May 2012    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 27, No. 5   What's this?

Blissed Out or Hotwired?

how the Internet screws up dive vacations

from the May, 2012 issue of Undercurrent  

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Some people I know are building a liveaboard. They have thought about everything a traveling diver could possibly want. The cabins are spacious and well appointed; the ample dive deck is organized and user-friendly; the dinghies are fast and comfortable; the food promises to be excellent; and massages are offered gratis. Guess what else is included: satellite internet, available 24-7.

That's the one sour note in the deal, as far as I'm concerned. Not that I don't spend almost every waking, land-based hour at the computer writing, answering emails, doing research, etc. like everyone else I know. But even though I am usually on a liveaboard to work, my time on boats remains sacred. That's what "away" messages are for. The precious few days or weeks separated from computers, email and news (especially nowadays) are a time to let my monitor-weary eyes watch the sun disappear behind an island where thousands of bats have just taken flight, share sea stories with fellow travelers, and linger over a trashy novel with the breeze in my face. Call me a dinosaur or a hopeless romantic (the latter is preferred), but that's the way it has always been, and that's the way I want it to always be....