The Cost of Communications

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How do we handle communications while living on a boat in foreign countries? For years we struggled connecting with the “outside world” while living on our boat.  We had to find local coverage, if it was available. The alternative was Iridium Go which allowed you communication access to text messages, emails, and weather. But you could not access the internet (Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc…).

Two years ago Starlink arrived!  It was a total game changer for us. We purchased the equipment in NZ which was about $170 USD and paid $126 USD per month for “unlimited” communication access.  However, we were supposed to remain in and around NZ waters to use our current plan.  Well, that doesn’t exactly work out for us being that we visit lots of countries.

Our current plan included “unlimited data communications”.  The plan did not allow you to be away from your host country for more than 2 months.  We left NZ in April 2024 and travelled though Vanuatu and Marshall Islands.

Our service was cut off in January 2025.  Of course, it would happen without any prior notification and on a day, we planned to transit from Rongelap to Alinginae.

Several cruisers received a letter from Starlink. This letter indicated that they would be cut off if they did not return to their host country or change plans.  We never received this notification.

Photo of our Starlink dish facing the sky to receive satellites data.

Starlink Communications Base

https://www.iridium.com/products/iridium-go/

The Problem

In order to change your host country or service plan you have to be able to receive emails for the dual authentication program.  We can’t get emails without Starlink!

However, we were able to communicate with Starlink via their website (despite not having access to the internet).

The problem is that Starlink keeps sending authentication notices and codes to Matt’s email and we cannot access them without internet.  The irony!

The Solution

We kept the bare minimum subscription of our Iridium Go account as back up (thank goodness).  This basic plan costs $70 USD/month and only provides 5 minutes of talk time and a few text messages.  This plan allows us to text, email, and get weather.  However, each communication is charged at astronomical rates.

We contacted Customer Service at Iridium Go.  We increased our subscription plan to the “unlimited plan”, at $170/mo.  This will allow us to make the necessary communications and receive weather updates.  Communications from Iridium Go are limited. For example, we cannot receive attachments or photos.  Both the email and text messages need to be short and succinct.  It can be tedious, but it is way better than nothing.

The Outcome

We reached out to Starlink’s Customer Support many times.  We kept getting responses from “bot’s” and they were not helpful.  So, we kept emailing with “need human response” in the subject line.  Finally, we got a human who understood our predicament. We rely on communications while under passage.  We use Starlink to connect and download weather.  When Starlink cut off our communications it became a huge safety issue.  So, they restored our connection temporarily.

This allowed us to do the following things:

  1. Matt wrote a rule for his email. All Starlink emails are automatically sent to our Iridium Go account.
  2.   We added (2) friends to our Starlink account so that they could access codes and verifications should we not be able to in the future.
  3. We added our Iridium Go email to Starlink
  4. We downloaded weather for our passage.

Not sure what we will do next.  I assume we will have to either the account change address in our home country, change our plan, change our account to another country (Marshall Islands or Fiji), or jump through some other hoops to make our account work longer than 60 days.

Only time will tell.

As you can see we spend a lot of money to stay connected.  The above fees do not include the cost of Predict Wind (weather forecasting), hosting the many websites we have, the server, or any ancillary communication needs we may have while on the boat.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events.  Starlink crashed on us at the end of January 2025.  Did you catch our hit and miss with Kwajalein’s army base in our last blog post?

Kwajalein, a Remote U.S. Army Base

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The U.S. Navy has hosted a Naval base on Kwajalein (Kwaj for short) since WWII (1950’s). Since then and continued today, the Navy base is widely used for all sorts of missile tests.  It is part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, with various radars, tracking cameras, missile launchers, and many support systems spread across many islands. One of the five ground stations used in controlling the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation system is located on Kwajalein.

Kwajalein atoll is one of the largest atoll in the world and has a 90+ small islands surrounding the world’s largest lagoon which covers 2,174 sq. kilometers (839 sq. miles).  It is home to many wrecks from WWII including over 160 planes and more than 25 ships.

Photo by underwaterkwaj

Photo by underwaterkwaj

How to Visit Kwaj

Kwajalein (Kwaj) is very difficult to visit.  Here are the many steps we had to take to get approved for a visit. 

  1. Identify a sponsor.  The sponsor is 100% responsible for you during your visit.  This includes your actions, behavior and expenses.  The sponsor is responsible for any and all medical treatment including evacuation.
  2. Complete the USAG-KA 480 form
  3. Answer a lengthy list of questions.
  4. Pass the background check.
  5. Obtain medical evacuation insurance.
  6. Solidify the dates of your visit.

It took me 3 months to find someone who was interested in sponsoring us.  He was apprehensive at first because he did not know us.  However, he spoke to our friends on Hoptoad who told him we were good people.

