Wolperts Blog

How to get a Laptop Battery at 30,000 feet

I boarded a plane today thinking that my MacBook Pro battery was fully charged.  Much to my chagrin when I turned on the machine it said it had 10 minutes left.  This is the third Mac battery I have had for this machine.  They suck.  Green my ass. They don’t hold the charge they are supposed to for anywhere near as long as they should.  Anyway I digress

 

I had so much in my head.  I needed to get it down.  I needed to work.  I needed battery life.  There were no outlets so. I asked the flight attendant to make an announcement that I would rent someone’s macbook pro battery for the 2 hour flight for $20.  She made the announcement and asked people to ring their flight attendant button I they were interested. Within 10 seconds of her announcement I heard three dings.  Three different people were anxious to rent me their battery. 

 

The flight attendant handled who the winner was.  I considered just for a second  then offering the deal to the lowest bidder, anyone willing to rent it for $15 J but was just happy to get a fully juiced battery.

I am writing this on the plane using the rented battery.  Just got a solid amount of work done for 90 minutes and it cost me 20 bucks.  All in all a great deal for everyone

 

Should there be hyper local ebay, planebay, for such things? Rent a movie you have someone else wants to see.  Rent an ipod full of music.  Rent someone’s headphones…wacky but….

Bahama Adventure Photo/Video Slide Show

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The 2 Happiest Days in a Boaters Life....

1. The day they buy the boat
2. The day they sell the boat

Today is number 2 for me.  Now this was my 4th boat so that doesn't make me so smart about learning from these rules.  No plan to buy another boat, for at least 10 years when I will live on it for at least a year

470 Miles Down, 70 to go. So many adventures, so few blogs

I am now back at west end grand bahama and have a good connection.  I essentially visited or at least drove through every major island in the Abacos

So many stories to tell, pictures and videos to share.  It was AWESOME.  Each day was consuming so just didnt have time to blog.  A summary and highlights will be posted in the next few days

In Abacos Out Islands. Very Limited Access

Only reliable connection is satellite phone.  Thanks for that...

Day 2 Century 100 miles from West End to Spanish Cay

Poor access here so this one is quick, will  fill in more details later.  Everyone thinks the gulf stream crossing is a big deal.  Yesterday was much tougher.  Not only was it 100 miles the stretch east of Mangrove Cay for about 50 miles is unprotected to the North and was quite rough.  I went through two big storms.  For a few hours I could only go about 7 mph because it was so rough.  I made it.  More to come.

First Day Photos and Video

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Plan 3 times, cruise Once, great day

In contracting the saying goes measure twice cut once.  In boating, especially in solo excursions on the ocean the saying should be plan 3 times and cruise once.

I made the crossing today across the Gulf Stream from Palm Beach to West End Grand Bahama.  I was lucky with the weather as the winds were low so the overall ocean conditions were very good.  Today's trek was about 70 miles and I did it in about 4 hours including breaks for snacks, restroom (they were everywhere :-)) etc.

In thinking through today I would say that the planning for today, while not physically as challenging, was more work than the ride itself.  Countless hours went into planning routes, having backup systems for backup systems, having several plans of what to do in the case of an emergency.  And fortunately all that planning paid off and sans the minor mishaps below everything went perfectly.

I arrived in the Bahamas around 11.  I had to sport a yellow quarantine flag which I was never able to find so I tied an old yellow t-shirt that Carrington let me have to the ski.  I pulled up to the customs dock.  You should have seen the look on the immigration officers.  They asked be at least 2-3 times the name of my vessel before they realized "it doesn't have no name man 'cause its just a wave runner".  They called many over on VHF channel 10 to greet me and to talk to the crazy guy who brought his wave runner from Palm Beach.  Everyone was very pleasant and gracious

I will be posting some photos and videos soon.  In the meantime here are the highlights

Number of times something went wrong while out in the ocean crossing the gulf stream: 0

Bonehead maneuver....Knocking the GoPro camera and its suction mount off of the waverunner as I was pulling up to the dock at customs

Undoing the bonehead maneuver.  Diving down into the channel, was only about 15 ft, and retrieving said go pro camera

Grossest Moment.  Walking out of my hotel room and wondering why the guy driving by me was watering the lawn by driving a truck with a tank on the back spraying water into the air.  Then as I took a few steps into the cloud realizing that it was bug spray not water.  eeeccchhhhh

Most Embarrassing Moment-on behalf of Americans.  The Bahamian people have all been wonderful.  They are helpful polite and respectful.  Some of them will stay near the docks and offer a hand to an incoming vessel in exchange for a tip.  On one occasion I walked by an "ugly american" standing on the back of his multi million dollar yacht aruging with the local gentleman that had just carried his bags ashore that $3/bag was simply too expensive.  To the Bahamian people, I apologize on his behalf

Bahama Hero of the Day.  Carrington from Greater Yamaha in Palm Beach.  He met me at his store this morning at 5:30 to drive me over to the launch ramp.  He has gone above an beyond in helping me with this trip

safely at West End Grand Bahama! Going to rest, will post more later

Departing ramp. Updates will slow down but spot tracking on