Trials, Tribulations and some very good Diving

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Trials, Tribulations and good Bahama Diving

A good trip in “Someday Came”, my 25 Seafari. I had the spare parts that I needed, when I needed them, the weather was mostly outstanding, found a bunch of new places and everything was mostly great, except for the ciguatera. This will be a bit of “stream of consciousness,” so bear with me.

Crossed from Ft Lauderdale to Bimini on June 26, Gulf Stream like a lake(check out the video). it was even calm in the first few miles that are always bumpy. Had one CSC member with me, Matt, or “Tiny” as he is known here. Best boat buddy in the universe and a very good diver. This was his second trip with me and I was lucky to have him aboard. Also, Ilya, 81 year old Russian, built like a tank, still diving 50-60 ft. For him, diving is a side line. He really likes whitewater kayaking (like in seriously dangerous rapids) He is almost as deaf as me and has a strong Russian accent that doesn’t go all that well with my southern drawl. Watching us try to communicate must have been a hoot.

July 27, dolphins in the morning (WOW!!, just crazy), on to the Berrys in the afternoon, stopping at new spots (mostly wreaks) along the way. We were not the first to get to these, but they are far enough out on the banks to have little traffic. Lots of fish and wreaks are always interesting. One was loaded with twitchy sharks. Below is a link to some Utube dolphin videos we took and a look at how calm the Stream was. Quality ain’t much and vis was bad, but they provide a good idea of dolphin diving.
https:// http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvg3..._as=subscriber

As we were almost to the marina in Great Harbor, the engine sputtered and quit. Sure sounded like fuel. We got a tow for the last hundred yards and settled down to figure out what was wrong, pulling out engine manuals, various tools, etc. Runs fine on starter fluid, Racors were fine, switching filters and tanks had no effect, checked the injectors (throttle body, so we could easily check), yep only a dribble of fuel. At this point, I was very tired, overheated and more than a little punchy. Discovered to my delight that Tiny has a PhD in afro-engineering and a fine analytical mind that can think out of the box. He quickly figured out how to use a siphon pump I had to check fuel availability to the engine, (it was just fine) and was invaluable in thinking out the next steps. We checked both fuel pumps, cursing Volvo engineering and deciding the singing high pressure pump was the culprit, changed it and seemed ok, for maybe 10 minutes, then the singing started again. Low pressure pump seemed to be working, but maybe not, fuel pumps can be intermittant. Changed the low pressure pump and the on engine filter just to be sure. Viola, problem solved.

The back story to this episode is the fuel pressure gauge that I carefully packed to bring with us. It makes troubleshooting fuel pump problems quick and easy. Only I could not remember if I had definitely loaded it or where I put the damn thing.

On to Hole in the Wall. Another flat crossing. Arrived and went straight to my best spot, a place where you could always see at least 3 or 4 big black grouper, a big Nassau or two and 20 or so dog snapper, some also giants. I had bragged unmercifully on this spot and the area in general. This time however, things were different. Not a fish. Serious embarrassment. It was a preview of what this area has become. The first time I saw it, maybe 20 years back, there were clouds of hogfish, grouper all over the place and dog snapper beyond counting. Every year, fish were less, but still good. This year was different, a huge decline since last year, almost everywhere we went. I had no idea who to kill, but sure wanted to kill somebody.

We had been anchoring for the night in a big bay north of the diving area, far enough offshore so there were no bugs. Screwed up once, anchored too close and the biters mobbed us right at sundown. Mad, Keystone Cops scramble, the guys trying to get the curtains down and secured (they had never had to do this), Me trying to get the mosquito coils out and lit. All the while being chewed on by several million hungry biters. Finally, a determined effort by me and Tiny to kill the ones trapped inside the curtains, so we could get some un-disturbed sleep.

Only made that mistake once.

More to come, but I just lost the rest of it.