Re:ORBCOMM - www.orbcomm.com (Score 2)

Working for an oceanographic research lab, I have had some experience in this area. In fact, I am currently using Orbcomm for communications with some autonomous instruments off the Oregon coast. Orbcomm will work for email -- it is essentially an email based system -- but it is very expensive, approx 0.01USD/byte. A single page email will cost you about 10 bucks!

A service like Inmarsat is a better deal for data as they charge by the minute. Most of the research ships I have been out on use Inmarsat for Net access. Some of the ship use Inmarsat when offshore but switch to cell phone when close to shore.

Globalstar is another possibility (www.globalstar.com). They have a medium earth orbit satellite network (a somewaht less ambitious version of Iridium) but due to licensing issues they only offer service in the Pacific out to the 200 mile limit. This situation probably won't change until someone builds a downlink in Hawaii.

Personally, if I were sailing to Hawaii, I would just relax and enjoy the ride -- sometimes it's good to be out of touch ...

--
Mike