12:09.58n 68:16.94w
Rogue
Alan and Noi not sure which is which
Thu 8 Jan 2009 01:47
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12:09.58n 68:16.94w
It has been a few days since the last update.
Firstly because Everything on the boat seemed to breakdown at once and secondly
because I wanted to wait for a cheaper Internet connection.
The boat is now fully operational, for today anyway. I am also going to borrow Irene's internet connection. We left Aves with Ottiphant on Sunday the 4th at 09:00 and arrived in Bonaire 17:00. We had difficulty finding a mooring and in Bonaire there is no anchoring permitted. Finally found a slot but we were ahead of Ottiphant who had to take a position quite close to shore with very little water under their keel. Monday we checked in and had a look around town, with the compulsory trip to Budget Marine to spend yet more money. When we arrived back on Rogue we discovered that we had lost all of our fresh water. We had been conserving water extremely well during the trip and the tanks should have been almost full. No sign of leaks into the bilges but with no water left to experiment with we decided to run the generator to make water. After 20 minutes the generator cut out. It did this one more time then died completely. We had enough rain water to take showers but had to take extra from Ottiphant to allow us to trace the fault on Tuesday. I spent the entire day on Tuesday taking apart the fresh water system and hot water tank trying to find the leak. Because we were at the lower limit of water the water pump also seemed to be acting up so spent a good number of hours trying to get that working properly before coming to the conclusion that it was simply a lack of water. We were also starting to run low on battery power after running the water pump so often and we had no generator. Anyway to cut a very long and very unpleasant story short we eventually took on about 40 gallons from Ottiphant by dinghy trips yesterday, trialled the system, found that the fresh water shower valve had been left open in the transom and hence the leak!! Unfortunately it was probably me that left the valve open a few days ago so didn't even have the opportunity of giving someone else a hard time for doing it. With the leak found the floor boards and piping system all had to be put back together again. Once everything was back together the pump worked fine, water system worked fine, so on to the generator. Finally found a loose connection with one of the relays. Once this was cleaned and reinstated it ran well. We ran the generator and water maker and by 15:00 we had full water tanks and filled every container on the boat with extra fresh and drinking water!! We had full batteries and things were good. FINALLY we had time to look at our surroundings. I went for a snorkel at 15:00 and came out after
1.5 hours and that is only because I was cold and exhausted from finning about.
The reef is literally under the boat. You simply jump into the water and you are
looking at a live reef that very quickly drops from 7m to 150m. The fish life is
fantastic and the coral is the best I have seen anywhere outside SE Asia. There
is a marine park close by but the diving at the end of the boat is so good I
don't think we will go to the park.
To end the day we were invited to Ottiphant for yet another lobster dinner! In all a great day especially after the complete misery of the day before. Today I will be send a few emails and going for a dive. Otto has also asked me to check out his hose diving gear so Two dives today by the look of things. Then into town to clear out of customs and immigration and do some shopping. We are leaving in the morning for Curasou for an overnight anchorage then on to Aruba for a couple of nights. Bonaire has been an unusual experience. It is not
what I expected but we have both enjoyed it. The entire island seems to be
reliant on tourism and salt export. The island is spotless as far as rubbish is
concerned but there is a great deal of dilapidation of essential services, road
repairs, telephone and power wiring, falling lamp post etc. There is no real
national heritage visible and I get the feeling that I am in one large tourist
camp. However the conservation initiatives are in force and are policed
rigorously. They are the first country in the Caribbean to completely ban
anchoring which is a great step forward for the coral reefs. There is a complete
ban on spear fishing of any kind. Anyone who wishes to dive has to watch a film
on reef conservation. Everyone is asked not to touch anything, maintain buoyancy
above the reef and try not to touch anything with any part of your body or
equipment. Trainee divers are not given gloves and are trained to hold their
hand under their arms during the dive. It certainly seems to be
working.
That is about it for now but I will be sending on
some photos today hopefully. |