Ship’s Log
Monday, June 21, 2010
Dear F&F;,
June 15-18, 2010
Southeast Winds &
Revenge of the Crown of Thorns
June 15
After 6 days of wonderful diving in a row, we are not diving today. For one thing the place I got pricked by the Crown of Thorns seems to be having an allergic reaction and hurts like heck. Just when finger #4 is so much better! I am taking Benadryl plus Aleve and intermittent hot water soaks then ice packs. Such a pain, literally! But I am getting a bit less spastic typing with thumb, middle and pinky on the right hand. Doing dishes, etc I forget sometimes and bump it accidentally which makes me yelp like a dog run over.
We have seen LOTS of bump head wrasse, so I am laying off killing the crown of thorns anymore. risky business. We hardly ever see them here, because the big wrasse plus the Triton Trumpet cone shell (beautiful, large) are keeping the population down by eating them before they can wreck the reef. Hurrah for Mopelia, nature seems to be in balance.
June 16
Index finger pain tolerable so went for a dive. Scott took his macro lens and got some great shots.
I felt ok for 30 minutes, then the finger pain escalated over 10 minutes to unbearable. I removed glove on that hand. Seam of glove pressing into sore area. Did safety stop & surfaced. Pain quickly reduced to bearable.
White patch on fingertip seems to be growing with more defined margins. Treat with hot water soaks
Benadryl & Aleve. Pain pill at night.
The wind shifted south & got stronger, where we were anchored was far from the protection of the atoll & fetch was building. We moved “Beach House” back down to where Jerome & family are. There are two other boats plus us, so 4 total. Spaced out nicely. With this wind, probably no diving for a several days. Hope to get in at least 1 more day of diving before we sail on. Weather permitting; we will leave here for Aitutaki (Cook Islands) in 4-8 days.
June 17
Wind 10-20 knots, rain intermittent, some rocking of the boat due to wind shop making me feel seasick at anchor. I hate to take medication when we aren’t underway, but feeling a little bit seasick is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Sort of like being a little bit pregnant. I seem to need a sledge hammer of medicine, to be effective. I need a smack upside the head to remind me to not just endure the miserable feeling of headache, unable to read, cranky, overall edgy. The good news is that the sledge hammer works & I was then able to read & write.
Finger looks yucky and making me nervous, besides being painful. Dr. Scott orders me to begin antibiotics. I had been reluctant since I have needed them for recurrent ear infections. But, knock wood, I think I have finally found an effective prevention regime for those. For the finger we chose Clindamycin 300 mg, 4x/day. We still don’t think I currently have an infection, but a patch of tissue is looking necrotic (dead) and antibiotics should help prevent infection while my body is trying to heal this thing.
Two boats joined the family ashore for a potluck. I was keen to get off the boat, but the wind & rain deterred us. Later I found out they had LOTS of lobster and I was jealous. Oh well, another time perhaps. Scott spent most of the day in his “digital darkroom”. Results are awesome. You will have to wait to see the Mopelia Galleries because as we have no internet here, we’re unable to upload photos to the website. The posts we can, but the photos are just too big.
June 18
Natalie visited by dinghy with the twin 4 year olds. It was like having raccoons in your tent! We three adults could not keep up with the two of them, getting into everything in every direction. We were exhausted and she graciously took her leave after a short time. I don’t know how she does it! We commended each other on our wise decision to NOT have more children. Skye was our limit. We are so glad we have her. And so glad that she is 25!
Scott was the primary “warm up” operator on the Pacific Seafarers Maritime ham radio Net last night. I was just starting to listen to songs on my Ipod and have my sunset yoga session, when a dinghy pulled up to our stern. It was pretty windy and getting dark, so of course I invited him onboard. It was Bernard, French sailor alone on a little monohull. One of the two others holed up here besides us and sister ship “Na Maka”. He came to thank Scott for giving him information and guidance through the pass the day he arrived (a week ago maybe?). I asked him if he was at the beach potluck last night and he said no, he had dinner with the other couple that lives here. We knew there were two groups on this atoll: one couple alone Monique and Frankie, who we have not met. And the other family, who we have met 7 of them.
Get this: The two parties do not get along! They apparently feud and make accusations about each other. Ridiculous on a four mile strip of sand and palm trees, but classic. Talk about “small town politics”! Anyway, besides hearing that bit of gossip, it was great to chat with Bernard and take my mind off my owie finger.
Bernard stayed long enough for Scott to finish the net. We showed him some photos of the shipwreck here & our “Fins” video. They exchanged weather information & route plans. Bernard may return to try giving Scott some charts for a software we own (MaxSea) but he hasn’t used a lot. Not sure if charts are transferable but they may try.
Weather is keeping us here, looks like the 22nd to 24th before we leave for Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, 350 miles to the Southwest.
Cindy and Scott
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Monday, June 21, 2010
Dear F&F;,
June 12-14
More Mopelia Diving (Posted via HF Radio Email from Mopelia Atoll).
