I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the chef who was murdered in St. Maarten. What did he do that was so horrible to deserve to die? What did he do that most of us haven’t done before?

The islands of the Caribbean have been dangerous for decades. Thinking about it now, I feel lucky to have survived some pretty risky behavior during my time in the islands. 

I attended college in St. Thomas in the early 1990s and we were warned about crime even then.

There were several of us exchange students from mainland universities. When we arrived at the college, as part of our indoctrination, we were advised that alcohol consumption was frowned upon, and were warned that if we insisted on drinking and partying in the bars on the waterfront (Greenhouse, anyone?) we were putting ourselves in harm’s way and would be held responsible for our actions. 

We were also warned about gypsy taxi drivers, and urged to stay away from them.

However, every month or so, there was an incident where an inebriated student was robbed and sometimes beaten after taking a lift back to campus from a gypsy taxi cab driver.

I knew lots of people who were physically assaulted, and I narrowly escaped being a victim myself on one occasion. My girlfriend was robbed and attacked the night of her engagement party. Turns out the perpetrator had been in the restaurant near her group all evening, had even bought a round of drinks, then waited outside and ambushed the bride-to-be as she left the restaurant.

When he demanded her new diamond, she refused, and he shot her in the face. She survived.

Later, when I got my first job on a yacht, the captain was pretty strict about crew going out when we were in the islands. When we had guests on, we were not even allowed to leave the boat. 

Even so, I went out to a concert one night with a fellow crew member. We had a lot to drink and had an automobile accident. The next thing I knew I was in Broward General with a broken neck and bolts screwed into my head. I was in intensive care for two weeks and then had surgery.

I required eight more weeks of recovery, but then I was back at work, good as new. I survived, for some unknown reason, but it was a close call.

The world can be a dangerous place, and we have to watch our step, but who among us hasn’t drunk a little too much or been out late at night with no way back to the boat except for a taxi?

The yachting community is known for its lavish spending habits, and even the bad guys know we often walk around with wads of cash in our pockets. It could be said that we are an easy mark.

I don’t know what happened to this young chef in St. Maarten, but it is clear that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. My heart goes out to his family, friends and his crew.

The death of a crew member who is also a friend and part of our boating family is heartbreaking. I worked on a boat on which our chef died from injuries sustained in a car accident. He was a lovely man, and dearly missed by all. I can only imagine how his parents must have felt when they heard the news.

I do know how we all felt when we heard the news. We were devastated, and we felt alone. Several members of our crew were so upset by the tragedy that they resigned.

It would have been helpful to have someone to talk to outside the boat, a support network of some kind to turn to during that time. Human beings have to grieve. Keeping it inside hurts more, and when that grief comes out some time later, it’s often worse for us and those around us.

When something like this happens, yacht crew don’t always have the opportunity to express our grief. It can be hard to talk about, and it can seem like no one understands what we are going through.

To top it off, sometimes it seems like we’re not supposed to talk about a tragedy. But I think that talking about feelings is the only way to resolve them. There is a flood of emotion that wells up at a time like this, and everyone handles it differently.

I hope someone in the yachting industry figures out a way to help us manage all the stresses we deal with as yacht crew. There are lots of companies that manage skills and operations. But we can’t forget the human factor. It’s the most precious thing we have onboard.

About the Author

Alene Keenan

Stew

Alene Keenan has been a megayacht stew for 19 years. She offers interior crew training and crew placement through Nautic Crew International as well as the workshops, seminars, and onboard training offered through her company, Stewardess Solutions (www.stewardesssolutions.com).