Super senses
Yesterday I commented on the mooring ball that, by lodging itself between our hulls, was causing us to lose a bit of sleep. At slack tide last evening we adjusted our mooring lines so that they ran through an eye by the ball itself instead of the one at the end of the long pennant and I’m happy to report that it did the trick, no more ball banging on the boat.
How we’ve learned to react to sounds on our boat is quite interesting. I mentioned how loud a mooring ball banging on the hull can be. That’s definitely true but we have also become very sensitive to any sounds on our boat which are out of place, even very faint ones.
I remember vividly a week or so ago, we were anchored near a boat with dive gear on it. When the boat operators let some air out of one of their tanks (I assume that’s what they were doing), the loud hissing sound freaked us out. It was a totally new sound to us and it seemed as if it was coming from inside our boat. It didn’t take us long to figure out what had caused the noise but both Rebecca and I had jumped up to investigate.
The sounds of pumps running, compressors operating and electronics beeping have all become part of our daily existence. When those noises fall out of their normal pattern, even slightly, we take note and often have to do something about them.
The same can be said about smells on the boat, and no, I’m not talking about the head. 🙂 I can’t tell you how many times we have gone looking for something burning in our boat only to realize that someone on shore has a fire going and is burning some trash. We have finally learned when this happens to first take a look towards the shore to see if there is smoke there before we start checking in the electrical cabinets. Like the out-of-place sounds on the boat, strange smells never go unnoticed or unchecked.
We’re developing extra keen senses like Samantha.
Finally– A good picture of your Cat!!
Yes– While sleeping on a boat you tend to notice every little noise and smell but when there’s no noise it sure is quiet on the hook….
What do you mean finally? I have posted good pics of her before. 🙂
One thing that never ceases to surprise me is how many strange, never-before-heard noises have a feline origin….
Our cat is a Ninja.
What is happening to Samantha when Captain Sweeny takes over his new command on 30th July?
Mike
Excellent question.
Even as a scuba diver I find that noise to be annoying.
It’s usually caused after a dive when a diver uses air from the tank to blow water out of the spot on the regulator where it attaches to the tank just before putting the cap on the regulator. (sorry not describing it very well)
You described it well enough.
It’s funny how external noises sound inside the boat. Every time one of the outboard boats in slips near us start their motor, it makes a whine inside our boat that sounds like the bilge pump motor. I still have to get up and check it. We have a train track that goes by pretty close to our slip and the other night I woke up from a dream that we were having a tornado. It was the train.
Deb
S/V Kintala
http://www.theretirementproject.blogspot.com
The cruise ships generate some kind of weird underwater noise/vibration when docking. Perhaps it’s their bow thrusters.