It has been a while since our last post. As you know safety is quite important on our journey. With that in mind along with all our other safety items we have added a piece of equipment know as AIS(Automatic Identification Sytem) For those unfamiliar it a mandatory piece of equipment on commercial vessels. AIS will display much data about other vessel directly on our chart plotter. Unlike radar which sees in straight lines AIS is gps driven giving you the ability to see vessels without have visual contact. You ask why is this important, well mainly so we will be able to see big barges on the inland river system. I can hail them by name and seek instructions from the Captain well before we were to meet on a turn. These barges are HUGE and take up a lot of room. Safety Safety Safety!!!!