{"id":1079,"date":"2018-06-20T10:25:13","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T17:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/?p=1079"},"modified":"2025-02-07T17:59:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T22:59:20","slug":"all-at-sea-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/index.php\/2018\/06\/20\/all-at-sea-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"All at Sea, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

“\u2026and what solitude is more complete, or more poetical, then that of a ship floating in isolation on the sea during the obscurity of the night, in the silence of immensity, and under the eye of heaven?” \u2013 Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
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Position:\u00a034\u00b043’00.3″N 76\u00b039’55.5″W<\/a><\/h6>\n

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Signal bars on your smartphone are poor indicators of signal quality. Each phone company has their own approach to showing signal strength and the little bars on your display indicate only that you\u2019re in touch with your service provider. The bars don\u2019t guarantee your call will go through, or if it does that it will be clear enough that the receiver can understand you.<\/p>\n

As we approached Beaufort, North Carolina, we began getting an occasional text message, then emails. Eventually, with enough bars, I tried contacting Customs and Border Protection to understand the procedure for clearing back into the United States. After my third try the very helpful officer on duty answered my questions, asked me a few questions like, \u2018is everyone on board healthy?\u2019, and allowed us to get off the boat long enough for dinner and shower. \u2018The office opens at 7:00AM, so call us anytime after that,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Our slip at the marina was a couple down from a large sailboat curiously named \u2018Miniskirt.\u2019 Miniskirt<\/a> is a 32 metre (105\u2019) Ron Holland designed cutter. Aleta is a cutter. Other than Miniskirt\u2019s massively upscaled rigging and gear, our boats were almost identical (not really \u2013 ed.)<\/em>. Within a couple of minutes we learned that the storm we followed in had struck Beaufort and lightning had hit Miniskirt\u2019s mast and knocked out some of her electronics. We breathed a short sigh of relief for having missed the storm and for the fact Miniskirts\u2019 mast is about 30\u2019 taller than Aleta\u2019s, because way out to the west were some very ominous clouds heading our way.<\/p>\n

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