11 April 1995 English Harbour
We filled up with water and then had an amazing amount of trouble anchoring. The holding is really crap in some places and the boats are all swirling around, so you don’t know where you are! We ended up on a mooring that a guy on another yacht said was available – the owner of this mooring has his boat tied up in the mangroves, so we’ll stay here!
I painted a watercolour map for Gareth’s birthday, which came out OK. Glenys and I went for a dive to check out a training site – pretty boring. “Blue Monsoon” arrived back from Guadeloupe in the afternoon, so I went over and borrowed his two sets of gear. I then spent an hour switching regulators and testing kit. I’m still very nervous about the reaction of “Dockland Divers” when he puts two and two together and realises that I’ve pinched $1600 worth of business off him!
12 April 1995 English Harbour
Up early and teaching “Bullwinkle” at eight o’clock. I did Theory 1 and Theory 2 in the morning and Confined Water 1 and 2 in the afternoon. All four of them are very good. Peter is the more nervous, being a poor swimmer – I made him swim 200 metres to check him out after lunch. I filled 6 tanks. No hassle from “Dockland Divers” yet – hopefully I won’t get any!
The gear that I borrowed from “Blue Monsoon” is a mixed bag. I’ve been using a BCD with an Air II and a Poseidon regulator. The regulator has a very high intermediate pressure and scares me to death every time I purge it! The Air II is a bit of a pain in that I don’t have an Octopus regulator. I have to swap to the Air II on critical skills. Also, the Air II has a habit of filling the BCD if you press the deflate button when the Air II is lower than your shoulder. I think that it’s because the regulator part starts free flowing. Having said that it was a good day!
Brett and Craig played with Dorian (7) from “Namati” (USA), his Mum and Dad are Diane and Bob.
13 April 1995 English Harbour
Got up at six o’clock and tried to fix the outboard which is getting worse. Stripped it down to find out that the impellor is OK but the pump housing looks odd – I can’t put my finger on what is wrong. Put it back together and it’s even worse – so bad that I’m scared to use it. Fortunately Gareth has an old 5hp which he lent us and I got going at lunch time.
I did Theory 3 & 4 in the morning and only managed to squeeze in Confined Water 3 in the afternoon. The visibility off the beach was appalling – so bad that I had to leave two of them on the surface by the dinghy while I did CESA and no mask swimming with the other two. The Confined Water today was a bit of a rush because we had a two hour lunch, so that they could go to the bank and do some shopping.
I filled 4 tanks. I stopped the compressor to refill with petrol and when I went to start it the start cord broke – I don’t believe it! Another early start to repair something – I hope I have more luck with the compressor than I did with the outboard! A couple dropped by to ask about doing an Open Water Course – Gordon and Tessa from “Makarma”! I said come back in a few days when my sanity has returned!
14 April 1995 English Harbour
Glenys did school work in the morning and then went onto “Dabulamanzi” to prepare for the start of the charter tomorrow. I had a bit of a revision session to go over the skills learned so far. I then did their Open Water Dives No 1 & No 2 in pairs – 4 dives for me and 2 dives for each of them. In between dives I ran the compressor to fill the odd tank to stay ahead.
On the first dive, I left the compressor running (by mistake). I remembered halfway through the dive, but all I could do was hope that the safety pressure valve worked! All went well and I finished the dives early and had time to do Theory 5. I filled 13 tanks, which means that my compressor has been running for 3.5 hours today. I’m not the most popular person in the anchorage...
Glenys pumped up the old Avon dinghy yesterday. Now Brett has commandeered it to transport him and Dorian to the beach!
15 April 1995 English Harbour
Final exam and Confined Water 4 in the morning. Glenys went onto “Dabulamanzi” at seven o’clock in the morning and we said goodbye for two weeks. I filled 10 part tanks.
In the afternoon, I did Confined Water 5 and the boys went to an Easter Fete at a local school with “Namaste”. It sounds like they all had a ball. Donkey cart rides, throwing darts at balloons, throwing wet sponges at a grown up with his head through a hole, etc. They didn’t get back until about five o’clock, so Bob and Diane stayed for a beer. Bob plays keyboard and sings in hotels and bars to earn some money and also played the clarinet for seven years, so I’m going to get him over to check me out!
16 April 1995 English Harbour
Easter Sunday. Easter eggs are really expensive out here, so Brett and Craig just got a bag of chocolates. Craig has just had his first thoughts that Easter Bunny isn’t real – Dorian off “Namaste” told Craig that “its just parents that leave things for you”. They mentioned it to me but I was non committal! They then saw a Roses box in the bin, which I suppose means the end of Easter Bunny!
I did Open Water Dive 4 with both pairs in the morning. I went to start the compressor and the recoil spring on the pull start up has broken. Unfortunately, it’s really difficult to take the unit to bits, but at least it easily starts using the emergency system – (wrap string around pulley on end of shaft). I spent another three hours filling 12 tanks.
I did Dive No. 5 with the Whiteleys and certified them all as OW Divers. They want to borrow gear tomorrow, so I couldn’t relax and had to fill all the tanks!
The boys had a great time on the beach at an Easter barbeque. “Namaste” and “Blue Monsoon” organised egg hunts, egg races and egg catching competitions for the kids and adults! I’m exhausted, but pleased to earn $1455 US for 5 days work.
17 April 1995 English Harbour
I got up this morning and decided to have a rest day – sod the school work! I tidied up the boat and then painted a map watercolour for “Bullwinkle”. I was quite pleased that I managed to draw a reasonable representation of a Sigma 38 under sail, from scratch. My colours are still a bit intense, but I’m getting better.
I tidied up a bit more and then played the clarinet. I finished the day with a dinner of Fray Bentos chicken and mushroom pie – luxury! I’ve lost a lot of my spare tyre over the last week – I must be careful not to put it back on! The boys spent the day on the beach and on “Glencora” with Dorian. Easter Monday is obviously a local holiday because the beaches were packed with locals having a good time.
18 April 1995 English Harbour
School work in the morning. I took “Blue Monson’s” dive gear back to them and found out that Darah was going for a dive – so I went too. He found Stingray Alley which was OK. I went running about doing errands in the afternoon and dropped our outboard at Seagull Marine to get the water pump sorted out. “Blue Monsoon” came for a beer. The boys and I then had spaghetti bolognese for dinner. We had an in-depth discussion about “Easter Bunny” – they know that he doesn’t exist! I filled 2 tanks.
19 April 1995 English Harbour
Lesson 80 this morning – half way through the course. We are still 6 weeks behind our target – that’s about 20 lessons. We need to try harder! In the afternoon I played the clarinet. I had a great time messing about with accompaniments on the keyboard. The boys went out playing with Dorian as usual. I converted the left over bolognese into chilli with rice!
20 April 1995 English Harbour
School work in the morning. I took Craig to “Blue Monsoon” to get his filling seen to. Darah ended up removing another filling which wasn’t too solid. She did about 45 minutes work for only 25EC (£6). In the afternoon I went to see if the outboard was ready – it wasn’t!
Then I went to “Namaste” to get a clarinet check up – I don’t seem to be doing much wrong and I learned a bit more about reeds. I think that my embouchure is incorrect – I reckon that I’m pressing down on my bottom lip to get high notes rather than stretching my bottom lip – I’ll have to work on that! I had a look at Bob’s midi set-up which was interesting.
A South African boat “Coquette” arrived with three children - Dinah, Robin and Matthew. Brett and Craig have met them before at Hog Island so they are in ecstasy! I went over in the evening to have a quick beer with them. Roast chicken, mash, peas and Bisto gravy for dinner.