Boat Info:  The boat ran fine until I chopped the throttle at the first dive site.  The next time I gave it some gas, a belt started squealing and the engine temperature started to climb.  After the first dive, I tightened the belt and it worked until I got to the second dive site.  This time it started squealing and wouldn’t stop.  I replaced the belt after the second dive.  This is harder than its sounds because I have to remove a pulley and the raw water belt to put on the circulating pump belt.

Prologue:  This was the first departure from our new location.  Light House Key Marina closed in March and we started renting a slip from a friend with a dock on Rocky Bayou.  We left the dock at 0900.  Winds started out at about 10 kts from the NE and seas 1 ft.  Gulf was still 1 ft at 1100, but built steadily to 3 ft by 1400.  The water temp is warming and we dove wet instead of dry.

Crew:  Candy and Stone

Gear:  Candy:  7-mil with a core warmer.  Stone:  5-mil with a 3/5-mil hooded vest (22 lbs)

Dive One:   Reef.  Small groupers and black snapper, and I didn’t pull the trigger. Got 2 lobsters, so we didn’t get skunked.  My BC seemed to be leaking a little.  Used the lift bag to get the anchor out of the rock field.

Dive Two:  Wreck.  Candy was too cold to dive again, so I dove solo. Vis was still about 40 ft. Shot a 36 inch AJ. He did the “stone-shot shiver”, but he woke up just as I put my hand on the shaft. Before I could get my other hand in his gills, the spear tip pulled out taking a small fillet with it. My BC stopped holding air completely. Used the lift bag to get the anchor up and over the wreck and into the sand.

Epilogue: I had to finish diving by 1330 in order to give myself  24 hours before a flight, so we headed home a lot earlier than usual. When I throttled up to 3200 rpm, the engine started missing. I throttled back to 2800 rpm and drove toward the Pass at about 12 kts. Once in the Bay, I pulled the flash arrestor to look at the carburetor. The flash arrestor was caked with a fine, black dust. When the belt was squealing, the rusty pulley acted like a belt sander (no pun intended) and blew rubber dust up toward the air intake. I cleaned the filter but the engine continued to miss at high rpm.

Trip Info:

  Boat Info: Since the last trip, I sand-blasted and painted the drive pulley and water circulating pulley. This should prevent a loose belt from turning into rubber dust.

  Prologue:  I cranked the engine, turned on the instruments, tossed the lines, and headed out of the bayou. The next time I looked at the instruments, the GPS screen was blank. I checked for power and determined the GPS was working, but the LCD was gone. It is 0830 on Sunday morning, I have the boat loaded for 4 dives, and I have no GPS. We docked the boat, drove to West Marine and asked what Furunos they had in stock (heck, I was even thinking of buying a GPS/Color fish finder). West no longer carries Furuno. After looking at Garmins for $500 and $800, we decided to special order a Furuno GP-32 for about $300. As luck would have it, buddy Tom was at home cleaning fish, so we dropped by and borrowed his handheld GPS. We finally got out of the dock by 1130. The boat ran fine at 3000 rpm to the first “dive site”.

  Crew:  Candy and Stone

  Gear:  Candy:  7-mil with a core warmer.  Stone:  5-mil with a 3/5-mil hooded vest (22 lbs)

Dive One:  Wreck.  After finding boats on the first 5 dive sites, we ended up on the Phoenix. Candy nearly decapitated a nice flounder, and I shot the only legal red snapper in 2 schools that swam by.

Epilogue: While we were driving around looking for dive sites, the engine started missing at lower and lower rpm. After the first dive, I dumped the fuel/water separator and it was almost full of water. I thought the problem was solved, but it wasn’t. I checked the flame arrestor and carburetor again and didn’t see anything obvious. Candy mentioned that the fuel filter looked dirty and I agreed. We limped back through the pass at about 10 kts. Once in the Bay, I pulled the fuel filter and watched sediment actually pour out of it. Obviously, the fuel filter was getting more and more clogged which was blocking more and more fuel needed at higher rpm. After replacing the filter, the boat ran great. Considering the amount of water in the separator and the goo in the filter, I probably got some bad gas or used some bad lead substitute.

