HAL Employee Rescued by RCI

[MBeamTX]

My apologies if this has already been posted on the HAL board, but I didn't see it. According to the "events at sea" section of another cruise website, RCI's Explorer of the Seas rescued a HAL employee at sea on July 22:

 

A Holland America Line employee working at Half Moon Cay "borrowed" a jet ski and with 4 others took a spin to Cat Island. He became detached from the others on the return and became lost. He was adrift for more than a day when he was spotted and rescued by the cruise ship.

I first read of this in a thread on the Royal Caribbean board:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=209742

 

There is a Nassau newspaper article here:

 

I'm happy he's safe, of course, but I have to wonder if the employee is now a former employee, or if he's being kept on to work off the value of the lost jet ski? :D

 

Susan

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for the report. I usually go to cruise junkie, but haven't been there in a few days so I didn't see that article.

I am like you - he may be a former employee by now.

[jhannah]

Just another good reminder to all watercrafters that one shouldn't go far enough to lose visual contact with your port unless you have the proper equipment. When you're at sea, it's a lot harder to drop bread crumbs to find your way home!

[HALGirl]

I just read the article from the Nassau Paper and nowhere did it say it was a HAL Employee or did I miss something?

[LAFFNVEGAS]

My guess he was an employee who worked on Half Moon Cay not on one of the ships.

[cdkempton]

That's interesting. On our So Am cruise in 2001 on the Ryndam we picked up a jet skier off of Acapulco that had run out of gas and was about 15 miles out (drifting). He worked at one of the rental places on the beach. One of our fellow passengers just happened to spot this little white "thing" afloat and mentioned it to an officer and they pursued it and saved his 17 year old butt from a dreadful end. He had been adrift for 2 days!!! This must be karma for a HAL employee to be picked up by another cruise ship. I love it. :D

[Grumpy1]

Let's not forget to give a round of applause to the US Coast Guard Search Unit out of Miami that actually found him and directed Explorer of the Seas to the rescue point. WAY TO GO, Coast Guard!

 

Grumpy

[Cruiseoften]

I may be wrong but I didn't think off duty HAL employees are/were allowed ashore at HMC. Think it's more likely that he was a 'local' Cay employee

 

A real round of applause for the Coast Guard!

[K&RCurt]

As all 4 of the jet skiers were Bahamian citizens, They likely worked on HMC NOT the ship.

[MBeamTX]

I understand that some HAL employees such as the stablehands who care for the horses, live on the island. I'm sure the rescued man wasn't a crew member and that the ill-fated jet ski adventure happened when no ship was anchored at the island. After all, if it had been a crew member, he would have been missed (and likely found) much sooner, and presumably by the HAL ship he came from rather than the Coast Guard and RCI.

[Pincus]

Susan,

 

The cruiseblogger site reports that these five are now former HAL employees.

 

Pincus

[sandydownunder]

I was on the Ryndam on that cruise too. The young man was 200 miles from land. We were travelling from San Diego to Costa Rica for 5 straight sea days and we were not within sight of land. The guest astronomer saw him. It was sunset when he was spotted but by the time we turned round and went back it was dark.They lowered a tender to retrieve him but just left the jetski in the ocean. The Mexican coast guard had been searching for him, but much closer in. He had drifted with the current. We took him on to Costa Rica where the Mexican Ambassador collected him. Hal decked him out in HAL logo gear. A good publicity opportunity.He was a lucky young man

[cdkempton]

Hi Sandydownunder, I just checked our log book from that cruise in '01 and it was approximately 5:30 pm and we were 30 miles (not 15 or 200) off the coast of Acapulco when we did a 190 and picked up the young lad. Yes, he was very lucky indeed. :)

[SDHALFAN]

Hi Sandydownunder, I just checked our log book from that cruise in '01 and it was approximately 5:30 pm and we were 30 miles (not 15 or 200) off the coast of Acapulco when we did a 190 and picked up the young lad. Yes, he was very lucky indeed. :)

 

My late husband and I were also on that cruise. As much as I love Sandy (From Down Under) and her husband, both of whom I met, not on that cruise but on the Maasdam's Fort Lauderdale-Montreal cruise a couple of years later, I do agree that the young man was probably only about about 15 miles offshore since we were sailing close to the coast off Acapulco. I live in San Diego and it has been my experience that when headed south the ships try to "hug" the coastline as much as they can. The Pacific Ocean is not really a very "pacific" or forgiving ocean.

 

I got my version of the story from the First Officer on The Ryndam with whom we had dinner a couple of nights later. According to him the young man was from a very wealthy Mexican family and had rented the Jet Ski. He was 17 years old and considered himself invincible (didn't we all at 17 years old?). He went out way too far and the Jet Ski died and he did indeed find himself all alone in a vast ocean and was probably preparing to meet his "maker" when all of a sudden he saw this huge ocean liner coming over the horizon. He must have thought that he was hallucinating, but no, indeed it was his lucky day and we were there. From what I understood from the First Officer it was one of the younger officers on Watch who first saw something odd ahead of us just about sundown. I do remember though that it was after dark when we picked the young man up. I also remember someone telling me that almost his first words after having been rescued were "no more Jet Skiing for me". His family and the Mexican Coast Guard had initiated a search for him with no luck, but we just happened to be a little further off the coast than the search had emcompassed and it was an experience that neither that young man and his family, nor any of us on that particular sailing will ever forget.

[Odd Ball]

Wow :eek: I never thought anyone would go so far on one of those jet skies.

[SDHALFAN]

Wow :eek: I never thought anyone would go so far on one of those jet skies.

 

 

Hi Oddball,

 

That's the whole point. No-one ever goes out that far on a Jet Ski, but this young man's Jet Ski had either run out of gas or just simply died and he drifted, helplessly, with the currents. The Mexican Coast Guard didn't even search 15 miles out to sea because they didn't believe that anyone on a Jet Ski could be out that far. It was just luck that we were headed south that day. Kind of makes one think that there must be a benevolent God somewhere or other doesn't it?