Friday, January 8, 2016

January 7, 2016 Airline Hookah System

Today we moved the boat to the south side of the Lake Worth Inlet at the Port of Palm Beach.  We thought we would anchor near Peanut Island on the north side of the inlet, but it was really crowded over there with boats on mooring balls and a dock for the state park.  And the plan is to leave from our anchorage at night in the dark.  So it just felt too crowded for our comfort level. 

We moved to the south side of the inlet, where we have anchored before.  There was plenty of room here.  But the water was 25 feet deep, so not sure was any warmer than at the norther end of the lake.  

containers being loaded, which we don't want to see floating below the water line
We heard from two different friends from the past this morning.  Our friend, Torben, from Denmark called us through Messenger on Facebook.  He had tried last night, but we were’t online, so we missed him.  Dave and I were both awake about 6:00 am, so I checked to see if he had designated a time to call.  He saw that I was online and called immediately.  It’s always fun to visit with him.  He and his girlfriend are planning to visit us in the Bahamas.  So it was good to decide on a date.  Now I’ll send him more information via e-mail. 

Then we heard from sailing friends, Shelly and Miami Phillips.  We met in Marathon, FL in April 2014.  Then we were both in Wilmington, NC that summer.  Shelly recovered our cushions for us inside our cabin.  They were on their way to Lake Worth and would arrive today.  We would love to see them, but if there is a chance to leave tonight, we have to stick with our plan.  So we stayed in touch throughout the day.

Once we were anchored, Dave set up our hookah system to clean the hull.  We have the Airline Hookah system.  It is an air compressor with hoses so Dave can basically scuba dive to clean the hull.  We preferred this brand over the Brownie because the mouthpiece swivels and doesn’t pull your mouth/head to the side if the cord is tangled.  And it has an attachment for the cord to hook to your waist.  That also keeps it from pulling out of your mouth.  He started that about 2:00 and it took about 2.5 hours.   He said the prop was really bad, so it was a good thing to have done before we left.  He described it as a growth of barnacles in the shape of a prop.  We will sail much smoother now.  So even though we don’t have to mow the lawn, we have to scrape barnacles and a carpet of growth off the hull.  And how often depends on how fertile the water is that we are in.  Sitting in one place doesn’t help. 

Our Airline hookah system is run off of electricity.  So we have to run the generator for it to work.  Even though it takes room to store on the boat, it is still better than having dive tanks on board (or paying someone to clean the hull).  Tanks can run out of air and have to be refilled.  It’s not easy to find places to refill the dive tanks.  Some systems use a gas powered motor, but we didn’t want to store it with gasoline involved.   So this was the best for our needs.  It does take up space in our guest cabin, but we’re ok with that, too. 

 
he wore an old t-shirt over his wet suit to keep the barnacles from tearing it.  Same with the hat, it protects his scull

While Dave was cleaning the hull, I cleaned our radar screen and the isinglass on our dodger.  Both of these surfaces scratch easily.  So I used microfiber cloths and soapy water.  The isinglass has stains that have to be polished out.  But that is a job that can be done sitting in blue water in the Bahamas. 

After cleaning the hull, we continued to run the generator to make water.  I’m sure our neighbors were sick of us by now.  But we had a nice surprise of new neighbors-Shelly, Miami and Ryan Phillips decided to anchor near us!!  We took our dinghy over to their boat and visited for a couple hours.  It was really fun to see them again.  They are on their way to Marathon, FL, but may come to the Bahamas in May after some other commitments. 

We had been debating over leaving today or tomorrow for the Bahamas.  We were getting different opinions from different sources.  But since Dave was tired from cleaning the hull, we didn’t think it would be good to leave until he was better rested.  We hope the weather holds of us to leave tomorrow.  And staying allowed us to spend time with our friends.  Shelly and Miami anchored near us, and we took our dinghy over to visit for a couple hours. 

1 comment:

  1. Hi! So sorry I didn't open the blog until today. Libbo and I came to South Florida for the winter and we are staying in Hobe Sound! Yesterday we had lunch at Sailfish Marina, the last marina on your port as you leave the pass. We talked about how we had just missed you...little did I know it was by only a day or so. Hope you have a great passage to the Bahamas. We are gong to catch up with you again somewhere, someplace!
    Ron and Libbo
    Gotta Dance

    ReplyDelete