The (Anti)Social Issues with Starlink

[aqfishing]

If $200 a month allows one to run their business / work remotely and spend more time on the yacht, then it is a bargain!

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by Chotu

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If I started a weekly sailors dinner in say, Coconut Grove or something and put it on this forum, I’m sure I’d get several people stopping by who wanted to meet other in real life. Do it on the vhf and you would add even more. Even a few signs at the dinghy dock. You’d have a full house in no time.

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That's exactly how the many social activities are promoted with the script I send out to the anchors each morning, sent early AM only in order to include the very latest weather, including the Bahamas crossing area we're in, from Chris Parker.

The anchor takes call-in "reservations" (just a head count to make sure we don't have to scramble to find a seat for anyone) as well as the local and SSCA Facebook pages, for a Monday afternoon/evening restaurant gathering.

There's another social event with even larger turnout, every Thursday afternoon, at a pavilion in the Vero Beach City Marina. The dinghy dock is crammed like the boat show">Annapolis Boat Show...

Social is a matter of what you invest in it. Don't say a word, never bang on a hull, don't turn on the radio, you'll find everyone buried in their cabins. Do the opposite and you may find a vibrant social scene going on around, but without, you...

[rsementi]

Originally Posted by wingssail

I frankly have not noticed a difference in the amount of social interaction.

Internet has always been important to me, and we have usually found a way to get it.

Originally we had only email via SSB, but then got cell service and could connect that way. Cell service got better. Then WiFi at times. Now Star Link is available (though we don't have it due to the cost). I hoped for years that satellite internet (since Teledesic) would become available, now it has. So what?

We used to choose anchorages where we could get Internet. So now more have opened up. Big deal.

On our last cruise this winter it all seemed the same as it was 15 years ago except more people were connected. I was not struck by any change in the number of boat visits or shore activities. I just didn't notice any.

By the way, is your username wingsail because your sailboat has a wingsail or is your vessel called wings?

[houseofcharm]

Wait for an enemy EMF pulse and we can all shake hands again.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by Pegu Club

Thanks Ann, I could not have said it any better, as i may have not been as eloquent as you

Please note, as seen in my comments not too far above this, that PC is one of the outliers, adapting my script for Vero Beach for places in the Exumas.

Well done, Pegu Club!

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by aqfishing

Only applies in Australia.. here in Portugal today I can buy 5 bottles of good beer for the $12 I had to pay for 1 in Darwin in 2014.
Wanna get ripped off.. go to Oz..

[Kenatsea]

I'll be happy to socialize with fellow country kin. If your passing through Mazatlán drop me a note (currently in El Cid).
I got S/L about 6 months ago and love it for all the conveniences, however limit use to an hour or two in the early morning and maybe watch a show in the evening. If nothing else is going on.

[houseofcharm]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

Please note, as seen in my comments not too far above this, that PC is one of the outliers, adapting my script for Vero Beach for places in the Exumas.

Well done, Pegu Club!

Are you also in Vero? On the hook or a mooring?

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by houseofcharm

Are you also in Vero? On the hook or a mooring?

Yes and no, to the questions

I started the morning net there many years ago, now.

The Admiral lost her nerve about 18 months ago, and the sale of Flying Pig quickly removed her fears. We now sail Grounded Pig, a condo so badly built it will never float

I still put together the morning scripts, as I have the template for each day, as well as a generic full-bodied, every day's unique stuff, master copy. Want one? Modeled after the Abacos' script, which I delivered many times among a variety of anchors over the years.

Flying Pig remains tethered to a mooring in the VBCM field. If he EVER finishes (every month since a year ago, when the purchase closed, he's asserted, with a straight face, that he would be gone at the end of the month), I MAY crew with him, both to assist in his shakedown, and that I know where all the bodies are buried after living as our only home in Flying Pig for 15 years, and not insignificantly, to get my Bahamas fix.

Was that responsive to the question? Want to buy a really affordable 12VDC (and also AC power-able, included in both cases) full computer (are you in the Vero area)? Come to Mr. Manatee's on Monday afternoon?

'Sup?

[hpaabor]

A fun topic. Fifty years ago I lived for a month in a small coastal town in Mexico. No radio, TV or newspapers. Only contact with the outside world was at a phone exchange that you had to book an appointment for. I truly loved it and it has stuck with me for a lifetime. Would buy another shot if I could but I'm guessing even Mars would not work. I now drive and electric car and have to be careful to not run over pedestrians walking with their face in their phones. When we cruised way back when arriving at a place was a bit of an event for all there. As some have mentioned now its more like arriving at the mall. Oh well ... Can't bring any wisdom to this - The words from Hair is still all I've got ..
be free, be whatever you are, do whatever you want to do, just so long as you don't hurt anybody. - add smiley here

[carlwk3c]

Originally Posted by 5BTM

Nothing.

Shows that most people, given a choice, prefer not to interact.

In my case, at 66, I am looking to shrink, not expand my social circle.

I remember the pre-internet days, having to pretend to care about what others were interested in.

Amen brother!

[philiosophy]

In my 13 years 9f cruising I have noticed a big drop in social interaction between boats. So I'm going to take this opportunity to say....let's just do it. Utilize things like FB SE Asia Cruising. Find out who's in the hood. Stop worrying about whether your bothering them and call out the boat name or rap on the hull.
Let's go!!!!! Philiosophy is on the moorings near Sanur Denpensar Bali. Come on by......

[houseofcharm]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

Yes and no, to the questions

I started the morning net there many years ago, now.

The Admiral lost her nerve about 18 months ago, and the sale of Flying Pig quickly removed her fears. We now sail Grounded Pig, a condo so badly built it will never float

I still put together the morning scripts, as I have the template for each day, as well as a generic full-bodied, every day's unique stuff, master copy. Want one? Modeled after the Abacos' script, which I delivered many times among a variety of anchors over the years.

Flying Pig remains tethered to a mooring in the VBCM field. If he EVER finishes (every month since a year ago, when the purchase closed, he's asserted, with a straight face, that he would be gone at the end of the month), I MAY crew with him, both to assist in his shakedown, and that I know where all the bodies are buried after living as our only home in Flying Pig for 15 years, and not insignificantly, to get my Bahamas fix.

Was that responsive to the question? Want to buy a really affordable 12VDC (and also AC power-able, included in both cases) full computer (are you in the Vero area)? Come to Mr. Manatee's on Monday afternoon?

'Sup?

So I'll take that as a yes and no. And I'm fully kitted up with PCs but thanks. The only time I enjoy Manatees is going by boat which I'm limited to a Hobie yak these days.

[Cynara]

I've been predicting that for a Long time

[edventuredad]

I wouldn't be able to go cruising without the reliable internet I get from StarLink because I'm not retired and need to work. So, my times that I've been able to get out and socialize with other cruisers just wouldn't be there at all without it. So, you get the good with the bad... now you just have to decide whether having us non-retired folks to socialize with is a good or bad thing. ;-)