AT SEA …. “SAVE US”

So it seems rather ironic that several hours after finishing the final update on West Africa … we found ourselves face to face with some of the problems in the region 500 miles out at sea.

We were traveling north through the Atlantic … heading to Europe … 900 plus miles over 2 days to get to Santa Cruz de Tenerife Islands … better known as the Canary Islands.

This part of the Atlantic is pretty rough and we were hitting some pretty choppy seas … it is a large “wide”open body of water without any land mass to break the winds or provide protection. The route is not as heavily traveled as some of the others … not to many cruise ships traveling from West Africa. The weather is cooler with a lot of wind and “motion in the ocean” … as they always say when we hit “ rough water.”

So about 400 miles in we got one of “those announcements” over the PA system … … the one that is out of sync with the 9am 12pm 6pm routine … we knew something was up. Our trusty “cruise director” … “time keeper and orchestrator of our life” … was broadcasting outside of “the schedule.”

It turns out … a small boat was taking on water with 40 passengers aboard and needed help … we were the closet boat around so we were going to be going on a “rescue mission.” The small boat was tied to a freighter about 2 hours away … tells you a lot about “lack of ship traffic” in the area … when we are the closest ship and it takes 2 hours to get their.

So we ramped up the engines and hightailed it through the Atlantic. A cruise ship is not really designed to “hightail anything” …. but we were moving … 21 mph … not “rocket speed” … but the best we can do. And given the seas were rough … we were rock-in and rollin all the way … any faster we would probably hydroplane which would be an interesting site.

After about 2 hours we could see a large freighter in the distance. Dusk was setting and seas were rough so it took awhile to spot the tiny fishing boat being held by a long line to the freighter. We figured we would send one of our little boats ( A tender ) to pick them up, bring them back, serve them some hot chocolate and all would be good.

WRONG …. We were not sending a tender … why? … we assume seas were too rough or it was never part of the plan. So the line from the freighter was dropped and ever so SLOWLY they started making their way to our ship. It felt like forever … they had little power … seemed to have lost an engine and were fighting a current pushing them in the opposite direction.

By the time they got to us … it was dark but with with our ships lights you could start to see faces … “a-lot of people in this boat.” When they finally got to us we all cheered … we thought “The End” … “ We Saved Them.”

Little did we know this was “The Beginning” … we assumed when they got their boat to our ship they would tie it up and they would hop on board. ( Like hitch hiking but with a ship rather than a car.) It turns out that is not so easy when you are on an ocean liner … it’s actually very difficult to transfer a tiny boat of people to a big ship …. particularly with both boats bobbing up and down in rough seas. It turns out this was why the freighter that spotted them couldn’t take them … they had no way to get them on board. So we threw them lines to try to secure there boat ( I sound like I did this … I simply was a gawker watching from Deck 9 ) … the crew had there hands full trying to keep the fishing boat from drifting all over.

Our ship … in contrast to their tiny wood fishing boat ( Basically an Oversized Canoe ) is enormous …. and their boat is sitting much lower than the decks of our ship … making it extremely difficult to keep their little boat in place at the bottom of our massive ship. The crew would pull it in … the rough seas would would pull them out … the boat would bob up and down in the waves … making it almost impossible to pull the people out of their boat. They were much lower then we were and needed to be pulled up to deck 3 to enter the ship … with both boats constantly moving.

… the pace was slow and difficult … driven by the currents… and the very real fear of dropping them in the water. It turned out there was also a-lot more than 40 people. As they were taken out we realized we had only seen the first layer. There were many more underneath… every crevice of the boat … as far as we know there were actually 73 when they started … our ship staff rescued 68 … mostly men with two woman and three children. The others passed away on the the journey but were still on the boat. It seemed surreal …. Many of us … I being one of them, was glued to the scene like a bad car accident … you don’t want to look … but you do …. it felt like we were watching something out of a movie.

Thankfully we ( the ship staff ) got everyone alive …. It turns out they had been at sea for over 20 days … amazing any of them made it … they were without food or water and had lost a motor. The boat had taken on water and was adrift for days waiting for a rescue. They were migrants from Northern Africa willing to risk everything in search of a better life.

Once pulled up … their old clothes were removed and discarded before entering the ship … hazmat suits were provided and temporary beds were set up in the lounge made from outdoor cushions. They were all severely dehydrated and malnourished … fortunately we have a ship Dr with some supplies and a morgue for the bodies … they spent 2 nights with us until we hit the Canary Islands.

