Sorry in advance for this ridiculously long story, but let’s dive into my horrible end to 2021 which was on par with, if not worse than, contracting norovirus last New Year’s Eve in La Cruz.
After arriving back from the full-day snorkel trip with Raggamuffin, I stopped by the tour office to get briefed on the 3-day tour departing the following morning for New Year’s Eve. The woman at the office instructed me to pack a day bag and to drop my overnight bag off at the office at 7:30 am for them to load onto the boat, then we would be leaving the dock at 9:00 am. Everything seemed straightforward and I headed back to the hostel to pack my bags.
I returned the next morning, promptly at 7:30, and was surprised to find their office was completely closed up. Some of the other guests were arriving with their bags around the same time so we decided to head to the dock to see if anyone was there. The dock was also empty and some of the other guests just started leaving their bags on the dock, but I decided to keep mine with me and come back at 8:00. When I returned, the situation had not changed, so I left to go get some breakfast and return at 9:00. Finally, at 9:30 the catamaran arrived at the dock to load our overnight bags and one of the crew explained the delay is because some of the other crew members had tested positive for COVID the day before and they needed to substitute out several of the crew. This was a bit unfortunate but understandable given the times.
Apparently, they needed even more time to disinfect the boat so they loaded up our bags, then moved the boat to a different dock. We continued waiting until 11:00 am when they finally invited us onboard. The previous day I asked one of the crew members if the boat from the snorkeling tour would be the same boat for the overnight trip and he assured me it wasn’t, giving me some sense of hope that we would be on something a little nicer and safer. Boy, was I wrong! This boat was even worse and filthier! Every single cabin was torn apart. There were piles of rusty tools and wires were strewn about, and the toilet seat and cover were completely detached from the bowl. Not to mention, they failed to brief anyone on how to flush the toilet using the hand pump so it was constantly full of disgusting waste. On deck, the conditions were just as bad as I noticed the supports for the lifelines were barely secured to the deck and every single rope/line I observed was already chafed and frayed down to the inner strands.
There were more than a few red flags, but at this point, we were all rearing to get going since we started 3 hours behind schedule. We departed the dock and the crew raised the sails with about 20 knots on the beam. Most of the guests sat at the front of the boat, but I stayed back and enjoyed the shade of the cockpit. About 20 minutes into the trip, the captain seemed to have some kind of steering trouble and asked one of the crew to hold the wheel while he went down to investigate. Upon his return, the captain informed everyone that one of the rudder posts had failed and we only had partial steering requiring us to return to the dock to assess and, if possible, fix it. Luckily, catamarans have two rudders and he could still steer some, but a rudder failing is a major issue!
A smaller fishing boat pulled up alongside us to help maneuver the boat onto the dock and they were able to tie up on the second try. The captain informed everyone that the repair should take about 2 to 3 hours, but we were welcome to enjoy the beach club in the meantime. Since we wouldn’t be snorkeling today, the crew started serving up rum punch drinks to help mitigate the inconveniences. Given the condition of the boat and that a major system failure had already occurred, I evaluated my options for jumping ship and requesting a refund. We docked on a separate island for the repair, so I messaged some of my new friends to see if the hostels they were staying at had availability for the night, but since it was New Year’s Eve, everywhere was already booked. I still hadn’t found any good options by the time the rudder had been welded and reinstalled into the boat, so I chose to just stay with the original plan and wear my satellite phone in case of an emergency.
The crew coaxed the tipsy guests back onboard, and as I went to put my backpack in the storage area, I look down at the port side of the boat and saw about three inches of water above the floorboard. I could understand if maybe there was some leaking from reinstalling the rudder, but this was the opposite side of the boat! I informed the captain and he fiddled with some switches, mumbling that someone must have turned off the bilge pump. Turning the pump back on lowered the water level but did not give me any more assurance that we would actually make it to our destination.
So, we depart the dock and got underway, with steering this time! The crew hoisted the sails and we set off on our 4 to 5-hour trip. With 20+ knots of wind, I was surprised to see full sails out, but since we were within the barrier reef the swell was pretty minimal. Since we got off to a late start, we only had about 2 hours of light before the sun set but the drinks kept flowing. Now, I understand drinking and boats tend to go hand in hand, but considering the circumstances, things were becoming more and more unsafe by the minute.
