I actually wanted to use “I Can See Clearly Now” as the title for my blog but Di quietly whispered that she had recently used that exact title for a recent blog. So, in my desperation, I reached out and grabbed the first idea that came to mind. Not sure if it’s the best title – in fact, I’m not sure if it was a great song in its day either but hey, I live on an island in the middle of nowhere so I’m sure the title will be fine.

Tourists that pass often comment that we live in paradise and that we’re living the dream. I guess if you took out the tourists and the large amount of plastic rubbish that floats past from time to time then, yes, I guess we’re living the dream.  But even paradise has caveats. For us underwater photographers one of those caveats is clarity. Not clarity of mind, though that does help when you’re trying to justify what the hell we’re doing here, but visual clarity. The ability to see our underwater environment. I like taking photographs of big things. Probably because my eyesight is so bad. At least I can see what I am trying to photograph. Di, on the other hand, searches for small grains of sand that happen to move. Macro photographers, seriously. Because she has her head stuck in the sand most of the time, the clarity of the water isn’t so important to her – here are some of her recent shots with her new Olympus EM-10 Mark IV proving the point:

For me, the complication is that not only do I require good visibility, but I also prefer minimal current (try hanging on in 4 knots of current with a large camera rig!) and preferably sunshine and flat seas. Not too much to ask really.  I’m not sure if it’s climate change or natural cycles but our weather this year has been very different from previous years. This makes it hard to plan trips to some of the better dive sites because you need stable weather, not wind blowing dogs off chains, and sea conditions that aren’t classified as a washing machine to be able to dive many of the sites. Not too far from where we live and within an hour’s boat ride, we can access some great dive sites where visibility sometimes exceeds 40 metres and usually sits around 30 metres. At home we generally only see somewhere between 5 – 10 metres with the odd 20-metre day. So, breaking out and diving in 30-40 metres is a big drawcard.

Recently, we had the great fortune to experience some sunny stable weather and glassed out seas for a couple of days so we jumped at the opportunity.  As a result, I thought I’d load you up with some of my photos from our recent trips and show you how we waste our time here in paradise…

Having spent some 13 years on our two boats dealing with watermakers and watermaker problems I thought it would be easy peasy to organise a new watermaker for our island project. Should have listened to that voice in the back of my head that was chuckling away.

Read more: Aqua-batics

Sadly our island does not have fresh water so up until now getting fresh water was quite an expedition. Although just around the corner, our local Mutiara (Pearl Farm) has a never-ending freshwater spring that allows us to rock up to their dock in our boat and fill our water containers from the continuously running hose.

Easy part done. Now return to the island and schlep, hump, or however you want to express it, some 500 litres of water in 20 litre containers across the beach up to the water tank and empty into same. To be fair, Hans and his dad do most of the collecting and schlepping while yours truly does the hefting into the tank.

Not only does it build stamina and character but gives you a wonderful incentive to not leave the tap running too long. So, bring on the watermaker.

It started out sounding rather easy. With a recommendation from our local expat we contacted a company in Bali that specialised in watermakers mainly for commercial use (that should have been our first warning sign) but also dealt with odd people, like us. When we contacted the Bali company we discussed at length our situation: remote island, middle of nowhere, solar providing battery charging, and yes we were running 220v single phase power and no Bunnings nearby, so everything  we need to get the watermaker up and running needs to come with the unit.

When it finally arrived it was very solidly crated and as such we decided since it had to go on a fishing boat to transport to the island we would leave it packed. Our first mistake. When it did arrive at the island due to the size and weight it took all of the muscle the family could muster but we managed to get it ashore without christening it which I thought was pretty amazing.

It was a bit like Xmas unwrapping the new present – mind you, we needed a hammer and chisel not the standard scissors to achieve our objective. Upon first glance it looked the money and even came with a “how to assemble your watermaker for dummies” photo. I guess we should have paid the extra for the manual but never mind it’s reasonably straightforward, or so I thought. 

Upon closer inspection we discovered that the great minds in Bali decided we needed a three-phase electric motor regardless of us not having three-phase power and me explaining our power setup at the initial discussions. Oh bugger – another WhatsApp session trying to sort out the issue. The attitude from Bali was it’s signed, sealed and delivered so it’s your problem and just buy a three-phase generator and you’ll be fine. After much to-ing and fro-ing and some online research we discovered we could use a 2.2Kw single phase electric motor and it would drive our unit. Of course nothing is so easy; yes, the motor will drive the unit but it’s bigger than the unit supplied and won’t fit in the frame. So out with the grinder and make a few changes. You gotta love island life!

