Snap, Crackle and Pop

We, well Jeff, noticed that one of our battery banks was wearing out and he decided to shift things around a bit to utilize our generator battery into our house bank.  We have a little portable generator that we often use instead of our big genny, so that will do until we get closer to civilization and replace the one bank of house batteries.  Docked at the Rod and Gun Club, Jeff crawled around in the hole in the floor until he got everything hooked up and secured the way he wanted. Then we headed out to anchor in the Everglades National Park.

The Everglades Park is huge and takes up a vast amount of the entire South West corner of the State of Florida.  It provides some excellent remote anchorages in the mangroves with only a few small villages or ranger stations scattered here and there.

We found a beautiful, secluded anchorage and dropped the hook around 6:00 p.m., just as the sun was setting.  We started the little genny up and heated up leftovers in the microwave.  By the time the genny was off and we had finished dinner it was dark.  We settled in for a quiet evening and that’s when we became aware of the crackling sound.  It sounded pretty much like a louder version of Rice Crispies after you pour the milk on them.  We were stumped and concerned that something was amiss with our electrical system.

Jeff quickly lifted the hatches and we both began to look for the problem.  Was it a short?  We couldn’t figure it out and were getting increasingly concerned.  It was just as loud outside of the boat as inside and seemed to be coming from everywhere!  We were alone in the Everglades, far from help and it was dark.

Google is my usual turn-to solution to a problem but alas our MiFi device from Verison decided to freeze up for the first time ever!  Why do things happen in groups like that? Eventually, voila, an internet signal popped up for just a few minutes and then disappeared again.  It was there just long enough for us to google “weird crackling sound on boat” and low and behold, an answer. We fresh water Canadian boaters had no idea that this is a fairly common salt water phenomenon.  The usual theory is that the sound is made by little critters of some sort eating off the bottom of the boat.  Pistol shrimp is a one theory but others say it electrolysis.  In any case, our boat wasn’t about to blow up.  Whew!  It was a strange sound though and kept up all night.

Below are pictures from a wildlife presentation we attended in the Everglades.  We learned to tell the difference between a crocodile and alligator, both of which are in the everglades.  We learned that there are six varieties of venimous snakes in the Everglades. We learned that there are several invasive species of snakes and aggressive lizards that have been introduced to the Everglades.  Such an interesting place... althought those thoughs sure do creep you out when you hear a bump in the night!