Southwinds Sailing June 2004 - Southwinds Magazine

LETTERS Continued from page 14editor@southwindssailing.com Web site: southwindssailing.comPO Box 1175,Holmes Beach FL 34218 Fax: (941) 795-8705vent U.S. phones from working once they discover that theydo work. For reliable cell phone service in the Bahamas, youare stuck with signing up for Bahamian (BATELCO) serviceor using a satellite phone like Globalstar. Calling the UnitedStates from a landline in the Bahamas costs $1 per minuteusing a BATELCO card. Most people learn to rely on e-mail!Colin WardGreen Cove Springs, FLColin and Norm,Although, I too, take my cell phone almost everywhere (not everywhere- I do have my standards). I remember when I was youngand used to backpack into the mountains frequently on extendedtrips. One of the pleasures was being out of range of anyone gettinghold of me, and also, not hearing from the rest of the world. Itwas a real escape.In the Bahamas, 25 years ago, on my first sailboat escape, whichlasted several months, my only radio (and only electronic gadget)was an AM radio, and I was in a similar situation. Are we surethese cell phones everywhere are a good thing? I remember the Bahamas,like the backcountry, as a wild place. It won’t be long andno place on earth will be safe from cell phone use, and all that willbe over, probably forever.Sentimentalities aside, Southwinds will continue to publishthis information to help those out there who cannot get away fromeverything. Besides, somebody once told me that it was because ofthe cell phone and the fact that they could take it with them thatenabled them to get away-maybe not from everything, but from alot more than being without it.EditorNEWS & VIEWS FOR SOUTHERN SAILORS SOUTHWINDS June 2004 17