Monday, August 3, 2009

Last Dive and Departure Preparations...

Ron, Karyn and Ally dove the Pelinaion for their last dive here in Bermuda. Under sunny skies and fairly breezy conditions, we tied up Eclipse on the mooring ball and had a leisurely hour dive that took us from the Pelinaion's remains to the nearby reefs and all the way east until we came across the neighboring wreck of the Rita Zovetta. We retraced our dive tracks, exploring the nooks and crannies of the reefs and wreckage and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Nice dive for our last one here this year!

After a leisurely lunch in St. Georges at Tavern By The Sea, we spent the afternoon immersed with heavy preparations for departure. Sea strainers inspected and cleaned, oil changed on the 12 kW genset, aft lazarette cleaned with dive gear fully rinsed, dried and stowed, bikes covered and secured, fuel arrangements confirmed and chart routes, waypoints and tides reconfirmed. We'll head to St. Georges in the morning for final clearance with Customs & Immigration before fueling at Dowlings. We need to clear out first, in order to get the fuel duty-free.

The reward for our efforts was a final swim at Castle Roads in the gorgeous azure waters and pink sands. Hot and sweating after our endeavors, the water never felt so good! Ally taught Ron how to find sand dollars in the fine Bermudian sand ...he was most unlucky and spent most of the time searching in vain while Ally and Karyn found several. But persistence prevailed, and he finally did find one at last before we headed back to Equinox for a jump off the pilothouse roof to cap the swimming session.


Ally in mid-dive off Equinox's pilot house

We all hurried to clean up for dinner; we met Helene and Vicky at the Mid-Ocean Dock for a ride into town and dinner in Hamilton at Barracuda, next to The Hog Penny (Or, "The Pig Coin" as Taylor inadvertently dubbed it!). Joined by Scott and Vicky's friend Kevin, we seven had a delicious dinner for our last meal in Hamilton. Helene arranged for us to get a gallon of Bermuda Fish Chowder to take home with us....Ron can't wait to share it with everyone! It's hard to believe that the month has flown so fast, but here it is, departure is soon upon us. The moon is nearly full...and we'll be gone when the glow worms make their next appearance in August. Sad to contemplate, as we will sorely miss this lovely island.

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