Well, the pharmacy was not open, we went back two times together, and then Renee’ went back by herself, finally to the hospital and got what she needed there. Some grocery shopping, and then back to the boat. It is pretty humid aboard, all the clothes drying, so I opened the windows and turned the fans on. We can’t do this for long though as it is getting dark and will be cold soon.
We got up and had breakfast followed by devotions, this morning was Morning Mercies. We ran the generator to charge the batteries. We were at a new low (I think, ~69%). But while it ran we had all the fans and the A/C’s on to finish drying the clothes. We read our books and dealt with a couple of anchor alarms. The wind is really blowing, my guess is 25 knots straight off the ocean (west) the boat is rocking pretty good. We thought about making a trip into town, but decided against it as there are swells (waves here) that would make it a wet trip.
I chatted with Joe Gifford (we worked together at San Onofre and at Duane Arnold) for a bit. He was attempting to show his kids where we were using our boat name and the website Vessel Finder, and it showed us still in Ensenada. This is based on our MMSI number which is broadcast by our AIS transmitter. This sends out a signal about our boat, (Name, Length, Beam, Speed, Location, etc.) this goes out via VHF, and if you have an AIS reader you can get that information. If there is someone who has an AIS reader and is connected to the internet, they can upload that information which is then read by the websites like Vessel Finder. But you will notice there are a lot of “IF’s” and AND’s” in that description about where we are. Bottom line is we may or may not be where it says we are, but we were probably there once. Our MMSI number is 367467250. Another way to find our where we are and where we have been is to use the PredictWind website: https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again this is updated about once an hour via satellite, and the track is kept for 9 months. At which point the old stuff is deleted. We will take a screen shot of it and put it on the website later. The chat with Joe happened via satellite, as I can’t text via my phone right now, and I have no internet either. It was good to chat for a few minutes.
Our satellite plan is interesting in that we have unlimited text and data and 150 minutes of OUTGOING phone calls. While that sounds great, it is important to note, that the data rate is only 2.4k, and I am limited as to what data I can get. The important thing is the weather. To download the high resolution GRIB files, (3 MB, or thereabouts) takes about 4 hours. The lower resolution files don’t really help figure out what we are going to do very well, so that means at night we try to download the files. The problem with that is the Iridium GO! needs to have a clear view of the sky. So, we installed a hook up to the external antenna that was already on the boat, and a place to plug in to keep it charged. Sounds good, except the external antenna connection is really weak, and we broke the center wire off about 3 days into this trip. For now the iridium sits in a window above our nav station with a cord running to a USB socket to stay charged. This is good, until the boat swings and it loses the signal. Not too much of an issue when we are just sending hourly updates of our location, but when trying to get the weather….. well it does not work well at all. I have found that if I move the GO! Up on deck under the dodger, it keeps the signal better. BUT, the battery is only so good, and it won’t download a large file before the battery is drained. I have asked for a new external antenna adapter from the electronics guy in San DIego, but he has to have a place to send it. I hope to have the address today. But we will see. I am sure I have already told part or all of this story before, but it is what I am thinking about now.
An interesting thing about the satellite texts, we have the iPads and iPhones set up to give notifications about incoming texts, and the notification says what number sent the text, but if you click on the notification, it takes you to the application, but does not open the message, and the incoming message is not highlighted in any way, so to find the message you have to look through each thread until you see the new message. If you go back to the front, (where you get the notification on your iPad or iPhone, it has been cleared because you clicked on it.
Bottom line, we are having a quiet day on the boat. We are expecting Jeff and Angie (Lost Pearl) and Josh and Cozette (Merry Lee) this afternoon for the Thanksgiving meal.
It is now 3 in the afternoon. All of our guests have cancelled, wind speed is at 30 knots. Swells are about 3 feet, here in the bay. This is rather uncomfortable. Renee’ and I went out and lifted our dinghy out of the water, and tied it up. This is a bit better than it riding the swells and banging into the back of the boat, but not much. We looked at the weather again, and it looks like it will calm down in the morning, being a bit worse here by midnight tonight. I am not looking forward to it. We communicated with them, and they are all aboard the Lost Pearl. It is a bigger boat than the Merry Lee, but we ill be watching all three boats to see if there is any dragging going on.
I have turned on our Radar and electronics to get a backup on location to make sure we are not dragging our anchor. I turned on the anchor alarm, on the chart plotter, I have also turned on our track, but I am not sure what it will show as we are not moving very much. The anchor alarm on the chart plotter is set at 0.01 NM, that is nautical mile, which is 6000 feet, so it is set at 60 feet from where we were when I turned it on. If we decide to pull the anchor, I will go out to the middle of the bay, it is a little deeper (30 feet or so), but if we do drag we will have further to drag than where we are right now. I doubt I will get much sleep tonight.
Well that was exciting! Renee’ looked out and saw that the kayak that had been behind the Merry Lee was not there. We got in touch with the 4 of them, all on the Merry Lee. Jeff and Josh got out in the dinghy and went after it. Jeff took Josh to the pier, he then ran back down to the beach, then over to the kayak, and started back out in the water. The kayak and the paddle board are now on deck on the Merry Lee, and all 4 of them are on the Lost Pearl. A pretty exciting little vignette!
Well, as we sit here, getting really tired of the boat moving around, Reneé is watching a movie, and I think I am going to lay down for a bit.
At 9:15 pm we had sustained 40 knot winds and gusts to 52. Heavy rain. I did not go out to check anything, I looked through the windows and depended on the anchor app on my iPhone and the anchor alarm on our.chart plotter. Renee’ asked what we would do different next time if we knew the weather was going to be like this. I said anchor further from shore. I think we would also put out more chain. We will also practice putting out two anchors. Something that was recommended by Bob for this evening, but the weather had already started and I don’t know how to put out two anchors, and I don’t know how to direct Renee’ to move the boat to do it either.
We tried sleeping in shifts, the first hour we thought I would sleep first, but I could not. The wind was high, the waves were high it was not a good time to sleep. But she could not sleep at all. Finally, I was able to get some sleep, and of course that is when the smoke/CO detector decided to tell us it had a low battery. Or that it was wet or something. We purchased and installed this on 10/29/19. We picked a spot high in the salon. On the side of the mast. When I found it beeping, it was a bit damp, so that maybe the problem. I was able to get to sleep with it chirping but Renee’ did not think she could. At 1:30, the wind speed is a fairly steady 30 knots with occasional gusts to 45 knots. The waves are just as bad, and our anchor is still holding. The equipment that we kept on tonight, the VHF and the chart plotter, Have drained the battery. So at 65%, battery power (12.0 volts) I started the generator. Good news it masks the chirp. I am trying to dry it out as it is right in front of the heater vent in the front cabin. Renee’ has gone to bed in our stateroom, and says that she can sleep through the generator.
So, morning came, all the boats were still about where we left them. Renee’ and I slept on the settee’s. One or the other of us had been up all night. It was pretty rough. I ran the generator for about 4 hours to recharge the battery. We are now at about a half tank of fuel, so we will be getting fuel here. We have been told it is still too rough to take diesel out, so that means another day here. Saturday to get fuel and recover from this storm.
Renee’ went to the pharmacy, and it was closed, again. We have been communicating by phone, and she has been all over town. So far she has not found what she is looking for. I went to the restaurant Moroco with Josh and Cozette, we attempted to get the internet, but the internet is down because of the rain. After breakfast, we went to the KuKu restaurant and we have WiFi again! So this will get posted.
Sounds like a Pretty exciting day