LEARNING FROM OTHERS

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Every once in a while, I "entertain" myself by reading about all the recent disasters at sea.

"Why do you do that?" Chip asked yesterday, a fair and relevant question.

It all started when I was reading a cruiser's book, and they wrote, to paraphrase heavily, "don't let not knowing how to sail keep you from cruising. We knew dick squat, and we didn't die."

That attitude gets me all riled up. Number one, I think it's completely irresponsible to go offshore with that cavalier attitude. When you get into trouble, somebody has to risk their life to come help you. Number two, it's even more irresponsible to encourage others to do the same. Certainly, we all have to learn offshore sailing by, yes, sailing offshore. But doing that without first sailing inshore -- a lot -- is foolish.

Then a few days into stewing about that book, Island Packet posted this article and a haunting, really haunting photo of a fully intact Island Packet 380, exactly like Cara Mia, adrift, ghosting alone in the Atlantic.

CRUISERS, GIVE IT UP!

Lorraine's Cafe is a tiny restaurant in Black Point catering to cruisers, a restaurant so small, you have to radio in a reservation if you want to eat dinner. If you go there, you will be served by Lorraine, who then goes in the back, cooks the food, and brings it out to you. You will meet her children and buy amazing coconut bread from her mom who bakes it in the house behind the restaurant where they all live.

The family has two computers, a printer and wifi for cruisers as an enticement to bring in business during their fleeting 3-month season when their only customers anchor in the cove near the government dock.

There's a note on the wall at Lorraine's politely asking cruisers to contribute $3 when they use the computers. The sign states that some boaters were using the facilities all day without even buying a soda.

It's a pitiful refrain along cruising grounds, small businesses trying to make a living; cruisers stealing from them. So many businesses have posted lists of rules, rules obviously a response to repeated inconsiderate action.

SHOWERS $5 -- NO SHARING
COUCHES FOR PAYING CUSTOMERS ONLY
FREE WATER: FOR DRINKING ONLY, LIMIT 5 GALLONS (We actually saw a guy filling a 40-gallon, soft tank from the free water in Georgetown.)

Why do you think there are NO paper towels in any of the bathrooms in these remote spots? I couldn't bear to ask, because I'm sure I know the answer: cruisers steal them.

While most cruisers we've met are delightful and inspiring people, a community I'm pleased to call my own, this dirty underbelly makes me ashamed.

Come on, cruisers! I know you're trying to get the most out of your cruising dollar but that does not entitle you to steal from these sweet people who are our hosts, these people who have so few alternatives for making a living, a hardscrabble one at that.

I know some of you fancy yourself anarchists, but anarchy is abandoning government, a system, not your fellow humans. Decency calls upon us to treat each other with respect, even more so those who have less than we do.

Stop stealing.

Start giving.

It will come back to you, to all of us -- either way.