Although my new dock has been built, I still don't have the lift repaired, so we once again picked up the boat at Mangrove Marina. Dave and I have not done much diving as we have been busy with continuing hurricane repairs and conditions have not bee good for diving anyway. So we were looking forward to this dive.
Click the link to see a video of Scorpionfish, Balloonfish, Lobsters
We were surprised to find so much sand had had washed away on the SW end of the reef, exposing lots of rock.
Although the reef took a pretty good hit from Hurricane Irma and you could see the coral damage, we did find lots and lots of fish, including a well hidden Scorpionfish, lobsters, Balloonfish and large schools of snappers.
At the end of the dive, I noticed that the boat's bilge pump was pumping a steady stream of water. Upon boarding and checking things out, I discovered that a scupper hose and clamp in the bilge had failed. This scupper hose drained the cockpit deck down through the bilge and out the side - right at water level. You could now see daylight where the hose used to exit and water flowing into the bilge as the boat rocked in the waves. Although the bilge pump was handling the water flow - it was a dangerous situation if the pump should clog or fail. It would not take long to fill the bilge and as the boat sank lower - water would begin to pour in through the 1" hole. Time to make a beeline for shore! With repairs to take 2 weeks - I'll be shore bound again!