Completely overcast, grey and windy
12/11/2009, Manjack Cay

A quiet, relaxed day at anchor doing routine chores and getting organized for some bigger tasks over the next few days.

The cloud cover has resulted in no solar recharge, so it's a good thing the generator is now working. I spent a couple of hours reading my various technical books about battery charging, and have decided to attempt to keep them at 80% of fully charged as much as possible. With no sun this will mean running the generator at night while we watch a movie and make water.

Time will tell if this works or not.

I have also started into the somewhat difficult task of installing a temperature and oil pressure guage within the cockpit. These instruments need to be visible, illuminated at night, and not interfere with the "idiot lights" that come standard with the boat. Simply disconnecting the lights results in loud alarm buzzing, and I prefer a fully redundant system.
The space available is very limited and the access to it very difficult unless you are two feet tall with six foot long arms.... another project!

A long walk on the beach.... dinner last night with friends to decorate a wonderful Christmas tree, two hours spent adding distilled water to the numerous lead-acid batteries on board... I used more than a gallon of water topping things up, updating maintenance records, and slowly trying to shake off the hustle and bustle of North American life, and get into the "island time" where things can get done slowly and well, and one has the opportunity to relax and enjoy the process, rather than to rush to complete one task so as to rush to the next one.... it'll take some time to slow done after the busy autumn we've had...

I hear the snow has arrived in Ottawa and that the cold is on the way as well..... happy I'm not there to enjoy it!

glen

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Still hot!
12/10/2009, Manjack Cay

Yet another use for a lobster spear!

The pasta was wonderful with fresh lobster and good friends...

glen

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Hot and NO WIND!
12/10/2009, Manjack Cay

It's hot and humid and both Louise and I are hiding below deck trying to avoid a billion no-see-ems which are vicious and obviously very hungry!

Yesterday was an interesting day.... I spent three hours in the afternoon, snorkelling for lobsters....

This task involves diving down to rocky caves located 4-6 meters below the surface, letting your eyes adjust to the darkness of the cave, and looking for the creature hiding in the back of the cave.

Once located, the spear is readied, and down you go again hoping the prey has not moved to another cave.

After three hours in the water, and hundreds of dives, I crawled back into the boat with every muscle in my body sore. I have not been so tired in the past twenty years. The top of my head is sunburnt, my arms, legs and joints are sore, blisters on my feet from the flippers, and we'll see how long it takes to fully recover.... I guess I'm not 30 years old anymore!

A party on shore is planned for this evening with the main event being the decoration of the Christmas tree ( a live 16' pine in a large pot specifically grown and trimmed for the purpose). We hope our friends GiGi and LuLu arrive on their boat from Florida in time for the event.

I sure hope the wind picks up.....

But fresh lobster for dinner was excellent...even though I went to bed at 8pm.

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