I do the 12 to 4 am watch. The sea is still a little lively, and tries to throw me off balance at every opportunity. Each time I venture out into the cockpit to check the instruments and look around me to verify what I can see on the radar, I stay very definitely within its boundaries. Tonight, only the yachts Liza and Ronja are visible.
I check the status of our satellite phone. Despite the payment now having gone through, our phone remains blocked. This is so frustrating as I am desperate to phone Victoria before she goes on holiday so that she knows we are OK. I leave Mike to sleep beyond my end of watch time but he wakes up naturally and comes up to relieve me,
At noon we have completed one third of this Pacific crossing, 1000 miles and I realise I am looking forward to the half way point very eagerly. Having said that, now we have settled into a routine and I am practically back to normal (if anything to do with me is ever normal), this crossing is better than I expected.
Except for the satellite phone saga ………!
Mike checks the status of our satellite phone and discovers that we are still blocked from making outgoing calls despite being told yesterday that the payment has gone from our credit card and the phone is unblocked. Graham contacts them again using his satellite phone and finds that the payment definitely hasn’t gone through and despite taking the credit card details yesterday, they are now saying that they require a direct bank transfer. We ask him to contact Johanne and Steve and to explain to them what we need them to do. So now we have another boat discussing our financial affairs with our friends. What a fiasco!
We wait for Johanne and Steve to call us back but then get a text message on the satellite phone telling us that they can’t get through as incoming calls to our number are barred. I can’t believe this. On all other phone systems if you can’t use your phone, calls can still come in to you!
A few minutes later Graham calls over the VHF and says he has just had an e-mail saying it has been sorted, the payment has been accepted on the credit card we tried to use yesterday and the phone should be working. What the f***?!
Obviously the numbskull who had refused the credit card yesterday had been told, probably by the person who manages our account, to get his backside into gear and get the credit out to us. Before the phone minutes disappear as mysteriously as they arrived, we quickly phone Johanne and Steve, then Victoria (so I do get to say bon voyage after all). What an administrative cockup but at least it’s sorted now …… until next time!
Due to all the ‘excitement’ neither Mike nor I get an afternoon sleep, so, after putting two reefs in the main sail, instead of staying up for a while into my watch, Mike heads off to bed at 8.15 pm, leaving me, just as sleepy, to keep an eye on the boat which is now just half a mile away. Hundreds of miles of open ocean and we are in the same half mile. It gets closer and closer until eventually I lose my nerve and get Mike and we watch it together until it changes course and heads a little further out, continuing on a parallel course until Mike takes over at midnight.
Our position is: 05 deg 20 min S, 108 deg 00 min W
Distance so far: 3714 nautical miles
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