The Whitby 42 S/V Sinbad is heading south. Randy and Diane are headed—I think—to Trinidad to wait out hurricane season.

The 45' Dolphin ketch S/V Fawkes is heading south, too. I know a little more about Dave and Nancy's itinerary—but not much more. Sailors are only "bound for" a destination. Things can change.

Around May 15, they were anchored within 300 yards of each other. Thank you Spot, The Face Book and Google Earth.

Since they have similar boats, are going in similar directions, and seem to have similar outlooks on boat life, I thought there may be some kind of connection possible. This is, in our opinion, what seeing the world is all about: meeting people. Cruising gets us out of our hometowns (Niskayuna, NY; East Tawas, MI; Davenport, IA) and into new places.

New places means new people.

Also, the two boats illustrate two common ways to stay connected with non-cruising folks:

• Fawkes posts their locations to Facebook once in a while. Fawkes has a sophisticated SSB/ham radio rig. SSB/Ham radio is entirely self-contained; no additional infrastructure.

• Sinbad uses Spot to post their location to Facebook. This depends on sophisticated 21st century satellites and the Internet.

I was able to stalk them from my living room in Norfolk, and suggest they have a gam.

The available choices for connectivity are so much better than the bad old days when SSB was the only connection. Or the badder old days when letters were posted from ports along the way. Or the really bad old days where you just disappeared only to reappear after a long voyage.

Recreational sailors are following in the footsteps of Joshua Slocum. The "sail around and see the world" lifestyle is very much an invention of the 20^th century. With 21^st century communications infrastructure, armchair navigators can easily follow the various boats around and see the world, too.

And spot the various opportunities for connection.