Clean Keel

I love to tell the story of "Jaws and the Bonaire Diver" The boat while in Bonaire for 7 weeks had grown such a verdant and abundant growth of sponge that it attracted a large gray snapper. So photogenic and cooperative was this snapper that word got out and soon divers from all over the world visiting Bonaire had to get a picture of this creature. Night after night they swam out under the boat, camera strobes illuminating the dark waters like so many lightning strokes in the night sky. We who lived aboard the snappers upper realm we awakened in the wee hours by the loud gurgle of bubbles breaking on the hull. Bubbles breathed from the compressed gas dive tanks of our nocturnal visitors. At last after much debate, shining spotlights down on the divers, and generally trying to make a nuisance of ourselves to get them to leave so we could sleep we arrived at a more devious approach. Using the boats hull as one giant speaker we would play the Da dum, Da Dum, da da Daaaaaaa soundtrack from "Jaws". The first time we did this one of the divers, obviously a fan of the movie, reacted immediately swinging his flashlight to and fro looking for a giant row of teeth. Ah Haaa - Gotcha! While this did not slow the divers visits I have to believe it made that particular night dive one to remember for those who chose to awaken the denizens of the Omarsea.

The newly epoxied keel will not be growing sponge any time in the near future as I ground an amazing amount of rust away to reveal this smooth hydrodynamic shape.