My new digs

We fixed the tank temperature problem. After a small misunderstanding yesterday, it was confirmed today that the pump that serves the chiller was, in fact, dead, deceased, kaput. I had mentioned to the engineers that the pressure gauge was reading 0 psi but he somehow misunderstood that, mentioned something about it being broken and that was kind of the end of that. Turns out, it wasn't broken, the pump was dying and it was confirmed this morning when the other engineer opened the pipes and found only a small trickle of water coming out.

Let's rewind. We left Antibes at 9 AM and started heading back north to Beaulieu and more sheltered waters. About 10 minutes in, we suddenly switched direction. Apparently, another ship radioed us to alert us that they had found our tender about 5 miles south of Antibes. We went and rescued it then headed to Beaulieu. We dropped anchor at noon, I ate my lunch, took a quick power nap then headed out to the aft deck with all of my possessions and a bag full of fish food. to wait for my ride. As I boarded the tender, Dan tells me it looks as though a pump on the aquarium has failed (see above). I get over there, confirm it is the chiller pump and then beg Sandy to help me replace it. Not only did he help me, he did it all. He was great! He's a big guy and had a hell of a time getting back into the pump room to access it, pull i out, fit the new one and get it all reinstalled. While he did that I busily tended to prepping the fish food for the day and changing all the filtration systems that I usually do each morning. Once the pump was reinstalled, the temperature began to drop quite rapidly - almost too fast. Problem solved!

My next problem is the RO unit that has been spraying water all over the pump room. I changed all of the filter units on it this afternoon to see if there was a clog causing a pressure backup. This didn't help. Immediately after I turned it on, the hose popped off - this time though I has holding it together so it wasn't nearly so bad. I checked some of the lines and I don't see any clogs, water is running through the system so tomorrow I am going to try to replace the connection hose, perhaps it is just stretched a bit and needs to be replaced.

Oh yeah, and one of the UV filter bulbs is out. Neil sure picked the right time to go on vacation.

So, I am now a guest aboard the Golden Odyssey instead of the Shadow. I liked Shadow better. Mostly, I just felt comfortable there - I knew the staff, I felt like I could go wherever I wanted (within reason) and it just seems a little more relaxed. Some other downfalls include, no 110 Watt outlets (but the electrician said he will get me an adapter), no fridge in my room for my peanut butter, people actually use this gym so it's crowded at 5, no TV in my cabin, no dessert! That last one might be a good thing actually. Anyway, this may not last long as they may ship me back to Shadow. We'll see.

Last I heard from the Odyssey captain is that we may all go to Barcelona now instead of Hamburg. I like that idea much better!