S/V KUDOS

S/V KUDOS Hans Christian 38T, sailed from the Columbia River in the PNW, to Mexico, then the South Pacific. currently in the Tuamotu's

Update to the phone saga. As you know it went swimming and I cannot believe the nightmare and all the time it has taken ...
08/26/2026

Update to the phone saga. As you know it went swimming and I cannot believe the nightmare and all the time it has taken to try to get things going at least back in the right direction. When I got to Papeete, I got a new Samsung A27 from Vodafone, as they didn't have the cheaper ones in stock. Got a SIM card for it, cool. Not so cool, couldn't make international phone calls or texts even over Wi-Fi. That was Friday. Was going to go back Saturday but they close at 11:00 a.m. I wasn't going to make it in time. Went back Monday, typical sat in line for 2 hours to find out they don't offer an international SIM card. But she thought maybe it might work over Wi-Fi so I bought one. No it doesn't. I went and walked quite a ways all over town going to different stores trying to find somebody that had a SIM card that would work internationally. Finally Ora, bought that and installed it in my phone. Called my mom and it worked. Fantastic, not so much. I tried calling T-Mobile, no way, found out you can't call 800's from outside the USA. And then also found out even though it's supposed to be international it does not call a lot of numbers. Anyways I got an insurance replacement phone for the one that went swimming that went to my mother's house. We could not for the life of us get it activated. Finally a good friend of mine went and picked it up and we fought with it all day today, 7 hours. Them calling T-Mobile, me working on the computer and the phone I have here, even talking with video chat from my phone through his phone to T-Mobile. Nothing. They wanted a PIN number that I knew nothing about. Finally my friend said get on Facebook and go into T-Mobile and message them from there which I did. Again they wanted a PIN number and the gal told me that it was from 22 years ago when I first started my account with US Cellular. I took a wild guess and got it right. Now the phone works and can be shipped to me in my next port of call of America Samoa. The phone had to be activated in the United States because it had to ping off of a T-Mobile tower to activate the sim card. So if it would have been shipped to me I wouldn't have been able to do anything with it in American Samoa. Lesson learned, make sure your phone doesn't go swimming, and have a backup device. I will have three now. It all was a very very frustrating experience and took a ton of time.

As I was going to drop off crew at marina Taina in Tahiti, this dude caught a free ride surfing the wake of the dinghy.
08/23/2026

As I was going to drop off crew at marina Taina in Tahiti, this dude caught a free ride surfing the wake of the dinghy.

08/20/2026

Well anyone trying to get a hold of me, my phone went overboard a few days ago. Boat pitched one way and dinghy the other, knocked it out of my hand and into 37 feet of water. I did dive down and got it back, did the soak in alcohol for 5 minutes and in a zip lock bag of crackers and desiccant bags for 4 days now. We don't realize how dependent on things we are until they're gone. I can't log into WhatsApp or messages without the phone. I should have linked my tablet to those accounts but never did. Big lesson learned. I doubt the phone will come back to life after going that deep. I'm in Tahiti now so will head out to get a generic phone to get things going again. So as for now email and here are about the only way to contact me. Now yesterday it's not working at all, so what the heck, I can't make it worse so I took it apart. Knowing what I do now, I doubt would make a difference but worth a try. If this happens again, I will immediately take the back off, hair dryer or set in the sun loosens the glue, then rinse really good with fresh water. Then a sloshing bath of rubbing alcohol. Dry and set it to dry out well. If the salt water didn't short out and fry anything it might have a chance. Taking mine apart several days later, it looked like it been in the ocean for months. And now seeing how they are made, water-resistant, đŸ˜‚. The stylus pen cavity is open to the inside of the phone as is the sim card tray, and speaker with just very tiny gaskets. Mine was a S25 Ultra, I'm sure most others are the same.

Sailing downwind in 17 - 22 knots of wind. Left Fakarava to catch the weather window to get to Tikehau, then the wind is...
08/17/2026

Sailing downwind in 17 - 22 knots of wind. Left Fakarava to catch the weather window to get to Tikehau, then the wind is supposed to absolutely die for a few days. Once it comes back it's to Papeete in Tahiti to check out of the country.

The phone situation. And lessons learned. The start of the story is last winter, I really wanted a new phone as my S21 was a few years old and I didn't want problems. US Cellular who I was with, assured me it would be unlocked in 90 days, so I'd be good with esims in the future to get cell service in remote areas. Well US Cellular got bought out by T-Mobile. Then the run around started. T-Mobile said US Cellular has to unlock it, ummm they can't, you bought them, anyways i have a locked phone. So a few days ago I ordered on ebay a Motorola Moto G to have my mom send me in American Samoa. Then I'll I have a cheap unlocked phone I can get esims for. Now if the S25 that went swimming doesn't come back to life, I'll have to buy another phone in Papeete. And I have insurance so hopefully the S25 will be replaced but will have to go to my mom's and then to me. I think I'm going to be in American Samoa for a while just waiting on freight. Obviously all a pain in the butt. To top things off, the Starlink deal is tomorrow, with whatever they do or enforce. Hindsight, I should of had two phones. Even if one was just used with saily.com esims. I'll never buy a phone from a cellular phone company again. I'm still researching getting a Starlink mini in American Samoa, but the businesses there won't answer emails if they stock them. I can buy one in the states and have it shipped to me, but I don't think I will activate it there if it's bought in the USA. Back to doing research....

08/15/2026

Well anyone trying to get a hold of me, my phone went overboard today. Boat pitched one way and dinghy the other, knocked it out of my hand and into 37 feet of water. I did dive down and get it back, doing the soak in alcohol for 5 minutes and in a zip lock bag of crackers for 3-5 days now. We don't realized how dependent on things we are until they're gone. I can't log into WhatsApp or messages without the phone. I should have linked my tablet to those accounts but never did. Big lesson learned. I doubt the phone will come back to life after going that deep. It'll be a bit before I can get to Tahiti to get a generic phone to get things going again. So as for now email and here are about the only way to contact me.

Had a pair of Noddi's on the bow sprit railing this morning before I pulled anchor.
08/15/2026

Had a pair of Noddi's on the bow sprit railing this morning before I pulled anchor.

08/14/2026

Please get the word out there guys. Share, like and tag your sailor...

Absolutely amazing how clear the water can get. This morning in Fakarava, this is the best I've seen here so far. That i...
08/14/2026

Absolutely amazing how clear the water can get. This morning in Fakarava, this is the best I've seen here so far. That is 40 feet deep

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