A number of times a week we hear about unfortunate accidents with ATV/UTVs involved, and once in a while a shock wave rips through our community when a kid is injured, or dies.
A few years ago a young Marriott guest became paralyzed after an accident on the water.
On Tuesday it was a precious 13-year-old girl, on Palm Beach, on vacation with her parents.
We are all grief stricken.
But the following day we had to face the fact that there is a huge proliferation of water sports companies in our waters, with minimal rules and regulations.
We mix people and boats on Palm Beach, especially in the area of the pier, and when boats have no access to safe docking, they pick up their clients from the beach.
The hotels warn their clients against high-risk activities such as watersports with signage and release forms, but our thrill-seeking visitors are here to have fun and experience the island fully, they mostly ignore the warnings.
Many parents send their kids out to ‘have fun,’ while they bake on the beach, so the inexperienced young boat drivers, weed-smoking optional, encounter underage, unsupervised clients, against a zero guideline and regulation backdrop. That cocktail occasionally results in tragedies.
Our beaches attract a great number of cowboys, small private operators, and some of my friends allege that their whole watersports business is the legal front, a cover, to a bit of drug dealing on the side, with an extensive menu of mood altering substances, for sale.
With all due respect: Most of these island-boy beach bums driving the smaller crafts have no captain licenses. They are uneducated, and oblivious of the potential threat their activities harbor.
And I want to make an exception for the larger, established companies, who require the licenses and the insurances in order to operate within the hotels, but the beach cowboys, don’t.
Do they know they aren’t supposed to get high before heading out to work?
Why are we surprise that accidents happen?
With so many people on the beaches and so much unregulated activity, it is just a question of time.
What do you think? Do we as an island have a responsibility to see to it that our visitors are safe, and that threats are mitigated?
So far nothing has been done, for decades.
They are all making money, yet unprepared to do anything about improved safety.
IN SUMMARY: There are too many boats in the water and there seems to be no limit to the number of permits issued, gifted, to relative, acquaintances, voters and friends. A good plan, regulation and enforcement, are crucial to save lives, and saying NO to relative, acquaintances, voters and friends is sometimes necessary. We must all take responsibility for our actions.
All these small crafts and thrill rides, must be relocated to a no-swim area.
A testimonial: A young couple swimming next to their home in Savaneta was hit by a fast moving two-motor fishing boat. She broke an arm, and a tooth, receive injuries and cuts all over one side of her body and is still dealing with scars and the loss of strength and sensory capacity in her hand. He lost consciousness as a result of a gash in his head but had enough strength to pull himself and his partner out of the water, alive. The ambulance arrived, with GNC in tow, the boat driver was not apprehended, nor was he given a breathalyzer test. The Police said GNC is in charge of the incident investigation. GNC said it was the Police’s job.
Because the incident was labeled an accident, it resulted in zero consequences for the boat owner who still tears through the lagoon in Savaneta at top speed, every day.
The couple was left stuck with the hospital, doctor and rehab bills.
To add insult to injury, their diving equipment, left on shore when emerging injured from the water was allegedly picked up by the boat owner and sold.
We want to tell the story, they said, because perhaps this time, it will result in some action on behalf of the authorities.
