July 11, 2001 -- Underwater Experiences

This morning, since the weather has stabilized, we decided to head into town again. Our special order should be in at Island Water World and we still need some groceries! We climbed into the dinghy and headed for the marina. While Mike ran some trash to the dumpster, I dropped off our gas can at the marina store and talked to Renee at Budget Marine to order 2 additional lip seals for Ling Ling so we have some spares. We met up in front of the tiki bar and talked for a bit with Sam and Micki from Beaujolais (or however you spell it), and a few others. Micki told us that they were planning to clean their bottom today, and if we wanted we could come over to check out their hookah rig. We thanked them, and headed into town. Half our special order was in at Island Water World! We also picked up a few other things that we need for other projects on the boat as well as 2 more gas cans. The UV's had killed our last two, the UV's are hard on everything down here. Then we headed to get some lunch and go to the grocery store. Finally, we returned to the boat to put everything away. Sam and Micki called on the radio to let us know that they were about to continue cleaning their bottom if we wanted to come over and watch and learn. So, while Mike opted to stay on the boat and work on installing the LED indicator lights on our new electrical panels, and sand the cowling he is repairing. I headed off to Beaujolais to learn to use the hookah, weight belt and all of the secrets of scuba without scuba. The first thing we did was to size a weight belt for me. Then we prepped my mask. Micki then demonstrated the breathing apparatus and gave me some instructions pertaining to that. They also showed me how to clear my mask underwater, pop my ears and otherwise stay comfortable. We flipped into the water, and after a few more adjustments to my weight belt, we were ready to work. Micki started scraping and I observed for a bit. Then, we heard a tapping sound. We surfaced and Sam told us that Mike had called. I needed to pick up the carpenter from shore and bring him out to the boat. After taking the carpenter to the boat, I headed back to Beaujolais. After something to drink and a smoke, Micki and I went to work on the bottom again. Micki worked on the forward part of the boat while I worked back on the bottom of the keel. Micki joined me shortly, and we continued working on the starboard side of the boat. All the sudden, I went to take a breath, and there wasn't anything! Following Sam and Micki's instructions, I surfaced immediately while exhaling. Micki came up right behind me coughing and sputtering. The hookah had run out of gas. Sam filled it up again, and fired up the hookah. We went back to cleaning the bottom, and before I knew it we were done! We did a circuit around the boat to make sure we didn't miss anything, then went aft to finish the rudder and clean the prop and shaft. Micki took the prop and shaft while I cleaned the rudder. After I finished, I let myself drift, and discovered I was descending. Shortly I felt a tug on my air line, I was almost at the bottom, 25 feet down! I swam back up and did the same process again. Finally, we climbed out of the water and rested on the boat talking for a little while. On my way back to the boat, I stopped by Serendipity to pick up a movie we loaned them since we expected them to be leaving tonight. Marcia and Diane from Pearl were out floating. We chatted for a little while. Mike caught my attention and indicated it was time to come back to the boat since the carpenter was almost done. After dropping the carpenter off, we spent a quiet evening on the boat