Tobago Cays, Grenadines
12.37.791N
61.21.393W

Poor Dale! He went over to borrow Rainbowrider’s sat phone first thing and babysat it all morning hoping that Globalstar would call us back as promised. After lunch, he couldn’t take it any longer and started the call backs. He would have to wait until he had a signal, then dial. If he got through then he went into a phone tree and had to wait until ‘the next available operator’ was ready. Sometimes he would sit for 10-15 minutes in the holding pattern, then the signal would drop and he’d have to start all over again. Sometimes he would sit for 10-15 in the holding pattern, finally get through to a human being before the signal would drop. Finally, he just started asking for a supervisor as soon as he was able to get through to a human before the signal would drop. Now keep in mind, this is with a working phone. At the moment, ours won’t even allow us to connect to the satellite.

The long and short of it is, when he finally got through to a supervisor and they were able to discuss the problem, the supervisor told him to bring the phone in and they would replace it. I think they were as frustrated with the dropped signals as he was. But let’s think about this for a second. Why would we have a sat phone if we could just pop into the nearest store? Wouldn’t it be a lot cheaper to have a cell phone if we were just coastal cruising?

In any event, our communication links are out. No phone (sorry kids and Mom, I won‘t be able to call you on Thanksgiving), no weather forecasts, or emergency e-mail until we can get to the BVI’s, which is where the nearest local store is. Our closest guess is that it will take us about 2 weeks. In the meantime, I’ll keep searching for internet connections along the way and try to Skype you (telephone via the internet) when I get a chance.

Needless to say, I grabbed a book and stayed in my hammock out of the way most of the day. This evening, though, we joined Jim & Freddie on Chez Freddie with their guests (his cousin & wife), Gary & Linda (Rainbowrider), and Dean & Jill (Delilah). We ate appetizers galore and sang along with Jim & his cousin to Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary tunes. Just like camp! Great fun!