Sunday, August 16, 2020

Dead fish... and rain

Date: Aug 15, 2020
Weather: Sunny, then rainy, and then clear
Waters: Slightly choppy, but looked clean - except for the fish kill
On board: C, A, J1, J2, R, P and the dog 

Hundreds of milkfish flashed their bellies of silver on the surface of the water as we approached our usual mooring spot north of the SAF firing range. 

What happened? The water looked fine today, quite clean and clear, so if it was some kind of algae bloom that sopped up the oxygen from the water and killed them, it wasn't apparent. We were wondering about the fish in the floating fish farms just 80m from where we dropped anchor. 

A similar thing happened in May 2019. Here's the news report

We used our boat hook to bring a fish on board for a closer look, and Pudding was curious, his nose probably in overdrive. Our human noses, however, didn't pick up any odour. After J1's droll idea of bringing them back for dinner was roundly rejected, the sport of fish flinging (using the boat hook) gave no more than a few minutes' amusement. Now you know why it's not going to make it as an Olympic sport... 

Nobody was going to swim in these waters today; memories of a resident croc and box jellyfish provided other good reasons not to.

 
 
We don't know when these fish died. Their bodies were beginning to bloat. 
There were fewer of these where we dropped anchor, perhaps about 100
 near the boat. Most were further south, nearer the Second Link.  

The day's outing had begun in sunny weather, but about an hour after we dropped anchor, the skies above distant Johor Bahru turned gloomy. It began pouring there and the skyscrapers disappeared. Soon enough, a drizzle began where we were. 

J1, P and the dog had retreated below deck by then. Only C, A, J2 and R stayed out, with J2 giving his Very Expensive Raincoat, a Musto, a try. By appointment to Her Majesty, The Queen, and also to the Duke of Edinburgh, he sniffed, reading its label out.  

A video of the stormlight just before the rain came. 



Those awesome Orlebar Brown shorts.

Fresh from repairs to flush a choked manifold, the boat purred today. 



The journey back was uneventful. 

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