 Trip Info:

  Boat Info:  I replaced my Furuno GP-31 with a GP-32 (WAAS).  I also replaced my old Furuno LS-6000 monochrome fishfinder with a Furuno FCV-600L color fishfinder.  After a little trial & error, I was able to get the GPS to talk to my radar and the new fishfinder.

  Prologue:  We left the dock a little before 0800 and crossed the bayou to BWB Marina to flush the holding tank and get gas.  The gas was $3.56, so we decided to just use the 60 gallons we had left.  When we checked the gas price just north of the bridge, it was $3.25, so we filled up.  Winds started out at about 10 kts from the NE and the swell coming out of the SW.  We headed into the swell.

  Crew:  Candy and Stone

  Gear:  Candy:  7-mil with a core warmer.  Stone:  5-mil with a 3/5-mil hooded vest (22 lbs)

Dive One: Wreck.  Our objective was the Timberholes, but the Butthead is on the same heading and gets us in the water sooner.  Vis was about 30 feet to start, but the Butthead sits in a silt bowl and any activity kills the vis pretty quickly.  We shot a few triggers.  My BC inflator hose had a catastrophic failure.  We carry spares, so I replaced it during the surface interval.

Dive Two:  Reef.  Monkey Boats and Charters were on the best relief, so we hit the flatlands.  Vis was 40 to 50 ft.  Candy shot a nice red grouper. I didn’t pull the trigger.

Dive Three:  Wreck.  Almost no relief, but there was a “fish show”, so we threw the hook.  Most of the “show” was from schools of short red snapper.  I shot a rather large trigger fish right away, but Candy was patient and picked out the 2 largest red snappers.

Epilogue:  Boat ran great.  The wind shifted to SW, so we had some help getting back to the Pass.  Got back to port around 1930.

Trip Info:

  Boat Info:  Nothing new.

  Prologue:  We left the dock at 0710.  Winds started out at about 5 kts from the NE.

  Crew:  Candy, Stone, and Jim

  Gear:  Candy:  7-mil with a core warmer.  Stone:  5-mil with a 3/5-mil hooded vest (22 lbs)

Dive One:  Wreck.  We tried the Angelina first, but it had 3 boats jockeying for position.  Vis was kind of smoggy in the first 30 feet, then cleared up, then got smoggy again near the bottom. Call it 40 – 80 – 40.  Jim retrieved an anchor and some line.  The current was pretty strong in mid water.

Dive Two:  Wreck.  The Odyssey is only .25 miles from the Belize Queen, but the vis on the bottom was better.  The current was just as strong.  You could see the bend in the anchor line and it vibrated like a guitar sting.  Shot one trigger.  Jim got another anchor and line.  Just after Candy and I headed to the surface, Jim had a Manta Ray show up with bunch of Cobia in tow.  Candy and I would have liked to have witnessed that show.

Dive Three:  Reef.  Saw a Loggerhead Turtle on the surface on the way.  Nice vis for inshore (30 - 40 ft).  I think this area gets hit pretty hard.  The corals and tropical fish were in good shape, but the larger fish were missing.

Epilogue:  Boat ran great.  By 1500, the wind was solid out of the SW at about 15 kts and the Gulf was white-capping.  The Bay was rather choppy as well.  We docked around 1700 after a trip of 67 statute miles.

Trip Info:

Boat Info:  Nothing new.

Prologue:  We left the dock at 0700.

Crew:  Candy and Stone

Gear:  Candy:  7-mil with a core warmer.  Stone:  5-mil with a 3/5-mil hooded vest (22 lbs)

Dive One:  Wreck.  We went to 18s first, but by the time we got there, the seas were 4 ft.  We could only make about 6 knots heading back into the waves and wind.  There were no fish, so we called the dive.  Vis was 40-50ft