Stumped!

I've spent the past couple of weekends trying to dig out a big old tree stump. I've dug down a couple of feet around the stump, and broken through most of the roots.

Today I thought it was about time to wrap a chain around it and give it a pull. I attached the chain to the back of the tractor and took up my driving position. I pressed the gas peddle. The tractor edged froward taking up the slack in the chain, and then, stopped.

I pressed the gas harder and the engine revved, but the stump wouldn't budge. Not even an inch. I tried several different angles and chain configurations, all with the same result.

Maybe I need a bigger tractor. :-)

Backhoe in Business

After disconnecting the backhoe from The New Tractor a couple of weeks ago, I've been busy with the following:

• wrestling with ceased fittings
• removing hoses for replacement
• removing two leaking cylinders to be rebuilt
• replacing a broken union fitting
• replacing the oil filter
  
• getting hydraulic oil just about everywhere
• making a big mess
• putting everything back together (harder than taking it apart)

Now the backhoe is back on the tractor and we're back in business! I've started digging around a big tree stump we want to remove to make way for another project...

Spring is here!

Spring is here and the daffodils are in bloom. As you may remember, I spent a weekend in October planting hundreds of daffodil, iris, and lily bulbs (Bulbs, bulbs, and more bulbs). Well, the daffodils are blooming and they are beautiful!

There is nothing more cheerful than coming home each evening to rows of brilliant, yellow flowers.

The New Tractor

We have a new tractor, aptly called the "big" tractor, in comparison to the "little" tractor. It's a 1986 Kubota B7100HST. It has four wheel drive, a 3 cylinder diesel engine and a hydrostatic transmission. It came with a front loader (the big bucket at the front), a back-hoe, and a cab.

Soon after it arrived, I removed the back-hoe and have been working to repair a couple of the hydraulic cylinders. It's messy business. Here you can see the work in progress:

I'm sure the big tractor will be featured in more posts to come.

Night Diving

During our week aboard the Turks and Caicos Explorer 2 dive boat, Erin and I had the opportunity for plenty of night diving. We've both been night diving before and so we know the drill. Night dives are exciting. Jumping off the back of a well lit boat into deep dark water certainly gets your heart going. It's really dark down there.

You never know what you're going to encounter on a night dive. Most of the day-time (diurnal) fish are hiding in holes or sleeping, while other night-time (nocturnal) creatures come out to play, or rather, feed. One of the interesting things about a night dive is that you can only see what your light is shining on. This focuses your attention and sometimes you actually see more than in the daylight. However, it's very easy to get disorientated on a night dive as navigation, which can be challenging underwater at the best of times, is much harder in the dark.

Armed with a flashlight each, Erin and I jumped off the back of the boat. We'd shine our lights below us, descend towards the ocean floor, and start exploring. There were certainly times when we were a little scared, like when we had no idea which direction the boat was. Or catching a glimpse of sharks in the darkness just out of the range of our lights. And remember you can't talk much down there.

Anyway, I tried shooting some movie during a couple of the night dives. I've never done this before, and lighting is challenging. But if you've never made a night dive before and want an idea what it's like, the movie below may help. Be warned though, night dives are not for everyone.

Whales!

The day after "Shark Day" was "Whale Day". We knew it was nearing the end of the whale migration season. Humpback whales travel from near the equator toward the poles for the summer during this time of year. There had also been a lot of talk on the boat about whales and we'd heard rumors of recent whale sightings. There was a chance that we might see something.

The first indication of whales in the area came from a couple of Remora sightings. Soon after that we started to hear whale song during dives. Hearing whale song sounds underwater is an eerie and mysterious experience. It surrounds you from every direction and you know the whales must be close.

At this point in the week, it felt like we were far from land (you couldn't see it from any direction) near a sand bar called "West Sand Spit". I recorded the location on my GPS, and it's shown below by the yellow marker:


View Larger Map

I was on the sundeck soaking up some sun between dives when the whales were spotted. Someone on the boat shouted "Whales!" for the second or third time of the trip and we all jumped up and began scanning the surrounding water to catch a glimpse of them. On this particular occasion, they where easy to see: two whales several hundred yards (or more) away from the boat, their dorsal fins routinely breaking the surface as they moved. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but within minutes I found myself perched on the edge of the small tender boat racing toward the whales.

The "tender" was a small (~16ft) RIB (rubber inflatable boat) with outboard motor that the main ship towed behind us as we traveled. A tender is typically used to attend to larger boats, or is used for for communication and transportation between ship and shore. Well, in this case there were 6 eager divers on board clinging to straps in hot pursuit of the whales. Somehow most of us had managed to grab our fins, masks and cameras before jumping into the little boat.

Once out on the water it was hard to keep a fix on where exactly the whales were. We'd slow down periodically and scan the water around us trying to catch sight of them, then we'd adjust course and head towards the whales again, trying to get closer each time. After a few minutes of this we got pretty close and the tender was almost alongside of them. Joe shutdown the engine and for a second we looked at him as if wondering what happens next. "Go for it" he shouted, and without needing any more encouragement, we all dove (or more accurately fell) overboard into the deep blue water.

Photo courtesy of John Pierce
We were free diving now, that's with just our fins and masks, and we could only stay down as long as we could hold our breath. John shot the photo above as I dove down hoping to catch a glimpse of the whales. At a length of 40-60ft they would be an impressive sight underwater.

Unfortunately on this occasion we were too slow (or in the wrong place) and they remained elusive to us. We clambered back into the tender, still high from the excitement of coming so close. But it was not over yet, we'd give it another shot. Someone must have seen them, because we were off again, increasing the distance between us and the ship, trying to get close enough to see the whales.

Once again, we did get close, the tender was almost alongside them. We reduced our speed and saw them clearly. This time however, we didn't even have time to enter the water. One at a time, each of the two whales showed us their tail fins as they began a deep dive downwards far out of our reach.

Photo courtesy of John Pierce
We knew this signaled the end of our adventure and slowly turned back towards the main ship again, which was now almost a mile away.

Later in the week we saw more whale activity from a distance and heard lots more whale-song underwater, but there's nothing quite like chasing (following) 40ft whales in a 16th tender.