Capitaine Sam

A great company for French boat owners here in the Caribbean.

Charles-Gervais Assurances

Its not often that something comes along that is a total paradigm shift across the globe but 's Starlink is in the process of revolutionising access to the internet.

We currently pay around $100 a month (2 x cellular SIM cards) for internet access on board and have speeds, on a good day of less than 10 MBPS download and 6 MBPS upload, and only then within range of an appropriate cell tower. Starlink is already delivering speeds of between 10 and 100 times this and its already here in the Caribbean. Monthly fees are $135 a month for the RV version, which is not far from what we currently pay. The hardware is an investment of $600 and at the moment you can't use it when mobile as the motors aligning the dish aren't made for constant use, and there seems to be a geofence of 12 miles offshore... for now.

But we know that these internet speeds are imminent for all vessels and on a global basis - they're probably just working out the dish requirements and price tag!

Imagine the very near future with charting on google maps, black box log recording to the cloud, boat to boat calls by mobile phone and total fast connectivity wherever we are... life changing.

However it does make me sad for the days of exploration without knowing what to expect when we arrive, meeting the locals and asking them questions, seeing things through our own, new eyes and not those of a thousand "user reviews".