A CRUISER'S VIEW OF BEQUIA - Caribbean Compass

NOVEMBER 2008 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 48
— Continued from previous page
Hi Compass,
First thing to say is that I think Compass is a great
publication and continue the good work.
Would it be possible to mention the website www.
cubahurricanerelieffund.com to raise donations for
those who have been stricken by the hurricane damage
in Cuba?
Sean Fuller
Hi Sean,
Sure, there you are! And to donate to other hurricanestricken
islands, see www.ifrc.org/what/disasters/
response/hurricane_season.
CC
Dear Compass,
I am still trying to get an extension on my visa here
in Curaçao. Whew, what a bureaucracy! I have been to
more than eight offices, back and forth for over three
weeks, to get a two-month extension. And of course it
represents an hour or two each trip just waiting for, or
in, a bus from the anchorage to get into the main town
of Willemstad.
One must continually carry a pile of documents that
would choke a horse when visiting these “bureau”
folks; you never know when they might want to do
some checking on the validity of your mother’s maiden
name. And none of these government employees
seem to know exactly what is going on, either! It is not
in the best interests of any government system to promote
efficiency, it seems, and here where one in five
people works for either the Dutch, or the Antillean, or
the Curaçao government they seem to take a certain
pride in watching long lines of people in hot crowded
offices, while the employees do their nails or read
romance fictions! They wax ecstatic in contemplation
of the fact that when we (the public) are not waiting in
line, we are all on an enforced walking tour of the city,
trying to find another small office to wait in for a
while, only to be told to go somewhere else or to come
back next week.
A friend of mine applied for a two-week extension so
he might wait for his wife to arrive and when he finally
received it the two weeks had already expired so he
started the whole process over again and had to spend
another two weeks to get permission to stay in order to
be legal to get permission to leave!
Is this any way to run a country?
Sign me,
Crazy in Curaçao
Dear Compass,
I am the former cook on a yacht chartering in the
Caribbean. I am Colombian-born and internationally
educated, and speak fluent Spanish, English
and German. I have also lived aboard a cruising
yacht, where I learned painting and varnishing very
well. I have sailed approximately 100,000 miles all
over the world.
I have recently experienced something that could be
a lesson for the many other South Americans, especially
women, who take jobs on yachts.
The owner of the charter boat and I were a couple for
the first two years of my job. I had a signed contract
stating that I was hired to cook and do basic maintenance
including small repair jobs. On that boat, I
received a base salary of US$400 per month and got
an allowance per guest that I cooked for. The relationship
had its ups and downs, but the boat was like my
home and I worked very hard to make her beautiful. I
did major painting and varnish jobs without extra pay
and I cooked well enough that we had return guests
for the first time in the history of the boat’s ten-year
charter business. I was often told that I was the reason
for the boat’s very successful business. But the downside
of the relationship got to me. We decided I would
stay aboard only as crew. I was asked to bring other
Colombian women to the boat to work with me but
they all left unhappy about the treatment they received
from the owner.
In June 2008, the owner decided that he would
return to Europe and would send a hired captain to
work with me, but in Panama he had a near heart
attack. I stood by him in the hospital and took care of
the guests we had at the same time.
In July, the new captain took over and the owner
left. We did the scheduled charters and then were to
sail from Panama back to Trinidad. It was a fiasco.
The captain was completely incompetent but he
refused to acknowledge that I might know anything
about the boat after three years being first mate and
this would be my fourth time to make this same passage.
He often told me to stay in the galley and leave
captaining to him.
Contrary to my advice, he killed the generator with
air in the system and had to hire a mechanic. He did
not understand the watermaker and we had to carry
water to the boat — never enough. For three of us he
loaded ten litres of drinking water for the trip from
Cartagena to Trinidad. When it was finished in three
days we had only briny water that he managed to get
from the small watermaker, or pipe water from ports
that gave us diarrhea. He ignored the owner’s orders
for bunkering and we had to refuel five times on the
trip, which took 23 days! Each time he borrowed my
private money to buy it. He anchored in a known dangerous
bay in Estado Sucre, Venezuela, against my
protests. We could have been in real danger, had it not
been for the Guardia Costa who kindly kept an eye on
us until we left.
I called the owner and told him what was happening.
He did nothing to save his boat or protect me even
though I had been his most trusted partner and crew
for three years.
When we hauled the boat out in Trinidad, the owner
had promised me extra pay for doing extra work on the
boat in the yard. I worked extremely hard, even when
I had an eye infection, while the captain and his newly
arrived wife lounged in the sun and played high and
mighty. Nothing I said to the owner brought any
improvement or even appreciation for my warnings
about the danger to the boat and the captain’s dishonest
dealing. He just told me I should “take a long vacation”
and “see you next year”.
It finally reached that point where the owner had to
do something about the captain or I would leave. He
did nothing, so I left — in front of witnesses to verify
what I took. Now I am being told the captain is badmouthing
me. The owner forced me to leave through
his inaction so he can say that I broke my contract. I
did not. I needed this year of charters, especially the
bonuses he promised me for return guests and the pay
for the extra jobs I did which I have not received.
Now I am without a job, out of season. When I had
good offers, I refused because of my contract and out
of loyalty. Surely a European would never have been
treated this way. Frequent opinion is that South
American women are easy, cheap and not worthy of
respect. I know several decent South American women
who have been horribly degraded by men on boats.
That we work for less pay is one thing, but to be
treated as if we have no rights as human beings is
quite another. This letter barely skims the surface of
absurdities I have been through on this job. I just
wonder at myself for staying so long and ever believing
that it might get better.
I want to bring this to the attention of crew hopefuls.
Clear contracts need to include crew pay, duties,
rights and terms of termination, but also the obligations
of the owner/captain including treatment of
crew. No verbal agreements for extras. Get it in writing.
I did more than my contract required and instead
of thanks or compensation, I am pushed aside with
attempts to damage my reputation so the owner and
captain can protect their own. The owner refuses to
acknowledge my letters or communicate with me.
So, fellow South Americans, be forewarned!
Angela Jaramillo
Colombia
The following letter is reprinted with permission from the
October 8, 2008 edition of the Antigua Sun newspaper:
Dear Editor,
Given the fact that we can expect the tourism industry
to take a hammering from the world economic
downturn and, to a lesser degree, because of local
criminal events during the past summer, Antigua &
Barbuda should be looking into diversifying, expanding
and encouraging their local industries.
Unfortunately, the contrary is currently happening.
One of the most ignored, neglected and yet overregulated
industries with the most local potential, remains
the marine industry. We need to think further than
just the Boat Show or Race Week. The money is actually
spent by yachts sitting here, having maintenance
work performed, provisioning, having parts flown in
and prepared for their charter work. On average, a
medium-sized yacht will spend ten percent of its estimated
value every year on servicing and running the
vessel. You can judge what that would mean here in
Antigua & Barbuda considering the number of yachts
that come here during the course of the winter.
Over the past year, we have had many meetings
with and have sent letters to the Antigua & Barbuda
Marine Association (ABMA), National Parks, the
comptroller of Customs and Minister Harold Lovell.
On too many occasions, we have not even had the
courtesy of a reply or they have neglected to get back
to us at the date promised. Why is this? Are we small
fish non-voters? Let me point out that many residents
of English Harbour, Falmouth Harbour and the
areas around Jolly Harbour directly or indirectly
depend upon the yachting and marine industries for
their income.
We are not advocating the same regulations here
as in St. Maarten. However, some sort of deregulation
and opening up of the marine industry are
needed to encourage yachts to stay here for their
time in the Caribbean.
—Continued on next page