With the new motor and some other adjustments it was time to decide where we’d get the water for the watermaker from. My initial thought was that we’d have to pull from the beach, and as such the Bali company threw in an additional pump and a sand filter. In talking with Hans I mentioned my thoughts and before my very eyes he very quickly dug a channel for piping to run to the beach. Efficient  young lad. As I previously mentioned Bunnings is not just around the corner so after digging the channel it was off to Sorong to organise the pipe and fittings that would be needed. Upon return with a boatload of 2” and 1 1/2” pvc pipe (yes they use imperial for some things and metric for others, great for us old guys that still revert occasionally).

So – channel dug, pipe laid (not yet glued thank god) and Hans just happens to mention that it won’t work. Okay, why won’t it work? Hans points out that the weather we get on our shoreline is very exposed and the hard pipe will just break in heavy swells which, although not regular, come often enough to cause problems. It’s about this time I remember that I really should ask more questions first, because the local culture is to say “yes” to any request, however crazy it seems. So upon revisiting the problem and asking more questions I am advised that most villages dig wells. Now the obvious thing would be to simply buy soft pipe to run into the water and problem solved but, we’re in Indonesia and soft pipe the size we need is not readily available. So Hans can you fill in the channel? No boss, I only dig them.  Right, so I guess I’ll fill in the channel and why don’t you start on the well.

The great frustration with Version 1 was the time, the cajoling, the swearing (not much just a bit) (Editors note; actually quite a lot), and the bloody hard work of getting it to the point of being able to be turned on.

Instead, we were thwarted by the mighty hand of Thor who brought us the great storm/ earthquake combo and the ensuing fire which, in one hot flash, dissolved our beloved watermaker into a molten mess. Bugger, down but not out!

Enter Version 2, a slightly more flexible model as it comes in components and can be mounted in varying positions and locations. However, in honour of our fallen first unit we are able to reclaim the old watermaker frame (at least not all was lost but, in all, a bloody expensive frame) which made it easier to build. A big thank you goes out to Matt and Sid on the catamaran “Insouciant” for the great job of transporting the new components to us. Without their generosity it would have been very difficult to achieve.

As it turned out assembling the unit was not too difficult albeit the odd trip to Sorong to source some of the additional components required. When purchasing the unit from watermakers.com.au the rated output for the configuration was 240 LPH so we were somewhat excited at the prospect of getting it fired up and running.

As always with these types of projects there is a small amount of anxiety when the switch is thrown for the first time and this was no different. I wish I had videoed the initial run as after the switch was thrown there was a little dampening of the spirits, as the unit had more leaks than a kitchen colander. Bugger! We have an expression we learned when we spent time in NZ, “do it twice and get it right”. Damn, where did I put the pink thread seal tape?

After a number of leak-tracking exercises, I can now happily report that the new watermaker is living up to its specifications and producing 250 LPH  – more than enough for us to wave goodbye for the time being to the Mutiara and enjoy our hard-won aqua independence.

One hour of watermaking every other day means we can now afford to extend that thirty-second shower. Di is doing a happy dance and you know what they say – happy wife, happy life. Pass me another glass of cold water, please.

I guess I have always been somewhat particular, maybe even a little bit meticulous, about my surroundings and the order of things. Just a little…..maybe.

Continue reading “Analyze This!”

I don’t think it matters if you’re clearing customs in Australia via plane or yacht there is always that gnawing in the pit of your stomach that you’ll be picked out and something won’t be right and then all hell will break loose. 

Continue reading “Customs Clearance”

A strange title as we don’t really have anyone on board called Luigi but it’s the name we’ve given our spinnaker as it’s comprised of the colours of Italy. Now Luigi didn’t intentionally jump overboard, and he certainly wasn’t pushed but, never the less he ended up getting somewhat wet.

Continue reading “Luigi Overboard!”

One More Year…..of Make Believing.

It doesn’t seem like twelve months ago that we had to make the hard decision to leave our cruising life and return to the hard facts of reality (running out of money will do that to you). So we made a short stop in Santo, Vanuatua, on the way home to catch up with Rehua, one of our cruising buddies who have become very good friends, enjoyed a short stay with them and then headed home to face reality. Continue reading “One More Year…..of makebelieving”