Bahia Portobello 13 March 2024.
It was a bit grey when we woke and I was trying to sort out the problem with my Starlink – which is my on-board Wi-Fi router which gives me Wi-Fi anywhere in the world. I had changed the password through my service provider which worked fine on my phone but for some reason on my MacBook it would not connect properly. It would connect for a short time then stop. It was clearly an annoying issue which I needed to try and resolve.
What do you do when you have such an issue – contact the young and so I contacted my son. He said see if there are any software updates and update first. We had decided to stay the morning at least and as others needed cash, we went by dinghy some 1-1.5km out of town to the police station which had the cashpoint next to it. This is a little strange but it may tell you something about why the cashpoint is where it is! I left the others who wanted to walk back into town and came back by dinghy to Casa Vela the restaurant where we had had supper the night before and asked to use his Wi-Fi. I updated my MacBook and hoped this would resolve the issue. The others arrived and we decided to have lunch and if we moved on, we would have a light supper. Before lunch I went to the supermarket and bought some lettuce, tomatoes and carrots. There was a sign which said “En el mar la Vida es mas Sabrosa” which literally means -When at sea life is more tasty – i.e. more flavourful and special – which I quite liked.
After lunch we returned to Stormbird and I tried the laptop – the update did not resolve the issue and I spent a few more hours sorting it out without success. There is some issue on my laptop which is stopping connecting – but I cannot find it and I even called my old IT specialist I used at Hine Legal and he could not resolve it. If you have any suggestions then let me know – it is just this device.
Very boring and frustrating. I did get into the church and saw the black Jesus Christ which was dressed like royalty. We spent a bit more time in the town and I decided as the afternoon went on that we would stay the night and start early back to Shelter Bay Marina.
We got the outboard back on board, retracted the davits and hauled the dinghy up on to the deck in front of Puffin in preparation for the canal. We had a nice salad supper and chatted in the dark with a nice warm breeze. I am writing this on my second computer. We will head back to Shelter Bay Marina where David and Carolyn will leave and 4 new crew arrive. We also discovered today that the Island that Sir Francis Drake’s coffin was set into the water from is the Island we passed on the way in- called Drake’s Island. We are surrounded by history
Opportunity for any Readers/Sailors.
In late May 2024 we shall be in the Marquesas in French Polynesia and we will then move through to the Tuomoto’s before getting to Tahiti about the end of July 2024. There may be some space on Stormbird during this period should any sailor/reader be interested in joining for this period or part of it in what must be one of the most distant and beautiful places in the world. If there is any interest do email me at. hine.nick9@gmail.com
The blog will continue as we head off to Panama and beyond.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk