Blue holes by Whaler

Friday, June 22


Today is the summer solstice, and I am almost on top of the Tropic of Cancer. That means that today, around noon, the sun will be directly overhead. It really makes for interesting shadows!





I put the dive compressor back on the roof, since I put it on deck when expecting rough seas, like to/from Rum, and it is sort of in the way on the deck. I drained the gas out of the carburetor, and replaced the air filter in the dive compressor before topping off my SCUBA tanks.





While I was on the roof, I noticed how much dirt the solar panels had picked up overnight, from the wind blowing off the island. I'd cleaned the panels off yesterday afternoon, since an unsalted, clean panel is a happy panel. Hmmm. Guess I'll soap the boat when it rains...





Realizing that squalls were forecast for the afternoon, I took the Whaler to the south, exploring. I let Mercy-dog out at the boat ramp to walk around for a few minutes, and then we continued our journey south. I checked out one cave that didn't go very far, and meandered in a few of the coves, looking for a good anchorage for a northwest wind, in case I'm here this winter.





I found this beautiful blue hole, and I hope this photo captures my dilemma. A gorgeous sunny day, a beautiful blue hole, and a coming wall of rain. BTW, I'll give you this one, N23 15.890' W075 07.060 I looked at it from the boat on the bottom machine, but decided I'd have to snorkel it another day.





I made it back to the MERCY in time to get the Whaler tied up before it started to rain. Rain is always an event! I scurried around closing hatches, put on a swim suit, and began washing the boat down. I recirculated about 20 gallons of water until the boat was pretty clean, but there was still a little soap residue when the sun popped back out.





The solar panels kicked out about 30 amps/hr for two hours, and then it began to rain again. It was funny watching it charge at a high rate, right up until the rain hit. I recirculated about 10 gallons of water rinsing the rest of the soap residue away, and then was ready to catch water to top off the tanks. After this rinse bout, the skies remained cloudy, and the solar panels took the rest of the day off. This could become a run the generator, watch a movie night.





I added about 20 of the 25 gallons I was down to the fresh water tank, after saving out the first 10 gallons to wash the dog tomorrow....