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Joined: May 2011
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Thanks for clarification and some even handed responses Phil. My own interest in this particular matter is seeing that people recognize what the facts surrounding the accident are and to not jump to judgement or conclusions. There are two sets of victims in this case. Yes, I am unfamiliar with past attempts. However, I am savvy enough from my own regulatory experience to recognize that when a program as vanilla and direct as channel delineation fails, that failure speaks volumes to the political state of mind, its priorities, and the will necessary to maintain the solution more than the failure speaks to the availabilty of resources.

Joined: Jan 2003
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Elbert, you happen to have stuck your foot in your mouth with that last comment...

Joined: Dec 2006
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Simon i just edited it out . I have no clue!
I'm gona butt out of this.


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Joined: Jan 2006
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As a tourist, when I told a friend I was going to AC for my first time back in 2004 one of the first things she said was "the reef is only 1/2 mile offshore but it would be suicide to try and swim out, way too much boat traffic". (her last trip there was in 1998!)

That was all the education I needed. To this day I cant get much over 20-30 ft from the end of a dock, just isnt worth the risk.

I see Elberts point. I sypathize with the injured tourist, but I cant imagine getting very far out. Common sense should apply, but we tourists do desperately need to be educated. I was and it stuck!!!

Joined: Jan 2010
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MAybe the boat lanes need to be further off from shore, and the only allowed way to approach shore would be straight in, at 90 degrees to the shore.
Would not be fool proof but it would help.

I think now the AC boat captains I have ridden with edge over toward land more and more as they approach a dock,
rather than keeping on an farther offshore path, then turning hard at 90 degrees to go straight to the hotel dock.

Safe way to fly a helicopter is to go up high, go to destination , then come back down. NOT fly low all the way - too many obstructions.

Last edited by ed50; 10/12/11 11:56 AM.
Joined: Oct 2000
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On the docking note:

The best angle in which to approach a dock (obviously) varies... it's not so simple as "come in at 90 degrees." If, for example, you're heading north and there is a north east breeze, it's best to actually drive PAST the dock you want to pull in at, then turn the boat and idle in. Doing so, simply put, keeps you and your passengers from getting soaked. Wind direction, cuts in the reef, following seas, etc all determine the best angle of approach.

The ONE thing which is ALWAYS a constant, however, is that a captain should approach a dock SLOWLY and off plane. Perhaps the SINGLE GREATEST and most oft displayed act of stupidity ROUTINELY witnessed on the part of boat captains on this island, is driving too fast into a dock and relying upon abruptly shifting into 'reverse' to slow the boat down. I cannot possibly count the number of times water taxis have slammed into our dock. A number of times I've witnessed boats coming into dock fast where the engine stalled out when the captain went to shift into reverse and the boat hit the dock at speed (we had one boat rip a hole in its hull when it got caught up on one of our dock cleats when this exact thing happened.)

...I must confess though, there is a certain satisfaction in seeing some dumb ass captain, who thinks he's successfully docked driving like a hot shot, have his boat seconds later smashed into a dock by his own wake.

Few truly bad things can happen when you approach a dock slowly. Don't be an idiot.


Joined: Jan 2010
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First incident of this sort I remember happened to so friends that were on honeymoon around 1989 and they got run over near the dock swimming at Ramons. They were med-evaced out and recovered although they were seriously wounded. It was established that there should be no wake zones near the piers
and captains were instructed to approach slowly . Fact is a swimmer is almost invisible from a boat on plane. I have always carefully instructed my guests. Boat captains find it very difficult to see swimmers regardless of degree of vigilance. I tell my guests that swimming in that area off the ends of the docks is like playing on the freeway. You will be hit. I have hit logs and sticks that I never saw until the very last second. The hotelier needs to very strongly explain this playing in the freeway concept to all their guests and provide designated swimming areas. I tell them to always take a kayak. Captains see the empty kayak and know there is a swimmer nearby. Just swimming around out there is Russian roulette.
Concerning docking, the general rule is never approach a dock faster than you are prepared to hit it as any miscalculation or malfunction will put you into the dock.

Joined: Nov 2003
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I certainly agree that it is hard to see people in the water but almost everything is a reflection of the speed at which the vessel is moving. Going slow (no wake) will allow you to stop or change direction prior to making any contact with someone in the water. In my opinion we should have a 600 foot no wake zone on the east coast all the way up to the marker in habaneros. Furthermore, we should advise swimmers to stay around the docks and designated swim areas and be vigilant that should leave a fairly good size safety zone.

There is absolutely no reason that this could not be done. The Port Authority should allow residents to use photographs to report violators. a series of about 20 - 25 buoys would be enough to cover the area in question.

Telling people not to go in the water without a licensed tour guide is a simplistic approach that will be seen as another policy to get tourists to go elsewhere.


Joined: Jan 2010
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some have gone elsewhere. I doubt we will ever go back- generally too lawless in the maririme world.

Joined: Oct 2001
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Originally Posted by ed50
some have gone elsewhere. I doubt we will ever go back- generally too lawless in the maririme world.


curious - why would anybody haunt a message board of a place to which they will not return - methinks we have another troll?

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