21 October 1994 Hog Island
School work and finances. I filled 6 tanks. I did a dive with John from “Naia” and we caught 4 medium lobster. Glenys didn’t come with us because she was asked to paint a courtesy flag for a South African guy. We went for drinks on “Naia”.
22 October 1994 Hog Island
I spent all day on our finances and income tax again. We’ve spent about £14K in the last 6 months which is twice as much as we should be spending. What is even worse is that I calculate that we owe £2K income tax for 93/94 tax year. We have got £45K free cash at the moment so if we decide to go through Panama we can only spend £15K per year for 3 years. Our care free holiday is over - we must tighten up on our expenditure.
23 October 1994 Hog Island
Glenys and I did a dive. She had her first real go at navigating, got lost and then found her way. Good confidence boosting stuff! We went to the Sunday barbeque. I filled 2 tanks. Caught 2 lobsters.
24 October 1994 Hog Island
School work in the morning. It was a miserable day – overcast and raining. I couldn’t motivate myself so I read a book. I sent a fax to PADI to get some stuff sent to Bequia and another fax to the bank to get my credit card cleared.
Craig is doing really well in his schoolwork. I’m teaching him while Glenys teaches Brett and I really enjoy it. It’s a very well structured course and Craig is ready to start reading. Brett is keen on Famous Five Books and can read one a day – insatiable!
25 October 1994 Hog Island
Schoolwork in the morning and then we tidied up the boat after two weeks of chaos. John and I went for a dive and caught lobster. John and Chris from “Naia” came for dinner. I’m afraid we got a bit drunk.
26 October 1994 Hog Island to St Georges Lagoon
Major hangover. We sailed/motored round to the lagoon and went straight out to the Nutmeg for lunch. Three beers later I was feeling better. I tried to get some cash out with my gold card but no joy! We did some shopping and I bought some oil to do an engine oil change. Quiet dinner of lobster (again!)
27 October 1994 St Georges Lagoon to Prickly Bay
We motored to Dragon Bay where Glenys and I did a dive. Motored to Prickly Bay. I filled 3 tanks. Gary and Donna came around for dinner. Gary has quit his job with Scuba World.
It came to a head on a dive on the Bianca C about a week ago. Bob did the dive with an advance OW student and 4 others. Bob, the student and another came up the anchor line and the others missed the line. There was a strong current and the group doing the free ascent drifted downstream. Bob surfaced with his student without doing a safety stop and went into a blind panic. He tried to get out of the water in full gear, dragged his student out of the water and screamed and shouted. They buoyed the anchor and went screaming off to get the “missing group”. Bob got on the radio and said they had missing divers. They picked up the other group (after Bob tried to run them down with the boat) and went back for the anchor.
The anchor was on the stern of the Bianca C in 50 metres and Gary went down to try to free it. In the meantime Bob had got a rope around the propellor and couldn’t go forward to help Gary. They had to drop the anchor. Gary and Bob had an argument and Gary quit. It turns out that a rival dive shop went and got the anchor and the 300ft warp. Bob and Pam are accusing Gary of stealing it! I think Gary is relieved to be free of Bob. Gary looks like he’s got a job at another dive centre which pays him more, so it’s probably worked out OK.
I rang my mum and dad. They are coming out to Antigua on 14 January and return on 14 February. My brother, Andrew was at Poiares – he’s been made redundant and his wife, Gillian is pregnant with their second child. He sounds fairly relaxed about it, but he’s always chilled...
28 October 1994 Prickly Bay to Hog Island
We motored around to Secret Harbour. Filled up with water and diesel. We got a fax from the bank. Our card is being refused because we have gone overdrawn at the bank. I rang Carol to get her to transfer £13K from Glenys’ building society to Jersey. I also got a fax from PADI – they’ve dispatched some bits to Bequia.
We went around to Hog Island and did school work. I dinghied back round to Secret Harbour in the evening to ask Bob for a job for a couple of weeks, but he’s already got two new instructors from England. I don’t know whether to be sad that he doesn’t want me or happy that I don’t have to work for him!
29 October 1994 Hog Island
School work in the morning. I changed the engine oil - it took 3 hours to do it and clean up – what an awful job! I played the clarinet and read in the afternoon.
30 October 1994 Hog Island
Glenys and I went for a dive and I caught a 2½ lb lobster. I filled 2 tanks. We went to the beach barbeque. Gareth and Fi arrived at about five in the afternoon. They gave us the good news that Fi is pregnant and we retired to “Dabulamanzi” for champagne and lobster. The boys watched TV (of course!)
31 October 1994 Hog Island to Prickly Bay
Glenys went out and sold £50 worth of table linen and flags while I stayed in doing school work. We then motored round to Prickly Bay to clear out. The customs guy asked what time I was leaving. “As soon as I’m ready”. He wouldn’t accept this and wanted a specific time – “half past three” (of course). I felt guilty all afternoon. At five o’clock, Glenys remembered that we had left some gas bottles at Secret Harbour, so we’ll have to go around there first thing in the morning.
- << Prev
- Next