I have said that we have 61 or so participants on this cruise, but that number does not count the crew. There are over 70 crew members on the ship, including the Captain, machinists, cooks, and the radio guy. I met him (his real name is Vladimir, not “the radio guy” – he’s on the left in the photo), and tested out the Iridium Satellite sim card that I brought with me in the Iridium Open Port, and it worked! (Insert sigh of relief here.) This is what is going to allow me to communicate with you. I will be participating in onboard activities and writing offline, and then I will go meet Vladimir every day at a given time, and he will help me send off the stories and photos of the expedition. We can also buy satellite phone cards from Vladimir for $10 for 10 minutes. That’s comforting to have that option, but I’ll have to talk fast.
