Month: May 2008

Verizon Broadband 5 GB/mo.

• Now that I have used my Verizon broadband card from June 2007 to June 2008, I was wondering if I was getting close to the Verizon Limits on Data usage which is set at 5 GB per month.
• The answer is NO, not yet!

What is 5 GB of data?

• 5 GB of data is approximately 5,000 MB of data.
• 1 MB of data is approximately 1,000 kilobytes of data.
• Verizon reports data usage in kilobytes, so you simply need to move the decimal place to the left by six positions to arrive at GB.

For example:

• The numbers below, from the Verizon web site, show my data usage in kilobytes.
• The data for Nov 2007 is 2,619,915 kilobytes which equals approximately 2619 MB which equals approximately 2.6 GB.
• That is about 50% of my allowance of 5 GB.

Actual numbers are: 2,619,915 kilobytes equals 2,558MB which equals 2.49 GB

1 Byte = 8 Bit
1 Kilobyte = 1024 Bytes
1 Megabyte = 1048576 Bytes
1 Gigabyte = 1073741824 Bytes

Our Usage:

• Remember, we are in Drexel Graduate school, online, we stream videos for lectures and I manage and work on web sites as well. I also upload YouTube videos, process and send email from several email addresses and I am subscribed to the Island Packet Discussion Board. I use the network 24/7, we have our laptops on 24/7 and still I am only using 50% of the 5 GB allowance. If I were using a Slingbox or watching live video then I guess I would be getting close to the 5 GB data limits.
  
• As of for now, it works so well that I have canceled my Comcast Cable Internet in my house and I use the same set up in the home. All I do is move the Broadband card from the boat to home.

Our Verizon Broadband DATA USAGE:

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

For FUN:

• Here is a data converter.
• http://www.whatsabyte.com/P1/byteconverter.htm

View our ONBOARD NETWORK

We arrived back home in Rock Hall, MD on Tue. 5/13/08. It is so great and yet so sad to finish this wonderful adventure. Our boat departed Rock Hall, MD on Oct. 29, 2007 via our delivery team of Ron & Paul. We boarded her in Fl on Dec 5, 2007 and have been living aboard since then. Now after 6 months aboard, we return to our home docks.

Upon arrival, we were meet by Ron and Mary Ann, our delivery captain (Ron), the one who made this all happen, and we celebrated with a fine bottle of Moet & Chandon Nectar Imperial Champagne!

What a wonderful life….

Reflections….

Top 7 Places from Fl to MD:

1. Wrightsville Beach, NC
2. Vero Beach, FL
3. Elizabeth City, NC
4. Portsmouth, VA
5. St. Augustine, FL
6. Dismal Swamp
7. Beaufort, SC

Things that Worked:

1. The enclosure is essential for enjoying the cockpit in rain, cold winds, fog, at anchor or sailing. We could travel in t-shirts and vests and never had on foul weather gear unless heading out on deck.
2. “Otto” is a must along with Chartplotter and GPS for navigation. No guessing where the ICW channel is. (Otto is out B&G autopilot)
3. The AB 10VL Dinghy is fantastic! The bow is high, the tubes are large, and the fiberglass floor is flat. This is your car, and with a 4 hp outboard, it has serves us well. Sure a yamaha 15 would be nice, but for ICW work, this has worked out well.
4. Lofrans Tigess Windlass is a powerhouse windlass with tons of pull and will nearly rip off the bow sprit before it will stop working! This windlass is $1,700 and worth 3 times that in the work it will perform.
5. Adler Barber Super Cold Machine, 12 volt air cooled, refrigeration has work perfectly now for 14 years! This unit draws 6 amps when on and it runs 50% of the time which is 12 hrs * 6 = 72 Amp Hrs per day. We use 100 amp hrs per day, but motoring up the ICW, this does not matter. When we stop for days on anchor, the 220 watts of solar panels produce 75 amps hrs per day, so we can ride on anchor for days. The refrigerator is great!

Final Random Thoughts:

1. The ICW is ten times EASIER than expected.
2. The ICW is more beautiful and more interesting than expected.
3. You motor 100% of the time with a jib out now and then.
4. Well planned meals are a must and one highlight of living aboard.
5. The ICW is less crowded than expected, where is everyone?
6. The ICW is not “scary” even after running into a sandbar and grounding for 3 hrs.
7. Taking a dock is nice but not necessary, we anchored most of the way.
8. The Dismal Swamp is spectacular, breath taking, a must see section!
9. Florida is NOT the best section of the ICW.
10. The Waccamaw Rive is the best section, but as Norm P. noted, “Myrtle Beach is the price you pay for this beauty.”
    
11. Verizon Broadband connects 99.9% of the places along the ICW. It is a digital world.
12. We love living aboard.
13. So many places yet to discover, I can see us doing this many more times.

Our MAP of Florida to Maryland
March 2008 to May 2008
Once looking at the map
ZOOM in to see the harbors close up.
ENJOY

Overnight from Portsmouth, VA…23 hrs later we arrived Annapolis on Sun 5/11/08.

Report and photos, and video of “Bashing into 20 knots” to follow…

We arrived Portsmouth, VA on Wed, 5/7/08- departed Sat 5/10/08 for Annapolis, MD overnight.

….Report and photos to follow…v

Elizabeth City certainly lives up to its slogan, see photo…. The city welcomes boats to tie up for free at their 14 slips and seawall. The mayor walks the waterfront, talking to residents and cruisers alike. The Rose Buddies tradition, begun in 1984, continues to provide wine and snacks to cruisers several nights a week on the waterfront, with a representative from the Visitors’ Center. Farm Fresh Foods, a fantastic supermarket, offers free shuttle service to and from the docks. Within easy walking distance are several coffee shops, a quaint diner, many nicer restaurants, a great deli with eclectic decor, the new Museum of the Albemarle, two drugstores, an art center, and an upscale chocolate shop. Elizabeth City is the county seat and boasts a community college, a state university and a bible college, plus a great public library. We also enjoyed the downtown movie theatre, with an interesting twist. Dinner is served nightly beginning at 0600, with the movie showing at 0700. The menu offers burgers, sandwiches, ice cream sundaes and other desserts. Tables for 4 are spaciously arranged with comfortable swivel chairs and pleasant lighting from table lamps, plus a phone for ordering food throughout the evening. What a novel idea, in a prospering downtown! We told the mayor we will be back!

Mayor Atkinson & Hayden

GOOGLE MAP of the Spots in Elizabeth City