Photo by USGS.gov

Photo by USGS.gov

The Plan to Visit Kwajalein

In December through February we were sailing in the northern atolls. We thought we could sail down to Kwaj then try to find a way to sail to Majuro.   We requested our visiting period to be 1/28-2/20. 

Our plan was to arrive late January, stay for a few days, then use three weeks in February to get back to Majuro.  The problem is that the passage is almost due east (into the wind/seas).  We mapped out alternatives such as Kwaj to Rongerik to Majuro and Kwaj to Likiep to Majuro.  Each option added hundreds of miles to our return trip back.

I started getting anxious because I had to be back in Majuro to catch my flight back to the states.  The chances of a good weather window occurring is rare and unusual.  We were gambling.  

We decided to wait for the approval until the 29th January. That would give the government 2 weeks to approve the application.  We did not hear anything on the evening of the 28th January. So, we made ready to depart Alinginae and head direct to Majuro on this weather window.

And wouldn’t you know it, the approval came on the 29th while we were at sea.  It was too late to change our trajectory.

Such a Disappointment

We both had really wanted to visit this unique atoll and military base.  But it was not meant to be.  Our sponsor was incredibly kind and understanding.  We felt horrible because our sponsor put in a lot of effort and time into our application.

What Can you do on Kwaj

  • Hear about the rich history of Kwaj. 
  • Visit the monuments around the island. 
  • We needed to get fuel, propane, and provisions. 
  • The cool factor of visiting an active military base.
 

Fun link: Underwater Kwaj: www.underwaterkwaj.com/Marshalls.htm  

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind live events.  We tried to go to Kwaj in early February 2025.

We blogged about our passage between the two island chains. Check it out.

Voyage Back to Civilization

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It was time to make the voyage back to civilization.  We were running low on gasoline and provisions after being away for four months. 

The boat was anchored in Alinginae in the Ratak Island Chain.   To get back to Majuro wee have to sail east.  The tradewinds come from the east making this a challenging crossing.

Sugar Shack can sail pretty close to the wind.  We dropped our dagger boards and trimmed the sails.  This allowed us to point close to the wind (38-40 degrees).  Most boats can only point 45-60 degrees. 

In order to sail back to Majuro we needed the tradewinds to shift from East to North East.  

Photo below:

  • The green arrow shows the easterly tradewinds.
  • The blue arrow shows the NE winds.  We can use the NE winds to get back to Majuro. 
  • The black line shows our rumb line from Alinginae to Majuro.

Predicted Forecast and Route

Matt watched the weather forecast for several weeks.   A weather window appeared at the end of January. 

Predict Wind (source for weather) showed a 2.5 day passage with winds at 15-18kts from NE and swell at 2-2.5 meters.

The Passage

It took us two hours to motor-sail across the Alinginae lagoon.  

This beautiful rainbow came out as we left Alinginae.  …As if Alinginae was saying “thank you for your visit.”

Our first six hours at sea were extremely uncomfortable!  The swell wrapped around Alinginae and came from several directions.  The seas became more consistent once we cleared the atoll.

The sun provided a beautiful sunrise on day 2. The waves crashed all over the boat making it a salty mess. We had 2″ of salt all over the boat.

We set the sails, turned the engines off and settled into a groove.

The boat speed averaged 9kts during a 12-hour period.  This was incredible!

What Broke?

The lazy jacks broke in the middle of the night.   This line holds the sail bag which stows the main sail. 

We had one reef in the main sail.  The remaining portion of the main was tucked into the sail bag.  When the line broke, the sail bag fell down and the extra main sail tumbled out.

Matt tied the line to our flag halyard – as a temporary fix.  Then he stuffed the non-working main sail back into the bag.  This work was done in three meters (over 12′) seas and at night.<p>

The forecast showed a direct course from Alinginae to Majuro.  However, we made two tacks after the wind shifted. 

The top red, skinny line is our track back to Majuro. We tacked and headed away from our destination.  After two hours, we tacked again and had a direct path to Majuro. 

The wind direction is displayed on the wind instrument below.  As you can see, we were “pinching” tight into the wind to hold our course. 

Passage Details

  • Travel Time:  2 days and 6 hours
  • Distance Travelled:  412 nm
  • Average Speed: 7.2kts
  • Max Speed: 12.5kts
  • Engine Hours: 4 (inside both lagoons)

Overall, the passage was pretty decent.    The trip was fast, I did not get sea sick, and nothing major broke.

Our blog posts run 4-6 weeks behind actual live events.  We made this passage at the end of February 2025.

Did you check out the post on living off the grid for 4 months?