Georgetown, Bahamas
23.31.055N
75.45.481W

Well, we're in Georgetown; the end all for most cruisers; it's a lot smaller than we expected. Today we went into town to explore and find an internet cafe. Doc-No-More had told us that they had seen an ad for WiFi posted in the Exuma Market which is where we had to go in order to pick up our mail. Due to the problems we had experienced in Warderick Wells, we took the laptop with us.

The ad was there on the bulletin board just as he had said, so I jotted down the telephone number and started looking for the address ("near Sam's place"). I felt like a junkie lookin' for a fix, I'd ask perfect strangers: "Do you know where I can find WiFi?" The manager of the Exuma Market said to "go down the street and turn right when you come to a "Y" in the road", that's where the internet cafe was. So we left.

On the way, we saw another sign for WiFi. We walked into a building hardly bigger than a shack. "Do you have WiFi?" "What's WiFi?" "You know, like the sign on your door?" "Oh, no; the guy that does that just left. He'll be back later." '"OK, thank you." We keep looking for the internet cafe.

We find it and walk in. There was a line of 4 computers along the wall on the right. Straight ahead was a small room with heavy black plexiglass windows you couldn't see through and a small hole in the center of the bottom, just big enough where a hand would come out and take your money. The sign said $.30/minute; $9/half hour; $18/hour; you had to use their computers. "Nope" I said to Dale, "for these prices, we could afford the satellite connection." We went back the way we came. We stop back at the shack and ask if the WiFi guy is back. "No, he'll be back later." "When later? Half-hour? Hour?" "Yea, then." We keep walking.

Off a dirt road, we see a sign for Sam's place. It's a restaurant. "Do you know where we can find WiFi?" "Sure, go down the street and turn right when you come to a "Y" in the road . . ." "No, we're looking for the wireless connection." "Oh, wireless . . . You might try Bateco" (the telephone company/electric company). "OK, thank you. Could we order lunch." "No, we finished serving breakfast and won't serve lunch until 12:00." "What time is it?" "11:30" "Can we sit on your patio until then?" "Sure."

While sitting there, Dale decides to see if he can find a hot spot. Yep, there it is; but you need a pass key to connect. It gives a telephone number; not the one in the ad. I jot it down and ask the waitress if I can use their phone for a local call. Sure, no problem mon. I place the call. A sleepy male voice answers. "I'm trying to find out information about WiFi, do I have the right number?" "Yea. Do you have your laptop with you?" "Yes." "Where are you?" "I'm at Sam's Place." "I'll be there in 5 minutes."

A half hour later, we decide to pack up and go inside for lunch. We sit there for another 20 minutes before a young man walks in with a thumb drive on a lanyard around his neck. He spots us in the far back corner and starts walking our way. I smile, "You must be the one with the pass key." "Yep, right here, where's your computer?" We haul it out again. He starts for the computer, when I ask about prices. "$5.00 a day; $40 a month". I pull out the $5 and start to hand it to him but then pull back and say "let's see if it works". He plugs his thumb drive into it and copies the key into the connection. It immediately connects into the internet. I'm still holding the money and ask "does the pass key stay in the computer after we shut it off, or do we have to use it now?" "Oh no, it stays. I have to trust that you'll only use it for a day. Where are you located?" We point across the harbor. "Well, you'll have to use it here, it won't reach that far," he tells us. "Where are you located?" we ask. He points to a small yellow and blue house not far away. Dale reboots the computer just to make sure the pass key works again, it's gone. "Here" he puts a copy of the pass key into a separate document, "now all you have to do is block and copy it into the connection site." I try it and it works. I hand over the $5. "If we have any problems we'll come get you." "No!" he tells us, "that's my friend's house. Just call me".

As we're eating, Dale asks why I look so apprehensive. I tell him that I guess I'm just naturally untrusting; or maybe he copied our entire computer onto his thumb drive. He asks if it looked like he copied anything since I was hovering over him the entire time. Well, no but he was very knowledgeable and when you're an internet junkie, you never know when you might get tainted internet and I needed a fix to connect.