Monday, July 17, 2023 Amedroz Island

Storms and high winds were forecast for the early morning hours today. The storms did not come. It did appear to be very windy out in the channel. It's very protected in here so at first it did not appear to me to be as windy as it really was. The wind picked up throughout the morning and the gusts rattled Annie at times. The bright sunshine made it very pretty outside. 

I've been fortunate to be able to post the blog everyday. So far when we have not had wi-fi the cellular signal has been adequate to allow me to use the phone's hotspot to connect my computer. It is often very slow though, and takes me a lot of time to load pictures. ATT gives you 15 GB of hotspot data for less than $5 per line. I have three lines. So far I am still on the first phone 13 days into my plan month, which is good. Last year I almost ran out of data on all three lines. 

There was nothing on our NO (No Orro) agenda today. I responded to emails and texts, listened to Roy Eaton's Cruisers' Net, and read while I waited for Kerry to get up. We had BLT's once she was up and at'em. After that it was time for a little cleaning and teak polishing in the pilot house. Not easy for an old captain to get up there. I washed the windows too once I was there. I rewarded myself with a little cigar after all this work. Kerry washed walls, countertops, and window frames. Lots of cleaning. Annie looks good. Kerry sat out with me and drank a Pepsi while puffed on my cigar..

I removed some round plastic spice holder type of things that were on our V-berth closet doors when we bought the boat. We have no idea what they were used for, but they kept snagging Kerry's clothes They were attached with 2 sided tape. Now I need to get the residue off. I'll buy a plastic putty knife in Gore Bay. That plus Goo Gone should do the job.

One of our friends email account was taken over by a hacker. We got an email saying he broke his leg. Once I responded he said he was still in the hospital, was having hip replacement surgery tomorrow and his niece was sick. He need me to buy an Apple iTunes card at any pharmacy for his niece. I called my friend and expressed my sympathy. He said, "You must have gotten an email." I sent a fun response back to the hacker. Really clever I thought, but I would not want to print it in my blog. Later I thought that might have been such a good idea. I don't want him to come after me. Beware if you get an email saying I broke my leg! Or if the email says Annie sunk, send salvage money.

We had a nice happy hour in the pilot house. I had a gin martini while Kerry enjoyed her vodka. A tasty basil pesto pasta dinner followed, complete with toasted garlic bread. 

We did communicate several times with the Orros today. Marianna was on the job and secured Saturday night tickets for us for the theatre in Gore Bay. She said Peter spent a large part of the day in his engine and generator room, no doubt evaluating the status of his batteries. A late day conversation indicated he thinks his 2 house batteries are bad, and therefore unable to hold a charge. He may have a conversation with someone in Gore Bay who Roy Eaton recommended. I think his preference would be to make it back to Vermilion and deal with the issue there. 

Late in the day, two loons surfaced right by Voyager. They put on quite a show. Peter and I both took a lot of photos and the Orros get as excited about loon sightings as we do. Here are a few by Peter and me. It's so hard to get a great shot from a moving boat. 

We'll move on tomorrow. The winds are diminishing as the day goes on and it should be a nice travel day. I suggested we stop at Gibson Cove and see if space is available. Lots of options exist if we cannot get in there. All in all, it was a very pleasant, relaxed day at anchor on Annie.