Snap, Crackle, Pop!
16 October 2007 | San Diego, CA
Nancy
Here's something weird. Ever since Marina Del Rey we've been hearing an odd sound at night. As we lay awake at night trying to figure out what was making the sound various possibilities occurred to us: At first I thought it sounded like light rainfall on the deck of the boat- but it wasn't raining. John got up and stuck his head in the engine room and ascertained that it was DEFINITELY coming from the hull. It made a sort of crackling sound one might associate with one's fiberglass hull blistering and de-laminating (at 3:00 am your imagination is NOT your friend!). What we finally decided it sounded like most is the sound Rice Crispies make when you've just added milk. (snap, crackle, pop!)
The next day we spoke with another boater who told us the sound was made by crabs eating the growth off the bottom of the boat. We continue to hear the sound every night (it can be quite loud) and have compared notes with other boaters to see if they hear it on their boats, too. (Many do). In Newport Beach we were told it wasn't crabs that make the sound (they can't swim up to the hull?) but rather shrimp feeding on our bottom growth. I suppose that's what we get for letting so much "stuff" accumulate down there. I wish they'd at least do a more thorough job and then we wouldn't have to hire someone to clean the bottom of our boat. As it is while we were anchored in Glorietta Bay I donned the wetsuit to try to clean the bottom myself. I didn't see any shrimp (I probably would have freaked) but I did see that not only did we need a very good bottom cleaning, but we also needed a fresh bottom painting. This is one of those routine maintenance things that has to happen every couple of years or so. We thought we might be able to put it off until we got to Mexico, but after seeing spots of gelcoat under the paint we decided to take care of it here.
So otherwise things have been quite enjoyable but uneventful here in San Diego. We got the watermaker installed and left the Police Docks to anchor in Glorietta Bay. While there we met up with our old friends from Morro Bay (the folks from Itchen, Cok Cabuk and Jake) for a beach BBQ celebrating Julie and TJ's wedding anniversary.
We heard from Glen and Marilyn on Tin Soldier that the Silver Gate Yacht Club's reciprocal policy offers 3 free nights on their docks (LOVE it!). So after 3 days in Glorietta we moved back to Shelter Island, the SGYC and wi-fi! (Not to mention our partners in crime, Tin Soldier).
Today we're due to move the boat to Driscoll's Boat Yard so the boat can be hauled, pressure washed, and painted. We'll be very interested to see if the sound goes away once we have a fresh bottom. (I'm still talking about the boat here.)
(By the way, if any of you have our email address with the pacbell.net ending please don't use it. We've been having difficulty with it.)