After a later than normal night, we slept in a bit. When we finally got up, we were treated to a full arc, gorgeous rainbow. The sun was shining with lots of puffy clouds, absolutely magnificent.
Jerome called about 8:00 a.m. on the VHF radio asking to join us for a dive. We told him we’d radio when we returned from dive #1, to join us for the second dive. He is a great Dad, but we know he is happy to get a break from the mayhem of three boys aboard. The clouds filled in and it rained as we went out for the first dive, but we enjoyed it very much anyway. Scott did not take the camera or video which is kind of rare and has pros & cons. On the one hand, he notices and interacts more with me. Of course when I am modeling for him he notices, directs and we are interacting, but it is not very relaxing. But we both love the results and are willing to do that. When he is photographing stuff that does not require me as a model, small stuff especially, it is great for me because he doesn’t swim much. I can be in my own world, while he is in his, yet I can easily keep an eye on his position. Sometimes without the camera, like this morning, he swims fast in order to explore a larger area of the reef. It is always a give and take compromise. Thank God I taught him finger spelling because I can tell him to slow down and he does listen.
There is a lot of “action” in the pass. Schools of fish, sharks, the current always goes out. Sometimes stronger and other times weaker, but always out, never in. This means the water is a bit cloudy because of the sand from the lagoon gets kicked up as it is swept out. But the marine life loves Natures way of “stirring the pot”, so it is a fun place to just hang on to one side and just watch the action: schooling barracuda & jacks above, sharks below.
We saw our first lemon shark here. Those were the big ones in the “Fins of Bora Bora” video. It clearly felt Scott’s shark shield and reacted in the appropriate way: quickly swimming away from us! I love to see evidence that these things actually work. The 6 foot long antenna frequently gets hooked on coral. If you touch it, it zaps you. The on/off control is not easily managed with gloves on. A royal pain. But I wear it because we dive “in the wild” so much, Scott is adamant about it. Like a motorcycle rider or airplane rider: the more you do it, the more chance there is that eventually there will be an incident. I would never ride a motorcycle without a helmet. So, we always wear our shark shields when we are diving alone The fact that we DO NOT spear fish reduces our risk of confusing a shark & de-promotes an accidental nibble of neoprene.
Returning through the pass we saw the 3rd boat (2 French guys) snorkeling near their kayak. Their wimpy motored dinghy was anchored safely inside the lagoon, but the poor guys were clearly getting pushed out to sea due to the strong current. We had them hop in our dinghy and towed their kayak safely to their dinghy. They were keen to find the shipwreck, which they had read about. Without a strong motored dinghy they would not be able to return to the lagoon against the current. We suggested they walk across the shallow part of the reef, then snorkel, but they did not have any shoes! C’est la vie.
When we were back onboard after dive #1, we hailed Jerome on the radio and he did not waste any time jetting over. No Leo snorkeling above today, which was good, because the sea state got rougher as the morning wore on. While we finished filling tanks, Scott loaded some weather viewing software on Jerome’s memory stick. We also showed him untouched photos from diving on the “Seeadler” wreck. Once Scott “develops” the digital images to his satisfaction, he will burn them a CD. Jerome was thrilled to be in many photos with his son and knows the little boys will be very excited to see them.
Nice 2nd dive. We covered the same territory as in the morning. Jerome is a very compatible third diver and we know he really loves it like us, so it is a pleasure to share. I had a “Zena Warrior Princess” moment when I saw the evil Crown of Thorns starfish on the reef. I didn’t have my own long knife and got pricked on a thorn using Scott’s short knife. Scott got pricked too. Now my right hand is really spastic. Finger #4 is still recovering from my crush injury of 2 weeks ago and now I have a new owie on the tip of my right index finger. We do not believe the thorn breaks off nor is it known to be poisonous. It did bleed and is quite bruised looking. But Scott kissed it all better so I am sure to be fine soon.
The days pass quickly. By the time we rinsed gear, showered, Scott loaded fuel to the tank that runs the generator and I made yogurt and salads, it was 3:00 p.m.
We are having pretty darn comfortable weather. I could do with less rain, but the cloud cover is mainly what keeps it cooler.
Cindy and Scott
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Monday, June 21, 2010
Dear F&F;,
June 9, 2010
Wreck of the “Seeadler” Found (Posted via HF Radio Email from Mopelia Atoll)
Scott took his video camera and we found some parts of the shipwreck, more or less in the area where Kalami outlined to Scott via stick drawing on the sand. We spent 85 minutes below. It is so shallow our air lasts a long time.
After a shower, we fired up the generator in order to refill our scuba tanks and we heard a sickening noise upon start up of the scuba compressor. An unmistakable noise: fan belt failure. To investigate and install our spare, we use a block & tackle attached to a harness to carefully hoist the 100 pound unit out of its tight locker (which is also bench seating in the cockpit). Scott muscles the line, I control its tendency to swing into the salon window. We have done this periodically for routine service. It is a hassle, but we know that changing the fan belt is no big deal and we should be back in action within an hour - max. Scott is very diligent to make sure we have spares of just about everything that can break. Because on a boat, it is just a matter of time before everything does break. Often repeatedly!
