tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44066993104441215732024-02-21T08:03:39.416-08:00Air Compressor TimesDuring my years in the compressed air industry I have been fortunate to travel the world to exotic locations and beautiful places for work on air compressors. I hope you enjoy hearing about some of my experiences and adventures.Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00477127350948391168noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406699310444121573.post-83136273646707164722011-07-29T12:27:00.000-07:002011-08-01T12:46:21.350-07:00Wonders of Belize<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div closure_uid_87jtt8="133" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div closure_uid_vnwz2r="114"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyJ_9gTjpCPMl7tBx5g0dmgzKogZNoNA6VkKdB52MLzt4kBVALwefdERq1YzSMH1KEGbfpWOt8avqvY0GJuRJzjquzroT6zU-JDS1P0jk55hCka26EUOXjjYFVMkF9v8yS2A9YmO2CFX0u/s1600/Altun%252520Ha-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyJ_9gTjpCPMl7tBx5g0dmgzKogZNoNA6VkKdB52MLzt4kBVALwefdERq1YzSMH1KEGbfpWOt8avqvY0GJuRJzjquzroT6zU-JDS1P0jk55hCka26EUOXjjYFVMkF9v8yS2A9YmO2CFX0u/s320/Altun%252520Ha-2.jpg" t$="true" width="320px" /></a><span closure_uid_4k25a1="114" closure_uid_87jtt8="137" closure_uid_lupavh="123" closure_uid_vizq3o="139" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>he first live aboard dive boat I worked on was Peter Hughes Sun Dancer in Belize, Central America. When I arrived by plane the country was celebrating their Independence Day so Customs was closed and the equipment I had shipped was not available. Since I was not able to do any work, Captain Lewis arranged for a girl on the boat and me to borrow a jeep and go to see some Mayan ruins. </span></div><a name='more'></a><div closure_uid_vnwz2r="114"><div closure_uid_vizq3o="127"><div closure_uid_s4h6rx="114"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_s4h6rx="114"><span closure_uid_70idwu="116" closure_uid_s4h6rx="138" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Altun Ha was only a little over an hour drive away so I packed some water, sandwiches, cheese and fruit in an ice chest and off we went. I also brought some wash clothes and towels that came in very handy for wiping off sweat because it was really hot. </span><span closure_uid_70idwu="114" closure_uid_87jtt8="173" closure_uid_s4h6rx="116" closure_uid_vizq3o="140" style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The girl</span> was hot too! She was very sweet and beautiful. and only wearing a tiny pair of shorts and a bikini top so, needless to say, I was having a great time. Once we left Belize City there was hardly any traffic and most of the travel was on dirt roads. On the way we saw a 3 foot alligator sunning himself in the middle of the road so of course we had to stop and take pictures and throw some rocks at it to try and get it to move. All it did was look at us. When we arrived at Altun Ha there was no one else there except the caretaker so we just wandered around and climbed the temples and explored. The largest jade carving from the Mayans was found here in a grave and, even though it is a minor site, it is spectacular. </span></div></div></div></div></div><div closure_uid_s4h6rx="139"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_87jtt8="116"><div closure_uid_n8fgzh="182"><span closure_uid_70idwu="117" closure_uid_87jtt8="317" closure_uid_lupavh="133" closure_uid_n8fgzh="181" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span>n the drive we kept seeing signs to "Visit Maruba Resort - just a shot way past the cut off to Altun Ha" so naturally we went there after sightseeing. We parked and found a trail lined with coconut palms and it was like being in a tunnel because it was so narrow and the palm fronds were closed in on the sides and the top. We walked and walked but could not find an office or any resort buildings and finally came out in a clearing with an open air bar built like a giant Tiki hut. Again we were the only ones there except the bartender and behind the bar were bottles of Tequila but, instead of the traditional worm in the bottle, these had snakes or big scorpions in them. </span></div><div closure_uid_n8fgzh="182"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_n8fgzh="182"><span closure_uid_70idwu="118" closure_uid_87jtt8="317" closure_uid_n8fgzh="181" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The bar tender explained that the snakes are Tamagas, which translates to 15 steps because that is about how far you make it if you get bitten, and they are the most poisonous snake in Belize. He must have liked the girl too because he invited us to take a seat and have a complementary shot of his fine Tequila. Of course we did and I immediately had a buzz like no other I have ever had. He must have liked her a lot because we stayed a couple hours and had several more complementary shots. She wound up buying almost $700 worth of Tequila with snakes and scorpions in the bottles. That night when we got back to the boat she shared one of the bottles with the crew. I have some pretty wild pictures of scary looking people with bright shinny eyes from that night.