"If The Phone Doesn't Ring....

....you know it's me!"

The world of communication certainly has changed over the last couple of decades. When we first started cruising in the Bahamas on our 28 ft. sailboat in 1987, there was no way to stay in touch with family once we left the United States. Perhaps there were public phones, but they were terribly expensive to use. Seven years ago, when we returned to cruising the Abacos, we could go to any of the resorts and $10 would give us 15 minutes of their computer time to check and send emails to family and friends back home. At this time we also learned about the Abaco Cruisers’ Net, which is a program on our marine VHF radio every morning that gives us weather updates, community announcements, ‘invitations’ (aka commercials) for local businesses, and you can inquire about any information you need. They also had, and still have a local internet company that provides an emergency email address that family can write to if they need to contact cruisers, and Pattie Toler who started and still runs the Cruisers’ Net, receives these emails and contacts you if an emergency email arrives. Of course now, most of us have our laptop computers, and we can obtain our own internet connections and keep in touch with the outside world through wifi, right here in the harbors. What a difference this has made! The connections can be frustrating at times, and the service is sometimes very slow depending how many people are using it, not to mention it will disappear when the power goes out. Sending pictures or large files in and out is tricky if not impossible to do. Still, it is our lifeline to the ‘real world.’

However there are still times when I would like to actually talk to my family. Cell phones are obviously what everyone has now days, but we cannot use our U.S. phones here in the Bahamas, and would have to purchase another one here. They do have a phone company called Batelco, with offices on each island. In the past few years I have purchased phone cards (50 cents/min.), which I could use at one of 3 public phones here in Hope Town. Several days ago I went in and bought a card, intending to call my mother on Christmas. Christmas Day I roamed the empty streets, heading to the ferry dock where the main phone booth is located, and went to call, and found no phone receiver. Option one deleted, so Dave and I walked on to Vernon’s Grocery Store where another phone booth is. I picked up that phone to find that the ear part was taped up with electrical tape, and so gross from heat, that it was sticky and almost liquid. Option two was out also. Option three is the Batelco office itself, where I know you can use the phones inside, but they were closed and won’t reopen until after the Boxing Day holiday. They used to have a phone outside, but since they made renovations last year, they haven’t replaced it, and the phone line hangs down, swinging in the breeze. On the other out islands, things aren’t much better. In Treasure Cay, they have several phone booths, but not too many phones that work. Gee, I wonder why.....

I also wonder if there are any coat hangers left in the rooms at the resort where we found this phone booth!

Thank goodness we have wifi though, and it is amazing it works as well as it does. Without it, communication wouldn’t be much more advanced than when we first started cruising in the 80’s. The Jimmy Buffett song really does apply, "If the phone doesn't ring, it's me."