I had been hopeful the weather would let me continue, and I didn’t really make the call until I was 10 minutes from the harbor here, but I’m glad I stopped.<\/p>\n
The winds got worse than forecast (25 in the harbor where I am anchored, 30’s outside), and even the local fishing fleet anchored near me, as it got too rough for them, too.<\/p>\n
On the plus side, despite more frustration than I needed, I did fix the primary autopilot, with some local help. It was indeed the solenoid (I’m no genius, it was just the process of elimination), and with the rebuild kit I had we got it repaired, but not after spilling a lot of hydraulic fluid and then rolling around in it and using it as hair conditioner while trying to crawl into the nether regions of the boat.<\/p>\n
The official process of entering Brazil, however, has not gone as smoothly. Actually, it hasn’t gone at all. They didn’t show up at the office when they said, then they didn’t come by the boat like they said they would. But I did complete paperwork at the marina office, so there is a record of me being here, and I think I should check in and out right, even though it is the part of cruising I like the least.<\/p>\n
The weather likely won’t release me until Sunday or Monday anyway, so I guess tomorrow will be paperwork day.<\/p>\n
At least it is sunny and very warm (high of 90 today).<\/p>\n
3\/22 7pm \u00a0anchored at 20.17S \u00a040.17W \u00a0 about 1400m gone, \u00a04000nm to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had been hopeful the weather would let me continue, and I didn’t really make the call until I was 10 minutes from the harbor here, but I’m glad I stopped. The winds got worse than forecast (25 in the … Continue reading