SailingKnitter

So, when we dive we always do a "safety stop" which is a 3-minute stop at a 15 foot depth (or 8 minutes if we went deeper). What a waste of time (except to get those nitrogen molecules out of our bodies which is important, you know, the "bends" suck). Of course we could study the coral, sponges, and other sea life up close and make good use of our remaining air. But we had other ideas.



My dive buddy, Cheryl from the sailing vessel Interlude suggested that I fill the time with knitting! What a totally switched on gal! Wonderful idea! So today, we did just that.  Here I am knitting with the fishies which can be seen in the background. I'm sure they were confused. I mean, people pay thousands of dollars to fly to and stay here on Roatan to dive. What is this human blob doing? She's not chasing us and taking photos.

You know, it wasn't that easy. The cotton yarn was sticking to the needles and had a mind of it's own floating about here and there. I'm glad the bright colors came out in the photos and my wet suit (or "girdle" as Jonesy calls it) did it's job to make me look slim.

Also hanging around today was this big, about 2 1/2 feet long turtle - doing nothing. Heck, she should knit and at least produce something instead of hanging about a canyon hiding from human blobs.

RESCUE
As I was rinsing off the salt water at the dive shop, the VHF radio came alive with a call for help from a sailboat. Their engine had quit and "alarms were going off everywhere". Fortunately, Jonesy had just arrived in the dinghy and we could see the boat out about a mile beyond the reef.

So, we headed out to the cut in the reef and met up with other cruisers who were coming out in their dingies to help too. The disabled sailboat used their sail and tacked back and forth into the wind to come closer to us. The seas beyond the reef are just too rough for our little dinghies to go all the way out to where they were stopped.

When the sailboat got to us, we tied up a dinghy to the center and the stern cleats on both sides and started our engines. Acting like four miniature tugboats, we managed to move the big boat forward and into the safety of the mooring field on the calm side of the reef. Also fortunately, there was one, and only one mooring available as this is the high season here on Roatan. Other cruisers in dinghies guided the sailboat towards the mooring ball and picked up the line. There was a smooth and gentle handover to the waiting hands of the captain who ran his lines through the pennant. (pennant = line from mooring ball which is underwater and is covered in stinging, alive sea creatures and goo). Whooo hoooo! Safe!

Spring Socks by Claudia Tietze

Now, of course, they have to diagnose the engine problem and make repairs. But the family (Captain, wife, and daughter) on this Canadian vessel (Kodo) are now safe and life goes on at the West End of Roatan Island, Honduras, Central America.

Now that it's April I can finally show you the socks that I test knit for the Six Sox Knitalong Yahoo group. These are the Spring Socks by Claudia Tietze. Very nice, with just a touch of lace.

The pattern is available for free only during the months of April and May.