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09/25/2007: "Think Twice Before You Charter ..."

Here's a cautionary tale for all of you thinking you could pay the fuel bill with the occasional charter ...

The 4-man crew of the Miami-based charter boat JOE COOL are missing after agreeing to ferry two guys to Bimini to "meet up with their girlfriends". The two guys, naturally, were rescued after abandoning the boat.

Late Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard spotted the boat floating 160 miles south of Bimini with no one on board, its contents in disarray and one life raft aboard.

"It looks like whoever was on board left in a hurry," Coast Guard Petty Officer James Judge said.

Missing are the boat's captain, Jake Branam; his wife, Kelly; and crew members Scott Campbell and Sammy Cary.

A Coast Guard helicopter spotted the boat's second life raft, containing the two men who had chartered it, about 12 miles north of the empty boat and took them to a Coast Guard cutter, where the FBI questioned them.

Now, you could hold out hope that the crew is in the first life raft, but before you do, consider the following:

- One of the two who chartered the boat is a fugitive from Arkansas, where he's wanted for stealing $92,000 from a Wal-Mart ...

- They paid the $4,000 charter fee from a roll of $20s ...

The sea is a risky enough place as it is. Never let greed allow you to make it even more dangerous ...

Replies: 2 Comments

On Wednesday, September 26th, Ravelling Tangler (unarmed) said:

I seem to remember a case where some passengers produced automatic weapons when on passage a few years back and the mate or captain "fell" overboard in shallow water near a cay in the Bahamas, waded ashore and got the authorities to capture them.

Now - how do I reassure any charter captains who don't know me that I am harmless (to fish, too ! but that's another story) ?

On Monday, October 1st, Rav again said:

Not looking good.

And many charter captains in the FLA area are now seriously thinking of inspecting bags as you board (and keeping their own weapons on board where they didn't before)

Don't know what would happen if I tried to book to go to the Bahamas and it was discovered I had a Brasiliano in my bag !