It's now Tuesday and we did another scuba dive today, this time along the coast of Bonaire instead of heading out to Klein Bonaire, the island just off shore. Winds were back up to about 30 knots so the bay was really unsettled for most of the day with swells and white caps all over the place. We ran the engine as soon as we got up just to make sure our work yesterday did really solve the problem of the engine that wouldn't start. She fired up as soon as I pushed the start button in the cockpit. It looks like we got it right!
We took off shortly after 0900 for the dive spot(Andrea) about two miles up the coast and tied off to the mooring stick. As I've written before, there is no anchoring any where in Bonaire. We both strapped on our gear and in we went. For the first time, we were disappointed in what we saw on the bottom. Lots of the coral was dead and bleached white. TONS of fishes of all types were every where. On the trip over and back we saw dozens of flying fish propelling themselves out of the water and zooming above the tops of the swells. Some were covering 20 yards or more as they flew. Fun watching them go. We only stayed down about 50 minutes as Tracy had problems staying down near the bottom. The first part of the dive was fine, going down about 70 feet or more. As we turned around and started heading back, Tracy was at about 30 feet when she just took off for the surface. For some reason the lead weights she had in her jacket would no longer keep her where she wanted to be. She made sure the bladder in her buoyancy compensator was empty of air and that she hadn't lost any of her chunks of lead weights. Try as she might, there was no way she could stay below the surface. She ended up swimming at the surface of just under it all the way back to Puff.
I climbed in first and got most of my gear stowed as Tracy tried to get down one last time. She did manage to get down to the bottom after picking up some extra weights at the boat. Once I got my gear on board, Tracy surfaced and we got hers pulled on board and stowed and then she came on board and off we went. With us being close to shore instead of out at Klein Bonaire, we weren't hit by the big chop as we made our way back to Zephyr.
Once back home, we off all the gear except the air tanks as they needed to be filled again. We hauled everything below decks and into the stern shower stall and got all the salt water off them and then back on deck to dry. Then it was our time to get cleaned up and get rid of the salt water. After a nice cool tuna sandwich, we piled back in Puff and headed down the shoreline to the dive center and while Tracy sat in Puff keeping her from hitting the screw that stick out from the dock, I carried the tanks up to the shop and got both filled. Then I got to lug them back and lower them to Tracy and again, off we went back to Zephyr where they were off loaded and Puff tied to the stern and then we could finally relax. It continued to blow for the rest of the day so we just sat back and let Mother Nature do what she does best.
We've heard through reading the internet that a lot of the coral in the Maldives got "bleached". It's when the temperature in the water goes up enough that it kills the coral. What a shame as it was so pretty when we were there a couple of years ago. It's listed as a "Major Bleaching Event". Is diving is one of the primary sources of revenue for the island chain, it's got to be affecting the tourist trade there. No clue why where we went yesterday was so dead as there are lot of restrictions on just about everything you do here if it has to do with water.
Yesterday morning, I went outside and found the shaft connection on the DuoGen had come apart. The main shaft that rotates ends in a cone shaped fitting. That cone is attached to the gear mechanism with three set screws that screw into small divots in the fitting. All three of the screws had come loose and the shaft had gotten disconnected. Not the first time it's happened but I had to take the propeller assembly off the top, dismantle the gear assembly and re attach the cone. Doesn't take long any more as it's happened before over the years. Heck, I even know the size allen wrench to use.
Last night as I was closing up the boat for the night, as I checked our energy monitor(Xantrex Link 2000) I found that the reading was way off. Again, not the first time. It was showing I was using over 105 amp hours(instead of the normal 5 to 6 amps) with next to nothing on. Just to be safe, I'll be reading the owners manual to refresh myself and then turning it off and reprograming it once the generators have topped up the batteries again. The cursing lifestyle is fixing things in exotic locations!
Today, not sure yet as we are resting after another scuba dive. Both of us feel it in our legs more than any where else. Plus, it's blowing again and that just make it rough to get around to a dive spot. We think the spots at Klein Boniare(the island) are much better than along the shoreline of the island though we still have one place left(Oil Slick Leap) that we want to check out farther west along the south coast.