Wednesday 15 June Diving outer reed Albert Cove

Rainbow over Albert cove

More 'not in any guide book' diving this morning. The group was Eric from Oso, the Chamaya's using spare kit, David and me and Chris from Stray Kitty as surface cover in Oso's Boston Whaler. The boys had been out earlier to scope for likely looking spots and had chosen a site on the outside of the northern fringing reef. Maya from Chamaya was doing a try dive with David as her instructor, Eric and I followed behind at a leisurely pace. It was an OK dive (any dive you return from is a good dive) for what we saw – healthy hard and soft corals, not too many fish except on the very top and reduced visibility because of sand in the water.
We had planned to go for a return trip to the cliff wall after lunch but got side tracked brewing our second batch of beer. By careful calculation of number of bottles available divided by time needed to ferment in the bucket before bottling times when we were likely to finish the first brew, we decided today was the day.
Cleaning and sterilising the equipment took longer than making the beer but without super clean bottles it would have been all been a waste. It might still be if we make a mistake. The Jackster microbrewery is attempting a Pilsener this time which needs longer in the bottle for second fermentation before drinking. The ordinary lager was 7 days and tasted better after 14, this calls for 16 days minimum and better after 21 days.
We took a couple of bottles of Château Jackster over to Oso Blanco for pre dinner drinks and I must say it tastes damn fine, David prefers it to shop bought beer. Eric came to my dive rescue with a replacement battery for my dive computer. Up to now I've been cautiously following David's depth and time.

Tomorrow morning we take our new brew over to Budd reef to explore those islands. Albert Cove is one of the most scenic anchorages we have been in but there still might be something better...