Monday morning we took the dinghy out on a few stops. First stop was to visit Budget Marine to pick up a Bonaire flag. There we realized we already had a Netherlands Antilles flag which I think extends enough courtesy. We did pick up some cleaning solutions though and noticed a rather nice map and summary of all the dive sites. The assistant didn’t know the cost but believed we could get hold of a copy today (Tuesday). Hopefully it’s a decent price and reflects the situation post Omar (the hurricane that came close to Dignity last year) which changed a lot of reefs round here.
We then headed off to Harbour Marina to drop of trash and see if we could find a chart of the entrance to Cartegena. It’s the one chart we’re missing in any detail and need this before heading off. No luck there.
We then headed for the dive shop to see if our tanks had been returned. On the way we stopped by “Sea Otter” to say hello. They had helped us out on the net once and this was enough to open the conversation with a thank you. We realized we had a few things to help each other out with. They pointed out their neighbour had just returned from Cartegena and may be able to help with charts and or guidance.
The dive store hadn’t received the tanks yet nor did the guy there have any idea when. We’d like them soon but we do have things to do in the meantime.
I did go for a snorkel around Dignity in the morning. A few days ago I spotted what I was sure was a crusted divers knife out of the bathroom port. I didn’t pay enough attention to the boat orientation at the time so it gives me something to search for. Two searches gone and still I haven’t found it. I’m beginning to think it might have been an illusion – a couple of pieces of dead coral just lying right.
Middle of the day was the usual doing not a lot. In the afternoon I decided to take yet another look at the windlass. Helen has the feeling it isn’t working as well as it used to. I had recently noticed that mud was dripping from the bottom of the shaft connecting the gearbox to the windlass. This suggested that mud had made it’s way between the two and could be causing issues.
I tried to remove the gearbox. It was encrusted with salt and grime (due to our poor care and maintenance no doubt). Eventually I managed to remove the gearbox. The gap between the gearbox and windlass above was jammed full of grease, grime and encrusted salt – a real mess. Prior to removing the gearbox I did test it’s ability to turn. It wasn’t bad but the crud probably wasn’t helping.
In banging around to remove it all some bearings have come loose (or perhaps they were always loose but I doubt that). We now have it all apart but possibly damaged. We do have the new windlass which we were going to use to put in a second windlass. It looks like I’m going to have to cobble together good parts from both to get a decent one. Once it’s all working we’re going to have to take a lot more care to remove all mud before it reaches the windlass and to regularly wash down with fresh water. Lessons learned – more of them.
The evening meal was tuna steaks and stir fried veg. This is rapidly becoming my favourite meal. The lateral tissues of the tuna we caught have rather too much blood in them so we avoid eating the blood filled meat. The rest is divine. In the evening I reread my book on preparing tuna so I can do a better job of bleeding the next one. I am confident there will be more.
While enjoying the evening in the salon we saw something we never knew possible – a rainbow at night. The moon was low down and almost full in a clear patch of sky while light rain fell upon us. To our amazement this created a faint rainbow in the sky complete with ghostly colours. A very nice surprise.
