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American Spirit II - Day 136; Low Pressure South of Niue, Swimming with Sharks (again), Generator Stopped Working and SSB Problem; Tuesday, May 20, 2014



Up at 6:41 AM. Rain shower, again. Closed hatches. Seems like every morning we get a rain shower just after sunrise.

A catamaran not with our fleet departed the anchorage at 7:16 AM. Against the Suwarrow Rules, in that the rules state a boat should not leave until noon. Reason? Conjecture is that its safer to leave with a high sun because you can see the coral heads easier; and the Cook Island government types don't want any more sunken boats in their lagoon.

One of the boats indicated that a low pressure system south of Niue may be a cause of concern. Some of the boats in the anchorage may delay their leaving Suwarrow from Wednesday to Thursday as a result. We'll download weather information Wednesday night and decide for ourselves if staying another day here is advisable. I can think of worse places to be stuck in.

At 7:41 AM I counted 15 boats in the anchorage, and I couldn't see any activity on any of them. Am I the only person up at his time?

I received some information regarding email as to who to use in Fiji to supply me with new 8D Deep Cell Flooded Batteries. Since our charging cycle is getting shorter and shorter all the time, its probably time to get new batteries. These batteries are huge, weighing over a hundred pounds each. Golf cart sized batteries.

At 9:00 AM right on schedule the black tipped sharks are circling behind our boat. Breakfast at 9:45 AM consisted of bacon, scrambled eggs, pear halves and toast with peanut butter, butter and/or jelly.

From 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM we went snorkeling in 2 different sites. I had two 5 foot black tipped sharks approach me closer than the 2-3 foot sharks that patrol our boat do. I thought I was going to have to hit one on the snout to stop its advance. It finally turned 10 feet from me after I 'starred it down.'

On our way back to the boat we observed that Tulasi, the largest boat in the fleet, had its anchor stuck as there were two divers from Hebe trying to free the anchor and chain. Once this was accomplished, Tulasi re-anchored in a different location. Not sure why they chose to unstick their anchor since they weren't departing the anchorage today.

At 12:55 PM the Generator stopped seconds after I turned it on. Joel took it apart and found that the impeller had failed. Same thing happened 200 hours ago. And that the gasket to the heat exchanger started leaking. A new impeller was inserted. This was the 2nd that had failed on this trip. And Joel made a new gasket, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, out of cardboard. Once the generator was started up again, it worked. Since we only have one spare impeller left, I'll need to order some more.

The sun set behind the clouds again, so no green flash. After sunset we had dinner on the boat, blackened steak, rice, peas and corn plus chilled pear halves for dessert. After dinner I saw one shooting star followed by one far off flash of lightning. As Joel was washing dishes after dinner, I rinsed out the serving dish that held the corn and peas behind the boat. In five seconds sharks appeared.

At 7:50 PM Alex from Rally control stopped by with a crew member from Skylark of London with an ARC flag for us to sign. Joel signed for American Spirit II. Alex said that the flag was going to be left in the 'flag shack' on Suwarrow.

Really hot and sweaty on the boat tonight, due to there being a little north in the wind. North, as in from the Equator.

After dinner we watched the first episode of Have Gun Will Travel, an early 60's cowboy TV series starring Richard Boone; followed by the Ed Sullivan show showing the first appearances by the Beatles in America (in February, 1963 or 1964). In black and white. Paul McCarthy looked really dorky bobbing his head up and down as he sang. And the Chinese character in Have Gun Will Travel was named 'Hey Boy.' Try having a series today with a character name like that. The EEOC would be all over it.

From 11:00 PM to midnight I tried to send some emails out but due to atmospheric conditions I couldn't do so. The emails would be 80% sent, then I'd be disconnected; but with 0% being sent. Very frustrating.

During the night all you could hear was the roar of the waves hitting the reef to our east. It was constant and louder tonight that on other nights because the wind was lighter. With a light wind the noise of the surf could not be 'blown away.' And the anchorage was lit up by 15 anchor lights, white lights at the top of the sailboat masts of the boats anchored here. They blended into the night sky along with the stars. Only brighter than the stars.

347 Days until home.

Brian Fox





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