Is the on-board Wi-Fi fast enough for image backups?

Wi-Fi on most boats is for messaging and email only. Premium boats with Starlink offer fast enough speeds for cloud backups. Always carry physical backup drives.

Wi-Fi quality on liveaboards has improved dramatically in the last few years thanks to Starlink, but it's still not reliable enough to depend on for cloud backups. The reality varies massively: budget boats in remote areas (Cocos, Socorro, parts of Indonesia) may have no Wi-Fi at all, mainstream boats use cellular hotspots that work near shore but not at offshore sites, and premium boats with Starlink offer fast enough speeds for messaging, email and even some video calling.

Speeds you can expect: Starlink-equipped boats typically deliver 20-100 Mbps in good weather, similar to a basic home internet connection. Cellular hotspot boats deliver 1-10 Mbps within range of shore. Satellite-only boats (older Iridium or VSAT) deliver 0.1-1 Mbps — enough for WhatsApp and email, not for image backups.

Always carry physical backups: bring at least two SSDs (1-4TB each, depending on whether you shoot stills or video), back up your memory cards immediately after each dive, keep one drive in your cabin and one in your dive bag (in case of theft or water damage), and ideally bring a small Lightning/USB-C card reader for backing up to a phone or tablet for cloud sync when Wi-Fi allows.

Most pro photographers bring a laptop with a dedicated SSD for editing, plus 1-2 external SSDs for raw footage backup. Lightroom or Capture One on the laptop, with cloud sync of selected images via Wi-Fi when speeds allow.