very exciting. We went back to the dive shop, washed off all our equipment and got back to the boat around 4:45pm. Thankfully, I had already prepared turkey enchiladas for dinner so I just had to pop it in the oven. I read the new SSCA bulletins Larry downloaded from the Internet. Using the Internet to get the bulletins is a brand new SSCA service. This is great as we don't get our mail too often and are always behind in getting the bulletins. I also finished my book "Good Cop, Bad Cop" about police officer Michael Dowd of the NYPD- a very good interesting book that I enjoyed. December 11 Thursday We finally got our first good night's sleep in a long time as we had no rain and some wind which kept it cool and kept the bugs away. I made bacon and eggs for breakfast. We went into the marina to get rid of the garbage and get water. At 11am, we went diving back to Something Special. Larry wanted to see the seahorse with the dive equipment since it's down about 20 feet. We swam with all our dive gear on and it was a very long swim just to see the seahorse. We should have gone to the last boat mooring but instead we went to the dive mooring which was further away from the seahorse. I thought it was going to be to far but Larry said it wouldn't be too bad. He was wrong- it was too long a swim with dive gear on. Anyway, we did get to see the seahorse and it was very interesting. When we got back to the dive shop, they said we couldn't take showers with soap and shampoo. If we had known that, we would not have signed up for the air. We are low on water and taking a shower at the dive shop would have helped us conserve on water. Anyway, we got back to the boat around 1:45 and just had a quick lunch of peanut butter, as we were really hungry by this time. I was tired so tried to take a nap but couldn't. I made some brownies and we had some leftover chili for dinner. We spent a quiet rest of the day just reading and relaxing. December 12 Friday At 8:30 this morning, Suzanne and I walked over to the wholesale food stores before it got too hot. First, I had to call Kooyman hardware store for Larry to see if they got the light bulb in for our Alpenglow light. It had burned out, we didn't have a spare so couldn't use the light to read which was a hardship as one of us always sits in that spot to read. Anyway, they had the bulb, so he will walk over to get it while I'm at the supermarket. At 2pm, we went diving to Small Wall. It was a terrible dive- Larry kicked me about 4 times with his fins and almost knocked my mask off! Plus, at the end of the dive, I only had 500PSI left, couldn't stay down and only did a 2-minute safety stop instead of 3, as I couldn't stay down any longer. Also, I had only 800PSI of air left when we were down at 60' and I tried telling Larry this but we didn't come up. Finally, I just ascended on my own. Part of the problem is I don't have an underwater watch and we really need that and a dive computer to make sure we are not exceeding the no decompression limits. So, it was not a very good dive but I expect some dives are like this. December 13 Saturday I fried up a huge 2kg bag of chicken cutlets this morning. Plus, I doubled the recipe of my chocolate cake recipe and made this for the party tonight at WannaDive. Every second Saturday in the month they host a cleanup dive. At 12:45pm, we left to go over to Wanna Dive for the cleanup dive. They supply the tanks and the air and we just have to pick up the garbage. Then they have a party afterwards, supply the drinks; ribs and steak and we each bring a dish. Today's dive was the town pier, which we understand is fantastic. It is almost impossible to get permission to do the town pier during the day due to the heavy traffic. However, today was Yellow Submarine's 5th anniversary of doing the cleanup dive so they got permission to do the pier. The pier is usually done as a night dive but I don't think we are ready for a night dive yet. Anyway, they gave us a lecture about how to pick up garbage - it's actually harder than you think as the bag starts to weigh you down. Also, you can get tangled in the fishing line so you have to be very careful. We all piled into their assorted vehicles and went down to the pier. We had to jump into the water from about 10' with all of our gear already on so this was definitely intimidating as we never did that before. Most of you know I don't like to dive from heights! My tank started to come off twice - once Larry helped me and the other time Mike from Galadriel helped me when the tank was almost off! I learned the strap has to be put on much tighter. I enjoyed going under the pier and definitely did not get claustrophobia as I thought I might. However, it was not a good dive for me- between my tank and all, I just didn't do well on the dive. Plus, I don't think I had the correct buoyancy. At the end of the dive, we had to go back under the pier to get to the steps. Larry took off before me and never looked back to see if I was OK. He went all the way under the pier to the other side before he finally figured I was not there. This is NOT looking out for your buddy and I was very upset at him for not checking on me. I just couldn't get my BCD to deflate and later one of the dive instructors from Yellow Submarine, Andrea, said it was because I was holding my low-pressure inflator horizontal instead of vertical. I gave the instructor my equipment and just snorkeled to a spot where I could get out of the water. I was definitely mad at Larry for leaving me like that and not making sure I was behind him. Anyway, we got back, took showers and went back to the boat to rest for a while. We went back around 6pm for the party and it was very nice. Lots of food and we all had a good time. We wound up staying until around 9pm. Ray got very drunk and was dancing on one of the tables! All in all, it was excellent but I still don't feel comfortable with my diving yet. I guess it just takes more experience to get better. December 14 Sunday I was woken up at 4am by the sound of the low voltage alarm going off. I finally got back to sleep when around 5am a huge rainstorm came in and we had to close all the hatches. Larry didn't tie my side of the hatch down so my side of the bed got soaked. We finally got back to sleep and slept until 8 which is very late for us. I woke up tired from the very interrupted nights sleep. We had frozen bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. OK, they were not NY bagels but they are the best we are going to get out here! I updated my logs for a while and we left at 1:45 to go diving. The dive shop where we get our air doesn't want us to use soap and shampoo in their outdoor showers. Most of the other dive shops are open till 5 or 6 so ours closes too early. We are not very happy there. The dive shop really caters to the high-end expensive hotel customers. We still needed to run the engine today, as we are still low on water. Looks like we are going to have to buy some water to keep up with our water consumption. We just aren't getting enough wind and sun to run the water maker every day. We need to run the water maker at least 2 hours every day to keep up with our consumption. December 15 Monday We had rain again at 5am, which woke us up and caused an interrupted night sleep. The wind seems to die at night and the mosquitoes come out. We went to the Internet café in the morning from 9:30- 11 am. While Larry was using the Internet, I called Citibank as his ATM card expired. Naturally, they wouldn't talk to me so I had to have Larry call back. We ordered another card and they promised it would be here no later than next Monday. At 2pm, we got our tanks and went back to Andrea I dive site. This is a nice good dive for beginners or you can always go down 60- 80 feet. It's a very nice dive site. |