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Larry's LogNext morning we went diving off the boat to just use up the remaining air in the tanks from yesterday's short dive. It was actually not bad although the place wasn't very pretty. We did see a lot of fish, especially Spotted Morays, some of them very large. We went to the dive shop to rinse off and get the tanks refilled, which the staff did as we waited. We went back to the boat and had lunch. We went for our second dive to a site on Klein Bonaire called Sampler. We had been there last year and enjoyed it although there wasn't a lot of fish there. It was a good site for the conditions since the wind was now southerly and Sampler was on the north side of the island just across a small channel from Kralendyjk. About 5 minutes after we got to the mooring, we saw a dive boat coming over; it was the same one we had had a bad experience with a week or so ago at Something Special. The dive boats have priority at the moorings so we couldn't really tell them they couldn't tie on as well. However, they crew was very nice this time (I think they were different people except for a woman who was now helming the boat) and we had no problems at all. We and their group dove at about the same time although I went much deeper than they did. We got back to the mooring area about the same time. The dive was very good although we didn't see a lot I did see a large Black Grouper, a Tiger Grouper and Diane found a large Batwing Coral Crab. When we got back to the dinghy, the dive crew even asked us if we wanted to come aboard the boat and they would tow our dinghy back to the dive shop area. We thanked them but declined - I was sure they would go too fast to maintain the dinghy's stability; it was a nice gesture though. We got to the dive shop and they filled the tanks for us again. We rinsed everything off and went back to the boat. Unfortunately, we had a somewhat nasty surprise when we got back to the boat. We got aboard and found that the rugs and our bed were wet. Evidently, some kids got aboard by swimming out to the mooring and climbing up the mooring lines. They played around on the bed, getting it wet and walked around on the throw rugs we have on the cabin sole getting them wet as well. Nothing was taken except candy and cookies that we had out. It was more annoying than anything else but we were both a bit upset. We had another wind reversal overnight, starting around 3am. There had been a large area of thunderstorms and lightning to the west and south of us since about 7pm. I noticed the storms but there was no way to tell if they were coming towards Bonaire or not so we both went to sleep about 10pm. We both woke up when the wind increased slightly at about 2am and saw that the wind had reversed to the west. The local fishing boats were starting to leave and we also saw boats from the Club Nautico marina, that's just a set of docks built out into the bay, leave those docks and go into Harbour Village marina that is almost completely landlocked and protected. We only had up to 15-20 knots of wind from the west to southwest and very little rain but once the wind let up and the current moved the boat in a line facing south, the rolling started. Luckily, it mostly let up by daylight. We finally got back to sleep about 4:30 but got up late and missed the morning SSB net. When we did get up, the sky was still overcast and there was still a light breeze from the west. We decided to stay with the boat since we didn't trust the weather conditions. So, while it didn't rain the rest of the day, we just read and watched the weather all day. Not too exciting. Monday we went diving again at a site further north, called Barcadera. We had been there last year and had seen a huge school of Boga being chased by large jacks, but this time the dive was just OK. Visibility still wasn't so good and there weren't as many fish as last year. Still, the coral was very pretty and it was good to go someplace different. Back at the boat, we noticed that the refrigerator was running but the temperature was going up - probably a leak someplace. We'll have to find someone who can find the leak, fix it and then recharge the system. We had to do that in PLC about a year ago and it wasn't too bad - hopefully it won't be too expensive here. We went into the marina the next morning and then town to get a referral for a refrigeration guy. We called him and he said he would come out to the Club Nautico dock at 2pm. Since we were in town anyway, we walked around a bit and also went down to the Carib Inn so I could look for some short dive boots. Unfortunately, either the boots were too big (long) or too small (narrow). We tried several other places with no luck. We were going to eat at a restaurant we liked, the Lost Penguin, but it was closed on Tuesdays so we went back to the boat to eat. We went to the Club Nautico dock at 2 but he didn't show until 2:45, and Diane called him twice. His name was Herschel and we went back to the boat with some tools and gauges. He looked at it and said he would come back later, between 6 and 7. I drove him back to the dock and made arrangements for him to go to the green dock, which was nearer to the boat. We ran some more errands and took a quick swim since it was hot. We had dinner but Herschel didn't show up until 8pm. I picked him up and he worked on the system for 2 hours. He removed the temporary valves that the guy in PLC had put on and put in a new valve where the original had been. He filled in the holes where the valves had been and vacuumed the system. He then recharged it with R134a. The potential problem though was the system was old and used R12. I asked him about it, saying I thought that a R12 system wasn't compatible with the new R134 gas. He insisted that it was OK and had done it before on boat systems. Also, he said R12 wasn't even available on the island. Well, I didn't have much choice so let him continue. Once charged, the system seemed to be working so we paid him and I dropped him off back at the dock, close to 10pm. When we got up the next morning, the refrigerator was running but not getting colder so we went into the marina and asked Freestyle to use their cell phone to call Herschel. We also brought back some of their DVDs and books we had borrowed. Herschel said he would be back between 10:30and 11, so we went back to the boat and waited. Geri was nice enough to give us some ice to try to keep the food cool. Well, Herschel didn't come until close to 3pm, and looked for the leak again. This time, he replaced the plunger inside the valve he installed last night, vacuumed the system again and recharged it. Again, it seemed to be working and he left about 4:15. We went swimming off the boat to cool off but when we got back aboard and checked the refrigerator, we saw that it wasn't getting cooler. Since it wasn't working anyway, I shut off the compressor for the night. Luckily, we