a) Never been there, or
b) Last visited when Jimmy Carter was President.
For instance, one expert pointed out that Cruzan dark rum cost $2.00 a liter and as I had just gone shopping and bought a liter of Cruzan for $5.99 I can attest to the fact that $2 rum in the USVI is just not happening. Fact is, when we first arrived in St Thomas back in 1996, Cruzan rum was cheap at $2.77 a liter but still a long way from that $2 mark.
Sadly, rum prices were not all that seemed to be wrong in the discussion as tales of crime and facilities were also mostly wrong or so dated as to be useless. But, of course, that's just a little discussion on a forum and no big deal... Or, is it?
The problem is that next year or whenever someone will be planning their cruise of the Caribbean and do a Google search. Up will pop this forum thread with all its incorrect information or, even worse, someone writing an article or cruising guide will use said thread as a source and it will become FACT...
In getting "So It Goes" ready to do some serious cruising again, a lot of work is spent researching those locations we are planning on going to. While the web makes it easier on one hand, we keep finding more and more seriously incorrect information that seems to have a life of its own once released. As time goes on, it is getting harder and harder to sift between what is real and what is just so much nonsense as the GIGO (garbage in garbage out) takes its toll.
Here at Boat Bits Central we have a project that we will be unveiling in the new year and hope it will in some small way help stem the growth of misinformation about cruising and cruising areas. A lot of it will be our own research but we are going to need help from Boat Bits readers as well to be successful...
Listening to Dawn Landes
So it goes...
