April 28, 2019 Dinghy washing, Faraday Bags

We finally had a nice day to leave the boat.  We loaded up the dinghy with snorkeling gear and went for a ride.  There was a barge with a couple cranes working in the area where the cruise ships usually anchor.  One of the cranes was in the water.  We could see divers working in the water, too.  We weren’t sure if the crane in the water was there on purpose or by accident.  Didn’t look right to us. 

We checked out some of the facilities on shore for the cruise ship patrons.  There is a large pirate ship that I’m sure has several bars in it.  There is an area for horseback riding.  There are all kinds of water sports.  Pretty crazy. 

cruise ship's beach with restaurants and water sports

It was still a little windy to go snorkeling, so we decided to head to a beach at the west end.  We approached slowly, looking for the best way to avoid coral heads.  When we got to the beach, there was a strange brown color churning in the water.  All of a sudden, we realized it was oil, maybe from the barge and cranes.  Dave had to get in the water to turn the boat around and get it off shore far enough to start the motor.  Water was splashing over the transom.  What a mess!  We went straight back to the boat to clean things up.  The floor was even slick as we were trying to get out. 

beautiful water

headed to this pretty beach, but didn't see the dark brown in the water until we were in it

I grabbed some shampoo that I keep in the cockpit to wash my feet.  Then I went below to get the Dawn detergent.  Dave hung the dinghy on the davits.  Then he got out a brush to clean the dingy.  I used a wash rag with Dawn to clean anything that we removed from the dingy.  They Dave soaked the shirt and swimsuit he was wearing.  That turned into quite a job that we didn’t expect.  

We ended up having a lightning storm off to the west.  Actually, the storms were all around us.   So we put all of our electronic devices in Faraday bags.  They protect them from the lightning.  We used to put everything in the microwave, which did the same thing.  But we took out the microwave a couple years ago.  We have 3 of these bags.  We put in our 2 laptops, 2 iPads, 2 phones, Kindle, 2 hand held VHF radios, a GPS, and the external hard drives.  Then we have to actually talk to each other, like the good old days.

 
We didn’t sleep well that night.  Lots of rolling side to side.  We knew this area wouldn’t have the best protection, but we wanted to snorkel and spearfish once the weather cleared.  Plus we can nap when we want to.