Phone Saga, Lessons Learned article on janice142

The articles Phone Saga, lesson 1 and Phone Saga, lesson 2 detail the cell phone problems I experienced plus the solutions I implemented to prevent a repeat. For those that prefer all the information on one page, this is the combination of those two links. Enjoy.

Phone Saga, Lessons Learned ←you are here

For those that prefer smaller posts or who have a spotty internet connection, here are the two articles from the series.

Phone Saga, lesson 1

Phone Saga, lesson 2

Baby had gifted me the phone years ago. Below is the first picture taken with the iPhone.

My Skipper was such an amazing pup. She was 5 pounds of fluffy fur that she left all over Seaweed. My bilges still have Skipper's fur.


The technology of telephones has changed the world far more than I ever could have imagined years ago. The Star Trek communicators of decades ago has been supplanted by the now common cell phone. Having the ability to make and receive phone calls while boating has made a tremendous difference in my life. After a couple of flip phones (both dropped overboard) my newer phone has a hotspot. Baby has me on her Verizon plan. Here in my area the coverage is spectacular.	Oliver's mom enjoyed using her cell phone while aboard Lutin: M/V Lutin is a 46' Grand Banks based in France. She's a beauty.

After shattering the screen on my old iPhone, Baby sent me a new one. Now I have a spiffy iPhone11. (whoo-hoo!)

The iPhone11 in a lilac (pale purple) case is much larger than the one I broke. Baby even bought me a brand new cell phone case. I am blessed.

The trouble with using experience as a teacher is
often the final exam comes first, followed by the lesson.

For me, keeping in touch includes a rather extensive Christmas card list. I send a lot of cards to my boat buddies.

Receiving snail mail makes me happy. That's a hint folks!

My new iPhone is much larger than the iPhone7 I dropped. In my defense, I did believe the glass on it was shatterproof. It was not..

Whenever I save a number to the phone I also add it to my hand-written address book.

The new phone does take nice pictures. The quality seems better. Now all I have to do is improve my photography skills. It would be nice to have level horizons. My friend Cheryl does that while under sail. I struggle with horizons on dry land without a breeze.

This is Cheryl →

While sitting at my desk on the phone with a friend I spotted another friend. Buddy is peeking at me through the window.

The iPhone11 does take large format pictures with lots of pixels.

Ella Fitzgerald ↑ is a great blue heron.
Ella Fitzgerald sang the blues...

A beautiful mama and baby
manatee swam by my Seaweed.

This is Carl. He is a snowy egret.

Snowy egrets are sometimes called golden slipper egrets because of their yellow feet. Carl has a black spot on his foot.

Yes I did pick up a couple of jars of Classico Marinara Sauce... later I made the lasagna.

Everything might be fine, however not having a cell phone definitely was not fun.

So I did what anyone would do. I called my diver ↓ Craig. He is amazing.

I mentioned Craig's work in the To the Boatyard article. He is a resident of Gulfport, Florida.

Craig's phone number is 727-394-9043. As of last week he had a couple
of openings to add new boats, so if you are in the area give him a call.

With the phone case being a light purple, I hoped it would be more visible and easier for Craig to locate.

Then, last week my friend Shelley ↓ dropped her phone into the water. We knew exactly what to do.

We called Craig (727-394-9043) who was able to come by in just a couple of hours.

Lessons Learned, Phone edition

#1) Make a hard copy of the phone numbers stored on the phone. I do have an address book for my Christmas card list, and now have added phone numbers to those pages.

I did not save my numbers to the cloud, which exacerbated the situation.

#2) Empirically, iPhones do sometimes survive a trip under water if recovered quickly enough. My iPhone was on an oyster bed for three days and is still working.

SIDE NOTE: I did thoroughly rinse my phone (including in the holes) with fresh water before drying it out. Salt is corrosive. I placed the phone in a mesh net with the holes down. Also, I aimed a small fan at the bottom of the phone on low. After drying for several hours when I plugged in the charging cable the moisture error was gone. Once fully charged, the phone worked. It actually functions just as before!!!

Suggestions:

#1) write down important numbers or save the data to a different device, (or back up as per Cap'n Keith on S/V Grace)

and

#2) consider buying an iPhone.

The lilac (light purple) phone case has cardboard inside the front part. That case did not survive the three days underwater.

I need to buy another case. I miss having a place to store my credit card.