A Tale of Two Chemists: Sandy Island and Saline Island

Sandy Island and Saline Island

Sunday 17th Nov (afternoon) to Tuesday 19th Nov (evening), 2024

On Sunday afternoon, we departed Tyrrel Bay for Sandy Island. As it was quite a short trip we just motored. We were pleased to find moorings available and after a little messing about, Cotinga was securely tied up.

Once we started to look around, we were shocked to see that the island had been breached by Hurricane Beryl. The palm trees seemed quite battered. We wondered what the condition of the nearby reef would be. To re-acquaint ourselves with snorkeling, we dug out our gear and attempted to swim to shore. A few technical difficulties were revealed, causing us to turn back toward Cotinga. More adventures awaited us in the shape of weather events.

As the evening progressed, the wind whipped up. For a few hours we were experiencing 25-30 knots. Even tied to the mooring, the boat was yawing side to side and rolling quite a bit. Eventually, the wind dropped and we all went to bed. Overnight, we experienced multiple heavy showers.

On Monday morning, Mike found an abundance of water in the bilge. After an extended bout of pumping the bilge was virtually empty. It’s not clear what made him check again about 3 hours later. Disappointingly the bilge was “full” again. A tasting suggested that the water was salty—setting off alarm bells. Checking with the salinity meter, we got a reading of 300 ppm—fresh water! Water tank leaks sprang to mind! We turned off both tanks and excavated to get to the top of the port tank. Opening the inspection port revealed a water level that seemed consistent with use by four people for 4 days. Getting to the starboard tank required removing the settee base on the starboard side (which can be pulled out to make a bunk). Once again, we removed a large number of nuts and washer to open the starboard inspection port. Water began leaking out as the port was being lifted. The starboard tank was clearly full.

Other sources of fresh water were considered. The first being the drain of the galley sink. Dumping of salt water down the sink did not result in any water in the bilge. In a similar fashion, we tested the deck drains (many heavy rainfalls could have sent fresh water to the bilge if the hoses were leaking). The deck drains were not the issue. After much head scratching, Mike decided to check the engine compartment. The tray under the engine was wet. Starting the engine, the source of the water was finally determined to be a hose on the salt water circulation system. The hose clamp had completely failed! Not only that, the salinity meter had sent us down the wrong rabbit hole altogether. Some hard work got a new hose clamp installed, the engine tray dried, the inspection ports screwed back down and the tools put away.

After a belated lunch, we set off in the dinghy to snorkel the reef near the eastern end of the island. Mike bravely rowed us into shore. Without the weight of the engine we were able to pull the dinghy up the steep beach, well beyond the water line. Pete and Jo elected to walk to the western end of the island. Mike and I set off toward the eastern end to get in the water and snorkel. The waves were quite a bit more intense at the point where we tried to get our flippers and snorkels on! Not only was I unable to get into the water with my gear on, as I retreated up the beach, I got bowled over by a wave and lost hold of one of my fins. Despite determined efforts we could not locate the second flipper. I sat on the beach while the others checked out the reef. Apparently, plenty of fish were observed although the coral was badly damaged.

The evening turned out quite nicely. Dinner was followed by time in the cockpit watching the lightning (that never came our way) and looking at the stars. The night, however, was disturbed by heavy rain showers, mosquito attacks and rainwater dripping into the aft cabin. “There’s nothing like a good night’s sleep and that was nothing like a good night’s sleep.”

Tuesday started a bit slowly as most of the crew had experienced interrupted sleep. We set off eventually to Saline Island (or Bay?). A reef to the north of the island creates a narrow channel along the island’s shore. Here there is room for three boats to anchor. We were boat number three. The current is strong in this area and we had some difficulty getting the anchor to set. The weather looked very threatening adding to our uneasiness. We gathered all our gear and set off in the dinghy. A snorkel buoy allowed us to tie up the ‘dainty dog’. We had a good swim about looking at fish and some coral that looked pretty good. We weren’t swept away by the current but found that Cotinga had turned through 180 degrees while we were in the water. After lunch and a rest, we returned to Tyrrel Bay. Most of our party went ashore to dump trash and get more fresh fruit and veggies. I remained behind to write a contribution to the blog (much overdue).