https://www.bennee.com/~alex/2010-09-14T14:27:00+01:00the wanderings of a supposed digital native2010-09-14T14:27:00+01:002010-09-14T14:27:00+01:00alextag:www.bennee.com,2010-09-14:/~alex/blog/2010/09/14/finding-the-signal/

<p>With no diving excursions today we set about mapping the island. Despite my earlier comments there is GPS signal around and fairly good visibility of satellites. However the signal-to-noise ratio is pretty bad that most of them can't be used for location. I'm not sure if this is by accident …</p>

<p>With no diving excursions today we set about mapping the island. Despite my earlier comments there is GPS signal around and fairly good visibility of satellites. However the signal-to-noise ratio is pretty bad that most of them can't be used for location. I'm not sure if this is by accident or design. Despite this I did build up an incomplete GPS trace with I shall upload to <a class="reference external" href="http://www.openstreetmap.org">OSM</a> when I am in slightly better connected conditions.</p> <p>During the course of our exploration we did &quot;find&quot; the east side of the island which is a lot quieter and for me benefits from being a lot more shaded in the afternoon. It also has a nice view to the edge of the coral reef where it meets the ocean proper. There is also a connected island although fenced off so I'm not sure we are allowed to explore.</p> <p>We did during our investigations find the nesting tree of the fruit bats we've been observing over the last few evenings. This has been a source of excitement to Fliss and one of the GO's we have befriended.</p> 2010-09-10T15:39:00+01:002010-09-10T15:39:00+01:00alextag:www.bennee.com,2010-09-10:/~alex/blog/2010/09/10/mysterious-islands-in-the-sea/

<p>We have arrived on a tropical island paradise. It's only slightly disconcerting that the GPS on my phone still hasn't figured out where we are. Although so far smoke monsters and polar bears have not been in evidence. The flights weren't too hard to deal with (6 and 4 hours …</p>

<p>We have arrived on a tropical island paradise. It's only slightly disconcerting that the GPS on my phone still hasn't figured out where we are. Although so far smoke monsters and polar bears have not been in evidence. The flights weren't too hard to deal with (6 and 4 hours) but we nevertheless fell to sleep quite readily after dinner and watching the stars come out.</p> <p>Today has mostly been taking it easy, we figured we should allow whatever jet-lag type effects to pass before plunging into full activity mode. We have been swimming in the sea as well as taking advantage of the horizon pool near the bar. We've also had &quot;medicals&quot; for the diving course were starting on in a few days.</p> <p>Being in the Indian ocean we're actually fairly off the beaten track for western Europeans. So far we've chatted to some South Africans, played backgammon with some Lebanese and played pool pig in the middle with some Japanese. It's very much a Pacific Rim melting pot here.</p> <p>Current Reading: The Skinner, Neal Asher and On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin.</p>