Spanish Customs
Magnetic Attraction
Roger and Margaret Pratt
Wed 22 Jul 2009 11:19
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42:36.18N
8:55.91W
The promised weather - south westerly winds and
rain - arrived at midday. It's still warm, but just generally
miserable. The current GRIB looks as though the weather will continue in
this vein until Friday or Saturday.
The day seems to have been consumed by the search
for a good wifi signal, preferably one that will allow us to operate from the
boat. We started off at the cafe Noray, opposite the anchorage on the end
of the commercial mole. There was a really strong signal and so great
optimism! But the access code had to be provided in person, and when we
first went across there was no help, because the boss wasn't there. When we went
back later, the signal inside the cafe was weak; help was called for but we
weren't minded to go back a third time. So instead we went to the cafe
Brisas on the front, where the waitress wrote down the access code without a
blink, and there were fast connection speeds. But, not a signal that can
be accessed from the boat!
The Brits in the puebla (Jan and John from
Briganta, and Chris and Nina from Christabel and us) assembled in the Cafe
Nautico (signal strength from anchorage good, but secret access code) to deplore
the lack of availability of wifi. Last night John had managed to get a
signal last night from Villanova, a village on the other side of the ria about 7
miles away. We adjourned to their boat and managed to replicate with their
gadget - but not with our Repeatit signal amplifier. After tea, cake, wine
and excellent conversation we returned for our moules mariniere. The
moules from Gades supermarket this morning were massive but not very
unreliable - about 8 had to be thrown away because they were either broken or
failed to open when cooked.
Since writing the above, we have had a visit from
the Customs! A motor boat with very large engines came alongside and 2
officers came aboard to have a look round. All pretty straightforward,
fortunately - it seemed more of a form filling exercise than anything else and
we were able to answer all the questions other than where we are planning to go
next. Before they left I was able to comment on the absence of
wifi....
Finally, here is a picture of me playing in the
dinghy at Porto Novo yesterday morning, especially for Auntie Margaret. I
hope Les is getting better and will soon be out of hospital.,
 We have a WiFi hotspot so some pics.
This is the fisherman who wanted to put his net
just where we were! Note the very large catch, all the big fish must have been
under our boat!
 This is where he once again showed his displeasure
of our presence by roaring by souding horn and other gestures.
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