More Preparation and Internet Problems

All of yesterday I could not get internet service from Club Nautico even though the router was blinking away happily. In the early evening I visited the men's shower room at this club Yacht Club Argentino) and was able to connect with YCA restaurant's router. However, I walked back to the shower room at 4 AM to make a telephone call to Australia and the netbook could not even see the YCA router, which meant that it was down. After fruitless attempts at connection at both clubs later this morning I walked into the YCA restaurant and let them know that their router was down. They were very cooperative and soon a waiter was on a chair re-plugging the router with no success. They asked me to see Luis the marina manager, who was soon there and established that the electrical outlet was dead for some reason. They got the router going again by using an extension cord to another plug, Luis gave me the OK signal, and my machine could see the router but I was still not getting internet service. The symptom was the same as before: "connected" to a strong signal but no packets coming from the router and no service.

As Luis was walking back to his office I thanked him for his help and explained that the router was OK but there was an "otra problema", indicating with my hands out there somewhere. Then he told me something that explained this weekend's problems and probably the other intermittent internet problems that I have experienced during my stay at MdP. He told me that because today was "Deo de Padre" (Father's Day) the internet network was "saturado". Now I know that the network can get saturated to the point beyond slow service to no service at all, and I no longer need to blame my machines or the local routers.


This is Sunday, 17 June. Pato will be back on Tuesday and I expect to depart for Brazil by the weekend, weather permitting, so it's time to start get the "final things" done. Yesterday I filled the four 20-liter jugs with water. I also got more supplies from the supermarket. At the moment the boat is stocked well enough with the basics to support me all of the way to Cape Town, let alone Brazil. Provisioning was not as difficult (or expensive) as I had expected, largely because the boat still had plenty of supplies from La Paz. I've got 20 cans of corn kernels, 18 cans of tuna in tomato sauce, 10 kg of flour, 8 Kg of rice, 7.5 kg of spaghetti, 4 kg of powdered milk, 35 packets of instant soup, 2 kg of honey, and much else.

This morning I purchased 3 kg each of bulk almonds and raisins, giving me a total of 6 kg of almonds and 10 kg of raisins on board.

Then I had great success with a little project that I had been thinking about for a long time. With the advent of the cold weather and winter rains the sliding hatch had again become sticky and difficult to slide. The problem wasn't as bad as it had been on the way to the Horn when I was at one point concerned that I might have to go in and out of the cabin via the top hatch, but nevertheless I could slide the hatch open from the inside only with a very hard pull on the ropes that I clip on to the front.

Bob Carroll in La Paz had told me about heavy duty silicone sprays and I sailed out with two cans of CRC "Heavy Duty Silicone" and one can of Boeshield "T-9", developed by the Boeing Company for aircraft. But I had not used the sprays until today. I used the sprays on the hatch slides, using the small delivery tube to inject it into the hidden parts of the slide, while working the hatch back and forth. I finished the treatment when I could "throw" the hatch open from the cockpit with one hand and open and close it from the inside using two fingers. I understand that both products have lot of "staying power", so hopefully I'll get by with a treatment every 2 or 3 months.

At 4.30 PM I decided to finish cleaning the bilge, even though there was only 90 minutes of daylight left. I had cleaned the aft part of the bilge from the stern tube to the front of the engine when I changed the oil, but now I wanted to complete the job and I knew that if I didn't do it now I would not probably do it before my departure. It is one of my quirks that I like leaving on a long passage with a clean and dry bilge. After a hard hour of work the job was completed, and I must say that it had gotten through the past few months remarkably clean. … On the other hand, an awful lot of water had streamed through it during the long and wet passage passage from La Paz.

I plan to fix across the lazarette opening the vinyl curtain that Doug the sailmaker made for me in La Paz and hope to arrive in Brazil with a dry bilge.

I then changed my mind about going to Club Nautico for a glass of house red over a "Hamburguesa Completa" (a hamburger that includes ham, cheese, and a fried egg – Yum!) and cracked open a bottle of Malbec (Hacienda Los Haroldos, 2010) for a glass before ambling to the shower room to try out my luck with the Internet. Afterward I would have a fried pork chop and vegetables and settle in for my nightly movie.

Tomorrow I'll begin purchasing the perishables such as fresh beef, pork, chicken, cheese, eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables, and several loaves of bread. I expect to be able to enjoy fresh food (and plenty of pressure cooker stews) all of the way to Brazil. I'll also swap the half-full large cylinder with the one that I had filled weeks ago then take it to "Arbolito" hardware to have it topped up. That is the cylinder that Rick gave me in La Paz and has the two brackets which are perfect for mount on the aft rail. Along with that will go the smaller aluminum cylinder from Australia. That means that I will be sailing out with all three cylinders full, which will probably be enough gas to support me to Cape Town. One of the principles of cruising that I've learned the hard way is "Get it while you can."

Once Alfredo gives the OK on a weather window for my departure the last things that I will do is to visit the main office of YCA to settle my account with them and also the Prefectura to receive my permit to sail away.

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