USVI-On-Line

Anthony, I'm keeping it civil!

Two points:

1. Jeff Heil, first time posters who aren't posting the usual questions are always scrutinized. When you aren't asking about the Rock, where to stay, what to do but are defending a boat captain because "you just happened to be an observer" strikes a cord with these long time forum members.

2. Dave, althought I admire you son's tenacity in wanting to "stay put", as a parent I would have asked him to move, even though we might both be pissed at the situation at hand. Where my kids are concerned, I would have dragged him away out of harm's way no matter how much he wanted to hold his ground.

PS: If anyone is mad at my comments, I'll just say I'm at an age where I say what I feel.

I have to agree with some of the other posters.
At first I was worried about your son, but I noticed in one of your previous posts that he is 15.
A 15 year old should know better than stand his ground when a boat is approaching and should have moved when his father told him to.

Had he moved a few feet, it would have been a non issue. Would moving have ruined his day? No, but not moving probably did.

Wasn't there, but seems like an awful lot of drama to this onlooker! I go to St. John to get away from all that as much as possible. Not dissing you since I wasn't there, but just sayin'.

Sadly, what I see in this incident is what's wrong with society currently. Everybody is looking at what's right for them and not considering the greater good. More importantly, if I was in the other person's shoes, would I expect them to do what I refuse to do.


I.e., if I was driving the boat would I expect the person swimming in the water to move out of my way so I would not get my pants wet. Or if I was driving the boat, would I be polite enough to stop my engines and asked politely of the person swimming in front of me to move for a moment. So I could discharge my passengers in shallow water.

Hmmmm....that's a tricky one. I've seen the Bad Kitty folks being obnoxious on numerous occassions, and it is definitely out of line to back your boat up when someone is in the way. That said, and maybe it's just my nature, but I would have gladly gotten out of the way just to be courteous. I don't see why moving a few feet would ruin anyone's day. That's what I like about the islands....it's generally laid back and friendly.

I'm guessing there was more ocean for your son to swim in than space for the boat to let off passengers. It sounds like he was approaching slowly and it sounds like he asked him to move. Everyone that gets off that boat might not be physically able to get completely wet.

It's just about everyone being courteous to the other. I hope my kids (one a teen) know they need to take the high road in these situations. If nothing else, to defer to an adult (a licensed captain) and to get out of the way when they are in danger. Worry about who is right or wrong later. Is your kid supposed to stay in the road if a car illegally swerves into the wrong lane?

And like the other posters have pointed out, you not only spent that day fuming, you have tainted for yourself a fun vacation. If your son had moved a few feet over this would never cross your mind again. You would have been left to enjoy a beautiful day and just be happy. I used to get mad at stuff like that but having a few friends with cancer helped me figure out this kind of stuff isn't worth getting upset over.

You still are and you are trying to ruin someone's livelihood. A more constructive approach would have been just an FYI to authorities and have them remind that boat about right of way issues.

Sorry to go on but the fact is the whole thing makes me sad.

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Boats and swimmers are like cars and pedestrians...

We KNOW who has the right of way. It is unbelievably stupid of anyone to run a boats engines close to swimmers. Regardless of their reasons. (Doesn't matter if they're picking up the freaking queen!)

I just got home from a day on the lake, I'm only riding a 1200cc WaveRunner, but I keep my distance from swimmers!

Do they not have boating safety courses down there? The Capt. of the Bad Kitty needs to be required to pass a safety course or get off the water!!
Roped off swimming areas are only required if the people operating boats are idiots. As always, a few ruin it for everyone.

(I probably would have pulled my son out of the way, but I would have had more than just words with that Captain once my child was safe!)

Just MHO...

Doesn't matter who's right or wrong if someone's hurt or, God forbid, DEAD. It's kind of like defensive driving. I can't even imagine participating in that sort of drama...especially when I'm in paradise. And you should know to expect that kind of thing in White Bay.

Can anybody get Bad Kitty's story?

I like how everyone is making assumptions on who should of done what.

If the swimmer, no matter what age was in the line of fire of those engines,I believe the Captain was wrong.

Great idea, Connie. I nominate you. Give them a call and report back with what they have to say.

Bad Kitty is a 49' catamaran. If I'm in the water and see a 49' catamaran heading for me, I'll get out of its way. If my child is in the water and I see a 49' catamaran bearing down on him (and for whatever reason, he's not getting out of the way), I will get him out of the way. I won't try to stop the boat (who knows what they're thinking?) and I won't wait until it's FOUR FEET away from him. It's not a dinghy, it's a 49' catamaran. Pretty black and white. Get him to safety, get myself to safety. After that, there's a lot of different ways that it could go, but seeing that my child and I are safe is the only thing that really matters.

shoemak38 wrote:Sadly, what I see in this incident is what's wrong with society currently. Everybody is looking at what's right for them and not considering the greater good. More importantly, if I was in the other person's shoes, would I expect them to do what I refuse to do.


I.e., if I was driving the boat would I expect the person swimming in the water to move out of my way so I would not get my pants wet. Or if I was driving the boat, would I be polite enough to stop my engines and asked politely of the person swimming in front of me to move for a moment. So I could discharge my passengers in shallow water.

Well said...I think this pretty much says it all.

I'm sorry, but I feel like some of the posters here are attacking the OP's parenting and that really is pretty uncalled for and just about the most insulting thing you can do to a person.

Right or wrong, there are boating rules. Seems like one was broken to convenience themselves. I have been there and it is a wide beach. They probably could have found another area to offload, or do so deeper out.

On our trip to that location, there were lots of people in the water having fun and our boat captain had us jump in and swim to shore, probably to avoid any kind of situation like this, and was the smart thing to do. It didn't bother me at all. It's a beach bar and we got wet. Not a big deal.

djmom wrote: Everyone that gets off that boat might not be physically able to get completely wet.

It's just about everyone being courteous to the other.

Good point djmom. Everyone on that boat may not be physically able to swim, dog paddle, or tread water, and may need to be let off close to shore. It might be an issue of disability on a passenger's part.

There are so many possibilities that could have been in play here, it's not always "all about me."

Boat wrong - swimmers right.

Florida Girl wrote:

djmom wrote: Everyone that gets off that boat might not be physically able to get completely wet.

It's just about everyone being courteous to the other.

Good point djmom. Everyone on that boat may not be physically able to swim, dog paddle, or tread water, and may need to be let off close to shore. It might be an issue of disability on a passenger's part.

There are so many possibilities that could have been in play here, it's not always "all about me."

Yeah, but the point is, the captain clearly could interact with the OP and could have said something like that. I am sure if someone was disabled or unable to get to the beach another way, it would have been said, and any normal person would have moved. Instead what he did was threaten by informing everyone that his outboards were live and in gear. Seems different to me. And wrong. And off-putting.