Tuesday 31 Aug 2010

Today I got in the tank for the first time with Neil watching and trying to guide me through stuff from the other side of the window. Now, as SCUBA divers we have a small repertoire of hand signals that we would use to communicate while underwater. Unfortunately, those signals are mostly limited to things like, "are you ok," "I'm out of air," "SHARK!" and "let's go up." I am unfamiliar with the hand signals for, "please move that mushroom coral from its current location to up on that rock over there behind the clam." Not only was he making ridiculous hand gestures, but his facial expressions were quite humorous. Did I mention that I am no good at charades? After alot of laughing at him through my regulator I seemed to accomplish what it was that he intended for me to do.

We started talking about some of the special circumstances that I might encounter if we go cruising. Rough waters pose the biggest complication as the reservoir tanks could slosh around creating a big mess and therefore headache. The life support system is housed beneath the tank in a very small, very cramped room. The reservoirs are located in this room. I would need to cover the tanks and secure the "lids" - which are simply pieces of plexiglass that attach with rusty bolts. There is also a phosphate removal dosing system that Neil has MacGyver'd up which would need to be drained and stowed. There are also about 5 different ways to do water changes depending on the circumstances so I have to keep all that straight in my head. Luckily, Neil is very well organized and had prepared a document with the basics of how to do everything so I feel pretty confident.

So, why might I need to know all this info? Turns out we will be leaving port. There is some event happening at the port which will require us to undock and sit at anchor for a few days. That won't be too bad, we will still have access to shore via tender boats. We will probably go to Beaulieu which is between here and Monaco.

Another possibility for leaving port would be if the boss comes aboard for a cruise. This would probably be sometime after September 15 and stay relatively close to Nice. In this case I would stay aboard the shadow boat and be shuttled over to the Odyssey to work on the tank.

The last possibility would be that the boss doesn't come and we sail to Hamburg, Germany where the ship will be in dry dock for repairs and inspections. This is my favorite option! We would sail through the Straits of Gibraltar, around Spain, through the English Channel and into Germany. I'll keep you posted as to which option wins.

Time to get back to work...