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Tahiti – paradise, not; and expensive to boot.

17:43.94S 149:19.65W

tahiti-itiDawnLight by .

Tahiti-iti at dawn

Hao was a very pleasant stop but soon it was time to get moving again. We had been continuously watching the weather forecasts looking for a good window to move on to the next destination but as previously mentioned the forecasts in this part of the world seem as much use as a chocolate fireguard (especially in these temperatures). Read more ›



A year in, an overnight trip, national parks and a cultural observation

crab claw on the beach

Crab claw on the beach. Pacific coast of Isla Chiloé

Well that is Christmas done and dusted and as I write this the New Year is just a few hours away. This time last year we were slipping out of Stanley Harbour, Falkland Islands, on a quiet evening about to bring in the New Year somewhere off McBride’s Head. This evening we are anchored in front of the palafitos of Castro. Read more ›



Seaweed Pays

The iconic palafitos in Castro

The iconic palafitos in Castro

Still in Estero Pellu on Isla Apiao, we took a stroll along the coast at low tide to visit the community where we found the usual collection of boats on the beach, some in use some under construction and a church. We found several people busy on the beach working with seaweed that was drying in the Sun. They told us that they harvest the seaweed (that light green slightly rubbery sea lettuce type stuff) at low tide and also dive for it. We had seen many of the boats with rudimentary hookah dive systems on the deck but were not sure what they were diving for. Read more ›



Facebook

For some time now I have slowly come to realise that Facebook is not a very good way for me to communicate with my friends, family and followers. When I am at sea I don’t have any access to Facebook, something that my 24/7 internet equipped friends don’t seem to fully grasp. That fact that I can usually send and receive email without internet access seems to fox a lot of people. I’ll write a post on how I send and receive email from the boat at a later date.

The fact that I can make blog postings etc. appear on Facebook but not actually have Facebook access myself causes what could be called communication discontinuities. People leave comments on the Facebook version of the blog entries, and write me messages on subjects that would be far better put into an email expecting instant answers whilst being oblivious to the fact that I can’t read their prose.

On the other hand if people comment on my actual blog I will receive the comments via the email system on the boat.

Without Facebook people will be forced to actually write to me directly and will have to think about whether or not to use the email address of the boat or send the email to my regular email account where it can wait for my return to civilisation.

So whilst Facebook might be a good way for friends and family to follow my wanderings (both mental and physical) it is not a good medium for two-way communication, in my circumstances. This coupled with several concerns I have with how Facebook and various apps within it can harvest data on users has lead me to the conclusion that it will make life simpler and more efficient for me if I close down my Facebook account.

I’ll continue to monitor it and may come back to FB if I think the issues have been solved; but from sometime soon I’ll disappear off FB. I am working on having these posts appear in a FB app page called, or course, Tweed’s World…. but that could take some time to get working smoothly, and I am not sure that I can do it without having a FB page hmmmmmmmmmm.

I’ll continue to use Flickr as my primary online photo site. I will of course include photos in the blog postings if I have a shot that justifies the bandwidth. I’ll take this opportunity to ask that my friends type me an email with their news now and again to my usual email address which I can monitor from the boat. If you don’t have my contact info you can use the contact form on this site to get to me and I’ll get back to you with what you need to know.



The twenty year refit

I came across this  this article by Mathew Marsh of Marsh Design where he laments the fancy high tech but cheap (as in poor quality) equipment often fitted to production boats. I couldn’t agree more.



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