There are a lot of options out there now for staying in touch with friends and loved ones while at sea.  The Iridium phone has been around for several years now and with rates down to ~ $1.20 per minute many people are making it their primary means of communication.  However, with the introduction of the SPOT Messenger Service many people are making the jump to the small unit that provides one way communication from the traveler to their contacts with preset messages.  So far, I’ve been using them both.

To date, they have provided different services for me.  SPOT uses its own shared page to plot my position while I am under way.  Iridium is what I use to blog remotely to keep more detailed posts up and also pull weather while at sea or remote anchorage.  I’ve been moving away from SPOT, but I just had a call to follow up on my account with their customer support team and they claim to be launching 5 new satellites by this Spring that will provide complete coverage for the Pacific ocean. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to both options.  SPOT is cheap and easy, but the position map is somewhat limited.  It will only display a weeks worth of positions which isn’t sufficient when you want to display progress on a 3 – 5 year voyage.  Alternatively, you can make a custom map similar to what is used over at Big Oceans and update it via an email from the Iridium phone.  Much better, but also more expensive.  Ideally, an interface from SPOT to that map would be a great solution, but again, there are still unresolved coverage issues that may make this an impossibility. 

I will follow up with SPOT a couple more times into next week and let you know what I find.  Until then I keep unwrapping packages and parts for the boat.  I am going to need a large bag to pack all the stuff I am taking back to Jargo for the Pacific crossing.  Next on the list, oil filters and some more fishing gear.

As a side note, here is the link to the Lats & Atts article that just came out. 

Lee