Keeping in Touch

Being at sea or in some remote location poses certain problems with respect to communications. Fortunately we have several different methods of keeping in touch with you, or vice-versa. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages.

Web-based Email: We will maintain our two web-based email accounts with Hotmail and Yahoo. Judy uses yahoo and is sailorjudy while Bryan opens hotmail and likes sailursaminor . You will notice that we did not 'hotlink' the addresses on this blog to avoid being overwhelmed with spam. Web-based email will work for us when we are close to wi-fi sites or can visit a cyber cafe. If your message is important always send a copy to one of our web-based email addresses.

Radio-based Email: Short-wave radio allows us to transmit and receive text only email through a facility known as AirMail. (You send email on your computer as always, we access our email via radio.) With the radio we can communicate thousands of miles when propagation is good, so this is the ideal method for reaching us at sea. However, sometimes propagation is not good, and it may be a few days before we can get messages in or out.

Phone: We have two GSM telephones aboard. When we intend to stay in a country for an extended period, e.g., New Zealand, we will activate these phones and email the numbers to you.

Ship Tracker: There will likely be one or more ship tracking web links you will be able to use to 'track' our progress around the world. One, Yotreps, will be listed in the Contact Us section of this blog once we have set it up. The ship tracker will show you where we are on the face of the earth as well as display any log information or weather that we have radioed to them.

Mail or packages: When we expect to be some place soon, we can let you know where best to mail or send things - it might be c/o General Delivery at the post office, or c/o American Express or something else - each place will be different.

If you utilize the sources we have provided you will find that 'keeping in touch' is much more effective than you might have thought. And, please remember, DO NOT hyperlink our email addresses - web or radio based - in any electronic communication, or spam will kill us!