Lost cause

Things have slowed down a little since Pete left a week ago.

And by a little I mean a LOT. 

21 July 2012: Last day of fish counts, fish-wrangling for site surveys, and snail collections for community composition and density (woohoo!). And yes, thanks to the intense rays of the tropical sun, I'm now blonde (oy vay...)

After a long day in the field, the crew sets up shop on the porch to crack some shells, take some measurements, and cut isotope samples.

Having my post-dinner evenings back and work-free has been pure heaven, and I’ve even had time for novel activities like showering, sleeping (!), reading-for-fun, and instigating 30 Rock marathons. Aah...

But on a Skype call the other night, Pete suggested I use some of my new-found down time to repair the defunct Zodiac. So yesterday morning I amassed as much hypalon glue, marine epoxy, aquaseal, and patch material I could find and gave it the ol’ college try. 

In his defense, I don't think he realized the extent of the damage until I sent him this picture...

The transom is on the left, and I'm holding the pontoon. What started as a hole half the length of the boat soon became much, much larger...

Once I removed the floorboards, the piece connecting the pontoons to the floor peeled off completely. I attempted to glue it all back together, but I trust it almost as far as I can throw it.

I officially declare it a Lost Cause and would like to reiterate that it was a *MIRACLE* we made it back to land that day at all.

MIRACLE.