I can’t imagine living in Madang without a boat. Beautiful anchorages, crystal clear water, pristine coral reefs, and lovely islands are all easily accessible; but only if you have a boat. Without a boat, I guess one stays home and prays that something good is on our single TV channel.
But owning a boat does create its own set of issues. The blazing sun is brutal on fabrics and varnished teak. The rain, humidity, and heat provide a perfect environment for molds and fungi. And the bathtub temperature water in the Madang harbor is rich in nutrients (don’t ask what kind of nutrients). That means that barnacles, mollusks and other kinds of hull-fouling creatures thrive.
Way back in 2004, when we were getting ready to launch Stap Isi, we put on two coats of the finest copper-based bottom paint. This was guarenteed to keep the bottom free of growth for about two years. Our plan at the time was that when we got to Madang we would haul the boat out of the water and slap on some more bottom paint. Well, as they say, “the best laid plans…”
Kyle completes the monthly boat cleaning. Note the crystal clear water.
Arriving in Madang we discovered that there was almost no good way to get our boat out of the water for repainting. As the months rolled by, the bottom paint worked less and less effectively until it finally completely expired. And with the aging of the paint the crusty critters were emboldened to fasten onto every available surface.
At first we kept them at bay with a bi-monthly scraping. This became a six-weekly scraping and has now transitioned to a monthly scraping. So once a month we fire up the engine and take the boat to a nearby anchorage. Kyle dons the scuba gear and goes over the side, putty knife in hand, to do battle with the sundry freeloaders. First he removes all the barnacles and mollusks. Then he brushes all the slime off the hull. And finally he takes steel wool to the water line to remove the sludge. The whole process takes about one hour and one tank of air. But the result is worth it. Briefly, too briefly, Stap Isi is free of critters.
Then comes the good part. Since we are at a pristine anchorage, we do some snorkeling, Kathy looks for shells, we enjoy a nice lunch, and just basically relax for the day. So the bottom scraping is really a nice excuse to enjoy the finest that Madang has to offer. What really puts the icing on the cake is if the wind comes up in the afternoon so that we can do a bit of sailing.
A friend took this shot as we were sailing into the harbor Sunday.
Yesterday after we had finished the work, we looked out to see nice little white caps on the water indicating a wind speed of about 10-12 knots. Perfect sailing weather. So we quickly got everything stowed away and went out for a couple hours of wonderful sailing. Since we were inside the barrier reef there were no big swells or waves – just the feeling of Stap Isi slicing through the water, healed over nicely, with the sails drawing perfectly. It was an ideal end to a wonderful day.