</span></div><div closure_uid_n8fgzh="182"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_n8fgzh="182"><span closure_uid_lupavh="136" closure_uid_n8fgzh="183" style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I </span>was there to install a low pressure compressed air drive system for filling SCUBA tanks with Nitrox so when the equipment was delivered later in the week I went to work. The ventilation fan in the engine room was broken and it was August so it was very hot. I had a point-and-shoot thermometer gun with me and the coolest spot I could find in the engine room was 142 degrees F. I was using 3/4" refrigeration copper tubing to connect the compressor and filters. It was so hot that, if I did not get a bend right the first time, I had to throw the piece of tubing away and start over because it was work hardened and would just crack if I tried to correct the bend.</span></div></div></div>Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00477127350948391168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406699310444121573.post-39710440558968292212011-07-28T16:41:00.000-07:002011-07-29T11:01:43.196-07:00Tiger Shark in German Lagoon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div closure_uid_4i89b8="158" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div closure_uid_e0ic1c="114"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA48eFsxBuHHG2QcLwNTTVwvp7E7h0v_Aemv-FRcgjG0JY7Q-h0ORkwJtmiioIUASTBDQYfxT0JEhLFxtUA9p0aQhGw2usS7Ke7tUXIziq8TFIRRBn4CtoE0zGDMEIG-bT9OQKyM7RVpek/s1600/TigerShark.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA48eFsxBuHHG2QcLwNTTVwvp7E7h0v_Aemv-FRcgjG0JY7Q-h0ORkwJtmiioIUASTBDQYfxT0JEhLFxtUA9p0aQhGw2usS7Ke7tUXIziq8TFIRRBn4CtoE0zGDMEIG-bT9OQKyM7RVpek/s320/TigerShark.JPG" width="320px" /></a><span closure_uid_4i89b8="155" closure_uid_ol008="124" style="font-size: small;">The Palau Aggressor live aboard dive boat is a 110" catamaran. I had shipped equipment to install a low pressure drive low pressure compressed air system to drive the Nitrox SCUBA tank filling system but no one told me the hatches to the generator rooms are only 24" square. The air receiver tank would not fit so we had to place it on the transom and get hoses to connect it. One day we were anchored in German Lagoon (a body of water miles across and about 10 feet deep with a white sand bottom) and the Captain, Engineer and I were installing the hose under the hull of the ship when the dive skiff returned and we all stopped for lunch.</span></div><a name='more'></a><div closure_uid_e0ic1c="114"></div></div><div closure_uid_4i89b8="158" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_4i89b8="158" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div closure_uid_ww9u2y="124"><div closure_uid_ol008="126"><div closure_uid_ksuwgo="114">We had hamburgers and hot dogs and the leftovers were tossed in a sink with an open pipe that dumps the food in the water to feed the fish. We spotted a Tiger shark about 12 to 14 feet long eating the hamburgers as they were sinking to the bottom. Tiger sharks usually stay 600 to 900 feet deep and feed at night so this guy had to be really hungry to be in a 10 foot deep lagoon at noon. After he finished all the hamburgers he started going after the buns that were floating on the surface but the buns kept floating out of reach on the waves from the wake that his huge wedge shaped head was making. It was fun to watch this monstrous shark chase hamburger buns all around the lagoon as his huge mouth kept opening above the surface but he was not able to catch them. Eventually the buns got wet enough to sink and he was able to get them so, when he finished and started to wander away, someone got a frozen chicken out of the freezer, tied a heavy fishing line to it, and tossed it in to tease the shark back. </div></div></div><div closure_uid_ww9u2y="124"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_ww9u2y="124"><div closure_uid_ksuwgo="116">The Palau Aggressor has a cradle that lifts the dive skiff out of the water with hydraulic rams so you can just step in or out from the second deck. Captain Buck Beasley and I went down to the dive deck and crouched under the skiff to take pictures. The Captain said to hang on to him when put his underwater video camera into the water because it was bound to put off some kind of electro-magnetic signals. I held onto the back of his belt with my right hand while I held my polarized sunglasses sideways over the lens of my cheap Instamatic camera and tried to take pictures of the shark in the water. The dive deck was only about 6 inches out of the water so when the shark swam underneath he was less than a foot away from us. He was massive and it looked like his back was about 2 feet across! At one point he was maybe 10 feet away when the person up top pulled the line to keep the chicken out of his reach but the shark kicked his tail and the chicken disappeared right in front of us. I instinctively snatched Buck so hard that he hit his head on the skiff above us. He turned around with big wide eyes and said "Wow. We need a bigger chicken." I laughed and said "Yeah. We need a turkey! Let's pick one of those guys leaning over the railing upstairs and throw him in."</div></div><div closure_uid_ww9u2y="124"><br />
