When we cruised in the past we communicated by VHF, SSB and Morse code (just kidding about that last one). Radios were what we had at sea and it was enough. Having a scratchy sked with a friend a thousand …

For those of us who have been on board for years, an excited voice on Skype or an animated e-mail suggesting a visit sometimes brings fear and trembling. To be fair, it’s mostly our fault because we’ve been out so …

It was around breakfast time in Spanish Water, Curaçao, when a woman’s voice came up on VHF channel 72. She spoke in rapid French and was clearly stressed. We couldn’t understand much, just that they were somewhere outside the anchorage …