A Sporty Life

I learned a new vocabulary word recently: “sporty” refers to seas that cause the boat to frolic. It’s the usual adjective for our ride home in the afternoon, when the winds that funnel daily through the straits of Corfu have gathered enough strength and swells to force us back to port. My favorite spot on those rides home is in the bow, watching the swells, anticipating the boat’s lift and swoop. No pictures of that! My hands are fully occupied holding on to the rails and the spray soon drenches. Once this week the winds kept us from even going out. In town was calm and hot and the waves on the beachfront here — protected by a great curve of bay — only hissed slightly against the rocky shore, but the whitecaps farther out bespoke a very sporty time and we were forced into the role of spectators.
A few days this season, equipment failures have kept us becalmed. Last week one of the pistons in the compressor (used to fill tanks) wore out. Howard has extra parts of all kinds on hand, but not this one, nor is it available in Europe. We had to wait for it to be air-expressed from the States. The wrong part arrived*!*&^%! and we had to wait again. Thank goodness for airmail and for a friend in Tirane who could expedite the packages through customs. And thank goodness, too, for Howard’s mechanical skills. Another day, a second failure: we had to cut the engines of the boat when the batteries overheated. Luckily, Todd had stayed in with the second boat that morning and so we had towing-service for the long way home. And luckily again Todd was able to diagnose the problem and fix it that same afternoon. One thing that I always realized but that these days have emphasized: When something goes wrong with the equipment on a land excavation, there is usually a way, albeit perhaps cumbersome or laborious, around it. But when the compressor or boat fails in an underwater excavation, the whole operation grinds to a halt.
These days in port were not all bad. One of my missions here this summer is to think about the logistics of excavating the shipwreck we explored last summer. Yes, I have not talked about it in this year’s blog postings, but the major purpose of my stay here this summer is to discover how to manage that excavation: everything from the logistics of excavation -- what techniques, what equipment should we use? how can we get and maintain it here? who do we need to run (fix!) it? – to those of housing and feeding and otherwise caring for the people who will participate. So I spend the “days off” getting to know what is available in and around town, considering buildings and sites and facilities, and looking for that essential local person who would help me make those many places, things, and people happen. One idea leads to another, conversations lead to other conversations and possibilities. But none of this happens without personal poking around and, although I fret at the non-diving days, they are necessary for the longer-term project.

Here is how RPM has managed some of the logistics of diving equipment: 3 containers shipped from the US hold the dive gear, the compressor & generator, and the recompression chamber: