Bottom cleaning in Cuastecomate anchorage - 2019

The water was not as clear as I had hoped. We found out why - 
later that afternoon the red tide came in. Still, it was clear enough to clean 
the bottom and clearer then a marina or lagoon😜

 Here I am showing the bottom underwater. My first attempt at underwater camera video! This was three weeks of growth. Water temperature was about 74.5 degrees...cold for here.

March 2019 - We are currently anchored in Cuastecomate, Mexico

The boat was bouncing around a lot at anchor and that made it hard to clean. The bow area especially because it was bouncing so much. 

 Also this was the first time this season I am cleaning the bottom myself. (On Saturday, Debbie and I got in the water with wetsuits on to clean the waterline.  I went around with a scraper to get the big stuff off and she went around with carpet and a stainless steel pad to get the rest.)  I made some changes to the bottom cleaning gear and it took a while to adjust.

 First I had the old regulator rebuilt in San Diego. That changed the amount of pressure I set at the DEWALT DWFP55126 6-Gallon 165 PSI Pancake Compressor. I went from 90 lbs to 95 and then 100 lbs was the sweet spot now. I keep having to pull air and it was tiring me out and I would get out-of-breath and have to surface to catch my breath.  

 I also purchased, well actually two wet suits in a trip to San Diego. Also I purchased a 5 lb dive weight because I thought the wet suit would make me more buoyant. However I did not figure I was going to lose weight! Yes I have been losing weight by changing my eating habits. I have lost at least 17 lbs! Have not weighed myself lately so probably more (no scale on the boat). So when I dove with the spring suit (it's more like a summer suit because it is a spring suit without the sleeves it was different), I actually sunk with the same weight belt as before! Here I thought it would need weight! That actually worked out ok as the boat bottom was trying to beat me to death and the weight held me down and I kept a hand on the bottom of the boat for protection. It just made it a lot more work to clean, but it needed cleaning.

The bottom got all the growth scraped off but I did not do the cleaning with the carpet to get the final film off. I was too pooped. 

I tried to show the scraping of the bottom. I had the camera in my right hand and the scrapper in my left so it was kind of awkward. You get the idea though. I was going to show the cleaned bottom but later that day the red tide came in.

After scraping off the prop I use the #50 grit sandpaper to finish it off.

All done!