Passengers were asked to drop off men’s clothes and shoes …. ( If they were willing to wear dresses I could outfit them all … Unfortunately Tom did not have a lot to donate. One of the two of us has to “go lite” for this trip to fit everything in the cabin. ) The next 24 hours the ship staff went to great lengths to ensure they would be granted political asylum and not be deported. The smuggler was arrested.

We came into port 2 hours early to meet The Red Cross … our unexpected guests were brought off the ship before dawn to avoid attention. The global media was already onto the story … but at 6:00 am it was still pretty quiet in port.

Their fishing boat had been cast to sea the night of the rescue with 2 of the bodies still on board. The seas had gotten to rough to continue there operation so a tracker device was put in the boat for the coastguard to locate and pick them up.

A fund was collected on the ship to help the rest of them in their transition. The plan is they will spend the next 30 days on the Island recuperating and then be transferred to other areas of Spain.

After all they risked we just wanted a happy ending … it looks like they are on their way for a chance at a better life.

It turns out illegal immigration is … as you might expect … a huge problem in this part of the world … not surprising given all we have seen.

The North and West Regions of Africa … specifically Mauritania, Mali and Morocco … have been facing worsening political unrest and serious economic problems. In places like Senegal … industrial overfishing with International Trawlers in the Atlantic is a huge problem … the little local fishing boats ( known as a Pirogues ) can’t compete. ( So the same old story in Africa … other countries coming in … taking their resources and the guy at the bottom of the food chain is left without.) The overfishing is having a significant impact on their livelihood … many of whom have relied on this industry and don’t have the skills or opportunity to do anything else.

So all this … combine with soaring living costs … they “ can’t make ends meet” … and are stuck with an unused fleet of fishing boats.

It turns out over a quarter million Africans tried to reach Europe last year … almost all by sea. Over 56,000 came through Spain … most … these days via the Canary Islands navigating the Atlantic Ocean through the western side. Hierro … the smallest Island in the Canaries archipelago … located furthest west in the Atlantic …received more migrants ( 9000 ) than the islands entire population ….

The Atlantic route to the Canaries is the deadliest migration passage to Spain. It is known in the maritime world as a “treacherous sea crossing” … over 6000 died last year attempting to make this trip … that number is after 400 were rescued by the Spanish Coastguard. Over 5000 have already died in the first five months of this year with 7000 stopped before leaving Senegal.

Much of the huge spike is coming from the North West side of Africa…. It use to be the East side of Africa … coming from Tunisia via the central Mediterranean to Italy and then Morocco … through the western side of the Mediterranean across the Straits of Gibraltar to Spain. The Mediterranean … the preferred route … is much easier to navigate and more direct. But overtime it became a little “too popular” ……

…… the spike led to a European crackdown … forcing migrants to the Atlantic side. …. a much more dangerous journey.

Today most voyages are coming from Sub-Saharan African countries … departing from Senegal. With no future in sight they want a better life.

So they reuse the old fishing boats … basically “oversized canoes” with old motors. Smugglers pack in young people … looking for better opportunities in Europe. They are charged anywhere from $490 to $900 per person …. put in context … a fisherman for hire earns $3.20 per day … so it would take them at least 6 months to a year to save that kind of extra money.

The journey … if all goes well … takes about a week of difficult “upwind” sailing … ( meaning sailing against the direction of the wind ) To avoid border controls, many times smugglers leave at night and take longer journeys … navigating west into the open Atlantic where the winds are even stronger before going north. These boats are easily tossed around by the Atlantic currents and before they know it they run out of fuel … then food and water. Many don’t survive due to dehydration worsened by sea sickness and hypothermia.

But even knowing that .. many will take the chance … they will be “the ones” that make it … ( I would assume similar thinking for those whom join forces in active combat ). They will find work ( many as farm labor ) … sending money back home.

The problem is pervasive with young Africans living south of the Saharan countries … 1/3 of Senegal, Ghana and Nigerias’ population say they plan to migrate in the next five years. What would one expect,

One more “Eye Opener” …. Both eyes are “Wide Open” at this point. … how lucky we are to have the life and opportunities that we do … All because we “just happened” to be born in a different part of the world. In someways the problems are so big they seem insurmountable … and then I think if somehow we could each just help “one person” in need … maybe we could go along way to fixing this problem.

NEXT STOP … THE CANARY ISLANDS … DAY 175