Email at Sea

Posted by John using SailMail

We have one more stop before leaving Mexico and are currently on our way to that last stop, in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, north of Puerto Vallarta. We had to wait an extra week in Mazatlan for new solar panels that we ordered at the last minute. It was one of those typical Mexican deals: sitting in the marina laundry room, counting out and handing over a pile of cash to Carlos, who promised he’d try to have them to us from his supplier by Friday. We will try to install them in La Cruz but we have to figure out how to attach them to the boat since they’re a different size than the old ones. That will be another project. We finally did get the wind generator installed before we left Mazatlan.

This blog post exists (or doesn’t) as an experiment to test our ability to do two things: 1) Send email by radio to one of several receiving stations which are set up to receive it and forward it to its destination; 2) Use such email to remotely post to the blog without an actual internet connection.

This is our last chance to try this while we still have an opportunity to check the results before turning westward away from civilization. If you read this before we get to La Cruz, then you’ll know something we won’t. For us it will be kind of like Schringer’s cat. We won’t know until we get to La Cruz and find some Wi-Fi to check the results.

If it does work, we’ll be able to post updates as we sail toward French Polynesia. And we’ll have email access. However, it will be text only while at sea. (I am curious if the umlaut in the above Schrodinger comes through.) We won’t be capable of sending or receiving large files such as photos. Think 1980’s dialup modem on an intermittent party-line phone connection that sucks huge amounts of power from limited batteries that power your remote cabin in the woods-or in this case, a boat at sea.

Eso es todo por hoy.