Our pre-departure safety briefing was to “make sure you have one hand on the boat and one hand on your drink at all times” and there was no discussion on where the life jackets were or what to do if someone fell overboard. Guests were moving back and forth between the front and back of the boat and I could tell that these people had no experience moving around on a boat sober, let alone after a few drinks. In general, it takes a couple of days on any boat to get the feel for the motion and location of where to hold on. As it became dark, the wind picked up closer to 30 knots causing a little more swell to bounce us around and I remembered lifelines are hardly attached. In my mind, I feared it was only a matter of time before someone fell overboard. I should also mention that if you did fall overboard at night, you would be almost impossible to find unless you were wearing a waterproof light. And with this crew, who clearly has no actual training on how to operate a sailboat, it would take us 20 minutes to even turn around!
I look around to see what the crew members were doing and hoped they had an eye on the guests and their whereabouts, also identifying these potential risks. Of course not! They were smoking joints on the back of the boat! Now, I have no issues with that if it was the end of the day and we had already reached our destination, but this seemed more than a little unprofessional, to say the least. At this point, I am experiencing major anxiety and feeling partially responsible for the safety and wellbeing of the other guests. So, I head inside and sat on the cabin settee, clutching my satellite phone. By some miracle, we arrive at Rendezvous Caye an hour or two later and with everyone still onboard. All things considered, this seemed to be somewhat of a miracle! But, the advanture continues…
Upon arrival at the island, the crew started bringing out the tents and sleeping pads, piling them on the dock. They instruct everyone to grab a tent and get set up, so I did as they instructed and head out to find a spot to claim. I consider myself experienced at setting up a tent and have done so many times, but doing it with 25 knots of wind on a sandy island is a whole different story. As I wrangle my rainfly, one of the crew members comes over to help and ask if I would be willing to share a tent with someone. Apparently, the tour company had added four more people to the group at the last minute and failed to calculate the correct number of tents based on the double or single occupancies. This was just the icing on the cake!
I expressed that I was no monster and didn’t want anyone sleeping on the ground outside, but if that’s what it came to, I would share my tent and request a full refund of the trip. Then, he offered to let me sleep onboard, which surprised me considering I didn’t see a single cabin suitable for occupancy. The thought of sleeping on that boat was even less appealing than sleeping with a complete stranger in a two-person tent. Not to mention, all of the crew members and captain would be sleeping onboard. Somehow, they managed to come up with a couple of extra tents and I luckily didn’t have to share mine with anyone.
As if things couldn’t get worse, I asked where they unloaded the overnight bags to which they replied I should have packed everything I needed for the three days in my backpack and all the other bags were inaccessible. Considering my backpack was filled with my computer and all of my electronics, which I didn’t trust them to handle, I only had enough extra space for a bathing suit and towel. I was also a bit confused at what unessential items they assumed I was carrying around with me, especially considering we weren’t returning to the place of departure. I went back onboard and nosed my way around the cabins until I finally found where the bags were stored and was thankful mine was bright purple and easy to spot on top of the pile.
Once the tents were sent up, the crew brought out handles and handles of alcohol and mixers to start the New Year’s Eve celebration. I’m not sure if this was the usual amount of alcohol, given the holiday or the earlier mishaps, but I later found out that a woman literally went missing from this island a few years ago on this same tour because “she was intoxicated”. If you search Raggamuffin Tours, Google will autocomplete the phrase with “missing woman”. The article indicates the woman got drunk and disappeared off the island which seems almost impossible considering it can’t be larger than 2 acres and is comprised entirely of sand, cabana huts, and a couple of palm trees.
With no showers or running water on the island, I wanted nothing more than to end the day. So, I popped an Ambien to get me through the night. I used my towel as a blanket and my jacket as a pillow, because the only sleeping supplies they provided were dirty mats that people had been lounging and spilling drinks on all day. I was briefly woken up at midnight to the sound of fireworks and quickly went back to sleep, hoping the rest of the trip would go much smoother.
