Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Diving & Fishing

Christopher diving at George Island
Another busy day.  Out on Speedwell Christopher dived on Theo.  This was to give her a quick once over before her long trip to Stanley.  He was getting very concerned that the anodes would be gone.  It is three years since she was last out of the water when the last set were put on.  The anodes stop corrosion.  I believe there job is to stop the different type of metals destroying each other.   All but one small piece of one anode is all that is left but he said the others have only recently disappeared because the metal under where they were was still all shiny.  Without anodes my understanding is that the different metals in effect eat each other and vital parts like the rudder start falling off.  He also checked the rudder and the cutlass bearing and everything seems to be in good order.  In fact he was very pleased with the condition of her under the water.  Christopher learnt to dive 3 years ago for a job he was working on.  He had two dives in a swimming pool and that was that.  Some people are just born with so much confidence it seems unfair sometimes.  After he finished diving Shaun put on the dry suit and had a swim around the boat.  Tiphanie our daughter learnt  to dive at university and although she hasn't dived here she purchased her own bcd yesterday so that she can start again.  She admits that she is not very confident yet although she has done quite a lot of dives.
This evening Christopher, Shaun and Tanya went down to George Island.  The idea is that Christopher and Shaun will start digging the potatoes at first light and work all day until they are all up.  They will then go straight back to Speedwell where Christopher wants to get the floor of the crab factory cemented before they head to town with Theo.  This will happen as soon as the wind plot shows a 24 hour spell of decent weather.
Tiphanie has arranged her first trip out to one of the rivers to collect fish samples for her dissertation.  She leaves tomorrow with Dan who is helping her with her dissertation and Aiden who she has roped in as an unpaid volunteer to help with the nets in the river.  Aiden is a young lad that has come out to the islands to help lamb marking the last couple of years.

3 comments:

  1. I have been reading and enjoying your blog postings for a while now. I tried posting a comment before but it did not seem to work so I am trying again. I assume the visits from someone from The Falklands to my blog was you. I hope you return and leave a comment.

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  2. Fascinating!! I had 2 fabulous years in the Falklands in the 80s - running Fishops. Great memories from your blog of my trips out to Hill Cove to see Tim & Sally Blake.

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  3. Hi, Thank you for leaving comments on my page. I am glad you are enjoying reading it. With regards to the first comment I am not sure whose blog this is because you have posted as anonymous. At the moment I am having computer problems and although I can see 8 people are following my blog I can't access it to see who they are. What is your blog called? It is also really nice to hear from someone who has worked in the Falklands. I think the Falklands have changed a lot since the 80's. I presume you would have been here after the conflict. Tim and Sally now live in Stanley.

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