Happy To Find This Community

[cheesewhiz]

Greetings:

I'm gearing up for a bareboat charter from Grenada to BVI (Feb-May, 2015). My wife and I will be homeschooling our 7th grade son during the trip.

I'm knee deep in trip planning right now, so I was super excited to find your community.

For starters, I'd value advice on which forum to use for help in sorting out my navigation and communications decisions. In particular, I'm trying to figure out how to get reliable cell phone and Internet service; the best way to get Internet to the boat (for homeschooling) and the best backup navigation system I should bring along (e.g., Garmin handheld, Garmin Mobile app with iPad, Navionics with iPad).

Mechanic, tour guide, teacher, software engineer, sailor. Whew, this is a lot of work! :-) But I'm not complaining to be planning what is hopefully the trip of a lifetime.

Mark

[skipmac]

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum.

Sounds like a big charter coming up. A bit more than typical week around the VI.

I added some answers and comments for you below.

Skip

Originally Posted by cheesewhiz

For starters, I'd value advice on which forum to use for help in sorting out my navigation and communications decisions. In particular, I'm trying to figure out how to get reliable cell phone and Internet service;

Internet service while cruising is one of the most common questions on the forum, followed closely by cell phone. If you go to the search menu at the top of the page you will get a drop down with several search options. Play with that a little and you will find enough information and detail to keep you reading for several days.


the best backup navigation system I should bring along (e.g., Garmin handheld, Garmin Mobile app with iPad, Navionics with iPad).


Backup nav, if you feel the need my preference would be a Garmin handheld but I don't think you really need it. You can usually see the next island before you leave port so eyeball DR is more than adequate.


Mechanic, tour guide, teacher, software engineer, sailor. Whew, this is a lot of work! :-) But I'm not complaining to be planning what is hopefully the trip of a lifetime.

Mark

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Mark.