Geeks and Goths.

As the clock starts to chime one for 1am a few bleary eyed creatures begin to stumble from their berths. In the gloomy half light of a deserted Cayuco Club you can sometimes catch the whisper of wooden benches dragging across the planked floor. Quietly they unload the bulky packages from under their arms, trying to muffle the liberated contents as they hit the table. Everything sounds like a gunshot here in the silence of the tropical night.

No it's not a reenactment of a Gothic vampire novel but the lengths the computer geeks amongst us have to go to in order to satisfy their thirst for downloads and updates! The marina has had a great deal of trouble with maintaining the internet connection here. Copper wire is constantly stolen as it trails through the jungle canopy. Power outages cause glitches with the hardware systems and cloudy skies terminate the satellite connection. It can try the patience of a saint, never mind a cruiser!

The package come up with here is a commercial satellite connection that gives a pretty good service. SO LONG AS NOBODY IS TOO GREEDY. Trying to get the thing balanced has been a nightmare for Jim, the owner, and retraining the cruisers here is an ongoing challenge in charm and coercion! Finally the message seems to have got through that there is a non-limited period for downloads(and uploads) between 1am and 4am!

Hence the furtive scurryings as business is transacted, movies downloaded and phone calls completed in the small hours of the night.

Non computer geeks sleep peacefully through the Twilight Zone as their contemporaries access the technology mainstream and all is calm on the dock!