</div><div closure_uid_ww9u2y="124">Later that day the skiff was out for another dive and we were back to installing the hose under the deck when the tiny little dingy we were using floated away. No one said a word - Captain Buck ran up the ladder to the wheel house and the Engineer and I ran through the cabin hallway to pull anchor so we could drive a 110 foot boat a few feet to get it. I started laughing and said "We have not seen that shark in hours but nobody even thought about jumping in to swim a couple feet and get the dingy."</div></div></div></div>Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00477127350948391168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406699310444121573.post-39335806382511568402011-07-28T07:31:00.000-07:002013-10-10T05:36:01.897-07:00Diving with Sharks in Palau<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a closure_uid_11v7wt="103" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-gxEAdLf7qDaqJhvSSolIUMGRBw7Qp0YeCxIMzG7amd23J8TbqyH_KFKSn6ZnGcfyjZQemj7LRxGeT1AFOPcWZt7XKyuGG_A3O0sOoEXdboMye_Cn32LzEtH9aYdPGx0QJoIdUA80XYB8/s1600/shark3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-gxEAdLf7qDaqJhvSSolIUMGRBw7Qp0YeCxIMzG7amd23J8TbqyH_KFKSn6ZnGcfyjZQemj7LRxGeT1AFOPcWZt7XKyuGG_A3O0sOoEXdboMye_Cn32LzEtH9aYdPGx0QJoIdUA80XYB8/s200/shark3.JPG" t="" true="" width="200px" /></a><span closure_uid_89r11d="114" closure_uid_cc8jf7="114" closure_uid_fqmg66="114" closure_uid_k3itsb="123" closure_uid_r9l4qd="114" closure_uid_zgnn2b="127" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On my first trip to Palau I was installing a low pressure compressed air system to drive the Nitrox SCUBA tank filling system on the <a href="http://www.aggressor.com/subpage11.php">Palau Aggressor live aboard dive boat</a>. One morning I listened to Captain Buck Beasley give the dive briefing for Blue Corner; one of the most famous dive spots in the world. Buck was telling the divers that they would hook off on a ledge and "fly" in the current and those who wanted close up pictures of sharks should breathe slowly because the sharks do not like bubbles. Everyone left in the dive skiff and I was alone on the live aboard ready to install the electric power in the starboard generator room with live power because the port generator had a problem.</span></div>
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<span closure_uid_fqmg66="116" closure_uid_k3itsb="126" closure_uid_r9l4qd="116" closure_uid_zgnn2b="163" style="font-family: Verdana;">I had wires and a screwdriver in my hands and was barefoot in a pair of shorts and no shirt when I looked down and realized I was standing in a pool of sweat on the aluminum deck. I decided that, since I was at risk of electrocution in the diving mecca of the world and had not been in the water yet, that I should cool off my body temperature and go diving. We were anchored in Turtle Cove so I rounded up some gear to go snorkeling and jumped in. I swam toward shore and was in about 50 to 60 feet of water with beautiful columns of coral covered in growth. After about 30 minutes of swimming down and enjoying the sites, what looked like about a 5 or 6 foot Black Tip shark got right in front of me. I remembered what Buck said so I blew bubbles as hard as I could out of my snorkel. The shark took off and I thought "this is great - I can scare off sharks".</span></div>
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<span closure_uid_kjcqpj="116" closure_uid_r9l4qd="117" style="font-family: Verdana;">After another 30 minutes or so the same shark got right in front of me again but this time, when I blew bubbles, he just quivered. I slowly turned to swim away but about 2 feet behind my head was an open mouth big enough to swim into. The 5 or 6 footer went to get mommy! I tried not to move and did not make eye contact. I "willed" myself to the surface and "willed" myself to the boat. I was very relieved to get back to work in the generator room.</span></div>
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<span closure_uid_kjcqpj="117" closure_uid_r9l4qd="118" style="font-family: Verdana;">Two weeks later I was back home and went to lunch with Tom Mount from IANTD in Miami Shores. I was telling him about my swim with sharks and he was listening intently. Tom is a very experienced diver and I was a bit embarrassed but when I finished I said "you may think I am a chicken but that scared me". Tom said "No, no you don't understand. Juvenile Bull sharks look like Black Tips. You were swimming with Bull sharks and I can't believe you lived to tell about it." </span></div>
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Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00477127350948391168noreply@blogger.com0