didn't loose any food. We finally got a dive in the next day. We went in to get ice early and called Herschel again from the marina. He said he would be by at 3pm so we had time. We went to buy ice and then stopped at Freestyle for a bit. We then went back to the boat, put the ice in the refrigerator and had a late breakfast. We didn't want to go too far since we had to be back and ready for Herschel by 3pm so we just went to Something Special. We got to the mooring and were putting the gear together when Karen and John from Nirvana came over. They were going to dive there as well. Karen was a beginner so John was helping her and we went ahead and did our dive. It was a good one even though we had been there many times before. We went a little deep to the sand and coral rubble part in front of the marina entrance and I saw some Cherubfish, Tobaccofish, a Sand Tilefish and finally the colony of Brown Garden Eels. We swam to the reef and saw a very large Tiger Grouper and then at the end of the dive, just near the mooring, a Bandtail Puffer, only the second or third we had ever seen. We got back to the dinghy and saw that Karen hadn't done her dive since she had a problem equalizing her ears. Diane offered to give them some antihistamine because Diane uses one pill (normal dose is 2) and it helps her clear her ears, which she is very sensitive about. We got our gear together and said we would see them later and went to the dive shop. We rinsed off everything and went back to the boat. While we were putting the stuff onboard, John and Karen stopped and asked for some of the medication. We then relaxed, had some lunch and waited for Herschel. He came at 4 and brought a helper this time. I picked him up and we got all his stuff aboard. He started by hooking up a compressor that he brought to try to find the leak. We finally seemed to find it in one of the pipes from between the compressor and the evaporator. Unfortunately, the two copper pipes from the compressor merged into a "single" aluminum pipe to the evaporator. It seemed that there was a leak there but aluminum can't be soldered or brazed so Herschel drove me to Budget Marine where I bought an aluminum epoxy stick and some whipping twine. When we got back to the boat, he tried using the epoxy stick on the tubing but it didn't seem to stick very well so he scraped it off before it dried completely (it had been very expensive, too). He said he would come back later with regular epoxy to seal the tube but I said I had epoxy that I could use so coming back later wasn't necessary. He said to seal it with epoxy and then wrap the twine very tightly around it, once the epoxy dried, and then put another coat of epoxy over the twine. I said I could do that so I brought Herschel and Marco, his helper, back to shore with his tools and cutting torch. He left the rest of the equipment on the boat. That was about 6. We then got all the food out of the refrigerator and brought most of it to Freestyle, who had agreed to hold some of it in their refrigerator - Herschel had asked that we leave the refrigerator open overnight to dry it out, in case they had to remove the evaporator tomorrow. So, we packed everything in the insulated bags and went to the marina. After we got back and had dinner, I cleaned the tube where the epoxy was going again and then got everything out and applied it. I applied it unthickened first, as Herschel had asked, but then I mixed a little aluminum dust in and applied another layer over the still tacky first coat, just to thicken the film a bit. After cleaning up, that was it for the evening. I would finish putting on the twine and the second coat of epoxy tomorrow. Friday was a holiday in Bonaire and all the Netherlands Antilles, like Flag Day in the US, but evidently it will be the last one since Bonaire will be independent from Curacao by this time next year. The island will still be 'affiliated' with Holland, and I believe still get subsidies from there, but it will be an independent state, similar to Aruba. However, Herschel said he would be back today at 4pm to test the repair to the pipe I made last night and will beef up this morning, so we'll see if we have a working refrigerator by tomorrow morning. I think if this doesn't work though, I will just call a halt to the effort and just use ice until we replace the system. I was busy in the morning putting whipping twine on the area of the refrigerant tube that I had coated with epoxy last night. It was an uncomfortable position since I had to use both hands in order to get the whipping as tight as possible. I put on about 6 inches of whipping and then got out the epoxy again to put a coat on top of the twine, and when that was still tacky, put another coat on. In the meantime, I had dropped Diane off at the dock to get some more ice. I picked her up and was almost done with the epoxy. Once she finished putting the ice in the cooler bags and I finished with the epoxy, we relaxed a bit, ate an early lunch and went for a dive at Small Wall, nearby. We picked up the tanks and went over, seeing Karen and John at Front Porch. We had to cancel our get-together with them this evening since Herschel said he would come back at 4pm to test the fix I had done and perhaps recharge the system. We then went up to our planned site. It was occupied but the divers were almost done so we waited until the dive boat left and went on to the mooring. It's interesting that when we asked if we could tie up to the mooring, the dive master on the boat said it was illegal. On the other hand, when we are on a mooring and a dive boat wants to share it that seems to be no problem. Anyway, we hoped to see the frogfish that we had seen before at this site. Unfortunately, we found the spot but the fish was gone. It was a nice dive but we didn't see anything unusual, although there were a lot of fish. We got back to the shop, dropped off the tanks and rinsed the gear as usual and one of the shop owners said that there were several seahorses at a site call Witches Hut - about 35-40 minutes by dinghy to the north. Maybe we'll try it at some point. We got back to the boat at 3, ran the watermaker and waited for Herschel. By 6:30 he still hadn't arrived so we tried calling him using the Skype phone (Internet telephony using VoIP). It wasn't a very good connection but I contacted him and he said he would be here in about an hour. So, we had a quick (and very simple) dinner and waited some more. He finally came at about 7:40, bringing his son and a friend, who he said was visiting from Venezuela. They came on board and while Diane spoke to his friend and his son, Herschel inspected my work, liked it, and proceeded to see if the system would hold a charge. It seemed to so he vacuumed the system again and then recharged it. It seemed to be working but we wouldn't know positively until tomorrow. I then brought them and his equipment back to the dock. We'll see what happens. |