Ala Wai Dec 21

I am writing this blog entry from the comfort of Pachuca's cabin. The wireless signal from the shop, though weak, seems sufficiently strong. What bliss! Free wireless internet from the comfort of my boat.

I woke up later than usual this morning after a really good sleep. Arnold told me that we had been asked to move our boat to make way for a Chinese junk that had arrived the night before.

After a light breakfast we got to work. First we moved the Zodiac from the davits to the foredeck and deflated it. This would give us full access to the stern of the boat, which we would require. Kerry then showed us a choice of two berths. We chose the inner one because it presented a wider gap and just as well we did. We learned from John in the end boat that during a during a blow we will get protection from the breakwater whereas his boat gets pushed over hard by the surge hitting it directly. Kerry advised us to tie nose-in to get privacy from all of the socializing that goes on at the jetty, and we would be able to look from out cockpit to the great sunsets that they have. There were two ropes connected to anchors that nobody would vouch for. However, there was so much junk along that bottom that I was reluctant to drop my own anchor and the locals agreed.

We made the entry into the slot after two go's and help from Mike on the jetty. We were between a small fiberglass boat and an older neglected traditional boat. We then spent several hours putting in lines and adjusting them and the stern lines going to the questionable anchors. We finished up with the boat fairly well centered with the bow a safe distance from the jetty. Arnold and I then set up the boarding plank that had been offered to us.

Then Arnold tried the cable that he had adapted to connect us to US power. We had just enough line to make the connection but the MasterVolt charger would not performed. After consulting the book that came with the unit and checking the model number we concluded that this unit will only handle 220-240 V and is not the model that also handles USA 117 V. This was a big disappointment and it means that I will have to go out and purchase a US extension cord, power board, and charger. I have no doubt that Bruce's consultant brokered the sale of the unit at no profit to himself as "will accept any voltage" in good faith, but it looks like we have a model 12/60 (12 volts, 60 amps) and not a model 12/60-2. We think that the "-2" indicates that it is the dual voltage (i.e. 117V and 220-240V model.