Ed finished the Dive Master program today. Congratulations Ed!

As usual we had to kick (not literally) several sea lions off of the back porch to make way for diving. The good thing about this is that instead on sleeping on our transom all day they are forced to get in the water and play around while we dive. The little ones are the most playful but the cows are also inquisitive. The big bulls are territorial and usually not found out and about. They're better left alone anyway.

Ed had two dives left to do which we did from the back of the boat. I had to do a six month service on the dive compressor before filling the tanks for the day. Our Brownies YP35 is a great unit. The Brownies team did a wonderful job installing it as well. Everyone is always impressed when they see how clean the setup is. The compressor is electric and located in the hull opposite the genset. Air is pulled from inside the boat and the fill station is mounted in the tank locker and setup to fill all four tanks at once.

Our tanks are in the cockpit coming locker sized by Saint Francis to be a perfect fit for four 80cf tanks. We had to grind out the opening a bit but once you make that modification the locker securely stores all 4 tanks. We have two 80s for deep or long dives and two 63s for those who are easy on air and don't like to tote around a big old 80 (that would be Hideko and I).

I think the Brownies factory put the incorrect belt on our compressor (the belt allows the electric motor to drive the compressor) when they installed it. The brand new belt shredded itself, making a huge mess in the locker, in the first 10 hours. After that it slipped more and more often. They sent me a new belt at no charge however and after installing it I can tell that it is going to be much better. No slipping and no chaffing after the first few hours.

Our compressor is Bauer based (as most small units seem to be) and requires two new filters every six months. These are $90 ach from Brownies. Pricey but it sure is nice to be able to dive whenever you want, dive shop or no. It is also very helpful when working on the boat. So bottom line, the compressor costs $360 a year after the initial investment (installed it was close to $15,000 so not exactly cheap).

We had a celebration dinner at the Miconia for Ed. We were all happy for Ed but also sad because he would be leaving us tomorrow as we prepped for departure.