As noted in Looking at the future, it's time to start dreaming again.

For this year, the Gulf Coast of Florida is our aspiration.

Getting out of Charlotte Harbor would be pleasant, if we can do that.

I've updated my planning charts to include the Bahamas (for next year) and the Southern Caribbean, too.

We're leaning toward the Route 65 plan -- sail to 65°W 26°N and hang a right.

We need two things.

• Life Raft.
• Off-shore communications.

There are a lot of nice 4-person rafts. We would get a valise raft without the fancy case. We'd put it up on deck for the duration of our venture offshore, then put it back below to keep it outof the sun. I don't see a compelling need for a permanent mounting.

Off-shore comms in the modern era mean satellite phones. (It used to be SSB, short wave.)

Satphones (with a data plan) have four major players:

• Starlink. While popular, it's expensive and. See Panbo talking about Starlink Maritime. There are potential issues hidden in their terms of service.
• Globalstar -- We have spot messenger. SpotX is one choice. But. No data. Very simple.
• Iridium. The Iridium Go has a data plan. And they offer Predict Wind integration.
• Inmarsat. Text and Email. That's nice.

I'm leaning toward BOTH the SpotX upgrade AND the Iridium Go package.

See SpotX for more on SpotX.

See Iridium Go exec for more on the Iridium Go! bunlded with PredictWind. Weather.

See Practical Sailor for practical tips on using this for passages.

Also

I need to enter all of my anchorages in the Bahamas into my Aqua Map.

I've got them all in a couple of spreadsheets. It's about 24 distinct locations. I have some tools for creating GPX files with the waypoints. After dusting off some old software, I've got an initial draft that will get me started.

Not all of these are actually anchorages in the Bahamas. One is a midnight position report on our way back. Some editing will be needed.

Also. I need to provide actual names. Right now they're nothing more than Lat/Lon and a date.