Notes on communication

We are so excited so many people are following along and interested in tracking our progress! We know it's been frustrating for some that we have not been communicating much online.

 Here are a few notes I would like you to know:

1) Our AIS is actually working. We can see the names and locations of other ships around us. This means we can easily avoid them and /or hail them on the VHF if needed. We have crew on watch for other boats 24/7, and we have only seen a few at far off distances. So, we are trying to get it transmitting for you all to see, but we think it's just a software configuration problem and not actually anything wrong with our AIS. We are sorry you haven't been able to follow along with our GPS position, but wanted you to know it's not affecting our ability to navigate safely!

2) We also have radar, which we allow other boats with radar to "see" us. 

3)  It's really hard to blog at sea. We rented an Iridium Go satellite phone link, but it has been challenging to use at best, even on land, for blog posts. When we're busy with sailing and taking care of our basic needs (like food) on the water, those needs take priority. Even in good conditions, we don't expect to be posting to the blog more than once a day.

Hope those notes help everyone understand what they can most likely expect from us in the realm of communication. Of course, we will try to post  more from port, when we have wifi, and keep those all wishes and prayers/dances for good weather flowing!

-Robin (aka "the Admiral")