Our Can-Do optimistic spirit took a downward spiral when we discovered the spare was the WRONG SIZE! Shame on Shawn at Compressed Air Specialties! He sold us a SPZ-950. What we needed was the original SPZ-887. Grrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Although there are slots to slide the motor for tension adjustment, the new belt was three inches too long. Impossible to make it fit in the normal way.
After we gave some air time to our feelings of frustration and anger, we got down to the more useful business of: How the heck are we going to make this work?
It was quite a challenge with creative adaptations to make the new longer belt fit. We had to drill a 2 inch hole in the frame where the motor shaft goes through it, using a hole saw to allow the motor to line up far enough away from the compressor. The metal frame is not very thick, but it took a lot of pressure for Scott to get the holes drilled. Thank God he’s a dentist! It took my whole body weight leaning in, opposing his force, to stabilize the unit. My right arm felt like I did a hundred pushups the next day.
Next he had to re-drill holes in the bottom of the frame to allow the adjustment for the slotted foot plate on the motor base to slide far enough away from the compressor to tighten the belt! Scott was very pleased when I came up with the idea of shimming the motor up 3/8” to allow for the electric box holes (which perfectly lined up) to slide under the motor foot plate. This meant he did not have to re-drill its holes which also kept the motor plate above the frames “rubber mount” (with allen nut) so he didn’t have to re-drill that hole! I know this reads like a lot of blah blah blah to many of you. But I know a few of you subscribe to Popular Mechanics and may see a potential article: Creative Ways to Repair Your Scuba Compressor in the Field.
I am happy to report that our efforts were successful and after a short test that night, we were able to fill our tanks the next morning, with the new fan belt behaving. Scott wrote (what I thought was a restrained & polite email) to the supplier who gave us the WRONG spare part. He ordered 3 more, of the CORRECT size to be shipped to our land-based support friend Mike. If we need another one, at least he will have it handy to ship to us wherever DHL delivers. We have always known that keeping the scuba compressor running is the #1 priority to happy diving in remote locations. Scott was so diligent in learning how to service it. If we’d had the correct sized fan belt the job would have been no big deal. Instead it took 5 1/2 hours of hard work.
June 10 - Mopelia Atoll Day #6
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SKYE!!!!!!!!!!!!
There was wind and rain in the morning but we were eager to find more parts of the 100 year old “Seeadler” shipwreck, so geared up to dive. Jerome on sister ship “Na Maka” is anchored about 4 miles away. We are close to the pass and all dive sites outside the reef. He is close to the family living here and has more protection from the prevailing wind at that end of the atoll. He arrived via dinghy with 10 year old son Leo. Conditions were too rough for Natalie to bring the twin 4 year olds.
We took both dinghies outside the pass, anchored in 20 feet of water immediately south. Jerome tied his dinghy to ours. Leo is an avid snorkeler and can hold his breath to dive down several feet. Scott took the wide angle lens on the still camera. I patiently posed with just about every hunk of metal we found. It has been well documented. Jerome was a fine model too and Scott got some cute shots of Leo hamming for the camera. Trenches have been worn from years of wave action, in the strip of land down into deeper water over the coral reef. In about 5 of these parallel trenches we found significant chunks of the ships remains: a large classic shaped anchor, 105 mm gun, gun shells, crank shaft, bow windlass and other unidentifiable disintegrating, rusty parts. Two pieces of chain were found deeper, not attached to the anchor. No identifiable hull remnants were found.
Since most of the wreck is in very shallow water, only about 15 feet, our tanks of air lasted forever. We stayed down one hour and 40 minutes! I think that is a record for our longest single scuba dive. When we decided it was enough for one day, I still had plenty of air, but Scott was very tired from dragging his “two year old” around (affectionate name for his camera). Jerome knew his wife might start to worry since we were out so long.
Beside the interesting shipwreck, the reef has gorgeous corals, an abundance and large variety of tropical fish. We saw a few distant sharks, one eagle ray and one turtle. I did not see any of the evil starfish today, fine with me. It is really fantastic here. Desolate, rugged but beautiful. One dive of that length was plenty for today. Tomorrow we may motor further down and tow the dinghy along topside, doing a drift dive to explore a larger area of the reef.
We enjoyed the chilled fresh coconuts that Jerome brought us. By tapping a couple of holes I could pour out the nearly clear liquid that is sweet and refreshing. Chiseling the husk open, I dug into the soft white flesh with a spoon - what a treat! I don’t recall that I’ve ever enjoyed a young coconut like that. Absolutely delicious, thank you “Na Maka”!!
If you read & enjoy my reports, please write back telling us about your life. Even a short hello if you are too busy to write in detail, a short note is much appreciated. Thank you for your ears. Thank you even more for your messages. We LOVE to get mail.
Cindy and Scott
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