Ferry runs aground in St. Thomas, 6 injured

[patrickstickler]

http://stthomassource.com/content/ne...ht-ferry-crash

I wonder if it was due to over reliance on GPS and waypoint navigation. Perhaps the captain just left it to the autopilot and went to take a dump (at least I'm sure he did when the boat hit the reef ;-)

[Boasun]

It will be interesting to see the reason for the grounding. That captain better be able to prove it was mechanical failure or his a$$ & license will be sent through the proverbial paper shredder.

[Zanshin]

Boasun - unfortunately, a grounding like this is not always sufficient in the BVI, not being related to the appropriate govt. official is much more serious. The ferry belongs to Smith's ferries and where they ran aground is not called "current cut" without a reason - they most likely ran it a bit close. What is confusing is that this happened at 10pm, way outside of normal ferry hours.
I believe that the skipper of the ferry that run down a sailboat under sail in VFR daylight conditions is still plying the waters in the BVI.

[Silvio]

Buff it out! Maybe no one will even notice back at the office.

[Silvio]

double post

[beanctr56]

Thats not a regular ferry run, that was a special trip. I guess they are not used to running at night?

[Zanshin]

beanctr56 - no, the normally scheduled ferries are daylight runs, the last one twixt the USVI and BVI is sometime before 5pm (a big problem, since the afternoon flights from the US all arrive so that one gets to the ferry dock just in time to see them depart, necessitating a layover on St. Thomas).

[FarCry]

Originally Posted by Zanshin

beanctr56 - no, the normally scheduled ferries are daylight runs, the last one twixt the USVI and BVI is sometime before 5pm (a big problem, since the afternoon flights from the US all arrive so that one gets to the ferry dock just in time to see them depart, necessitating a layover on St. Thomas).

This was a special charter due to Carnival on St John. It was returning people to St Croix from the festivities and normally only runs between St Thomas and St Croix and has nothing to do with USVI to BVI ferry runs.

This is just one of many ferrys that have run aground in the past couple of years.

Scroll down to post #1314883 near the bottom of the page to see a few photos from recent groundings in the local area.

Traveltalkonline: Ferry stuck on the rocks

Gotta love "professional" captains!!!!