Yesterday I was able to get into town and have the phone people use their “magic” to get my cell phone to connect to the Internet. They had to create an Internet network connect that is unique to the MTC wireless system that I bought my Sim card from. It also required an APN (Internet) to be added to it. The fellow programing my phone said that the APN can be different in each country and sometime within a country it can be different between different carriers. I guess I just will have to have the wireless company program my phone wherever we change Sim cards.

I also checked out one of the two supermarkets in town. This one is called OK and it was. Nothing special but, in such a remote place as Luderitz, we are just happy to have access to two grocery stores. We will need to stock up on vegetables and fruit for our 1500 nm passage to St. Helena in a couple of weeks.

Greg and Mary, our new friends who will be crewing with us across the Atlantic will be arriving here on October 5th. We are anxious to have them come so they can take in the charm of Luderitz. We are thinking that we will also schedule a trip to a desert ghost town where an old diamond mine used to be. It is out in the middle of the Namibia desert, about a 4 hour drive away. The town is still there but half covered in sand and it is supposed to be haunted. Oooooo that does sound interesting! It probably is just a tour guide’s hype but I am certainly falling for it.

We are also told that if we have time, we should visit Dias Point. It is supposed to be like the surface of the moon and the coast is home to various endangered birds, penguins and seals.

Today was spent washing clothes, after getting the generator to put out its alternating current. No, the unit was just fine; it was an embarrassing boo boo that I did. I am so embarrassed by my stupidity that I am not even going to tell you what I did. You would never guess that we have been cruising for 8 years and sailing for over 45 years if I told you what a bone-header that I did…

I also lugged 30 gallons of water from the waterfront to our boat. The washing machine uses about 20 gallons of water with each load and the lagoon here is just too rich with plankton to run our watermaker. In the process of getting water, I befriended the security guard whose name is Fernando. He has hopes of going to college and becoming an engineer. I slipped him a few bucks for his college fund and to thank him for helping me schlep the water jugs between the water spigot and our dinghy.

As I write this, it is halftime during the Michigan/Brigham Young football game. While Michigan is winning 31 to 0, it is a bit hard to listen to the game since the sun has gone done and we have had to wrap ourselves up in blankets to stay warm. Brrrr. It takes us back to the days when we were students at Michigan and went to the games during the cold fall. We well remember the snow storms we sat through watching Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes (Ohio State) coached teams playing each other. It was classic!

It has been warm during the day as the sun heats things up nicely but when the sun sets, it does get cold…

The photo I have posted to this blog shows one of the diamond dredge boats that is anchored behind us. You can also see how the sand dunes run all the way to the edge of our lagoon