7DaysinParadise
Cuba => Cuba => Topic started by: bmnichol on February 27, 2006, 12:11:00 PM
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I found this on Debbies board.
THE KINGSTON WHIG-STANDARD > LOCAL NEWS Monday, February 27, 2006
Shipwrecked couple on solid ground
The Whig-Standard
Local News - Monday, February 27, 2006 @ 07:00
When Rob Aitchison walked off an Air Canada flight into Pearson International Airport on Saturday night, he was wearing the same bathing suit he’s worn for more than two weeks.
But it didn’t matter. He and his wife Kelly were home after being trapped in Cuba.
“It’s absolutely wonderful to be home. It’s hard to put into words,” said Kelly. “To know we’re not going to be snatched again at the last minute ”
The Sydenham couple will return to their home today after a harrowing ordeal in Cuba that began more than two weeks ago.
A Canadian Coast Guard officer, Rob Aitchison had been at the helm of a $2.5-million US luxury yacht on Feb. 12 when the vessel hit a brutal storm. Three-metre waves pounded the ship and eventually it began to fill with water.
After sending out a distress signal, Rob tried to guide the 25-metre yacht towards the nearest land mass Cuba.
The Cuban coast guard had been alerted about the ship’s situation by the Canadian and U.S. coast guards. The crew sent up flares to let authorities know their location on the frigid sea. They weren’t that far from land. The crew could see lights from shore.
Rob’s cellphone was within range and he had been assured the Cubans were coming. He said he was told the American coast guard offered to do the rescue, but the Cubans refused access to their waters.
Though the Cubans said they’d take care of the rescue, nobody came.
The boat capsized around 4:30 a.m. and the foursome piled into a motorized boat and made their way to Caya Coco.
Locals who had seen the flares greeted them when they landed and whisked away to a medical centre for treatment.
The next morning, Rob sat down to send the boat’s owner an e-mail detailing the situation the four-person crew found themselves in, but Cuban officials told him he didn’t have time. They were to be transported to Havana to an immigration centre.
While in Havana, they were briefly held in lockup and questioned about illegally entering Cuba. A representative from the Canadian embassy helped them leave the detention centre and check into a hotel after authorities understood their plight.
Still, they weren’t allowed to leave the island.
“We knew we’d be going home at some point, we just didn’t know when,” Rob said. “We weren’t officially arrested we just weren’t allowed to leave.”
Eventually, the other two crew members were allowed to leave on a flight to Toronto. The Aitchisons were cleared to fly home as well, but Cuban officials wouldn’t let them leave the country until they had a signed agreement assuring them the boat’s insurance company would pay the cost of cleaning up the wreckage.
On Friday morning, Rob met with Cuban officials to sign the papers on the owner’s behalf.
That should have gotten them out of the country. It didn’t.
Instead, the story changed and Aitchison was told he had to hire a law firm at a cost of $2,000 cash. Trying to sort out the situation took four hours.
“Four hours of negotiations which were very frustrating because we couldn’t find out what these lawyers were for,” Rob said.
Finally, he signed a note promising delivery of the money. He was also supposed to get their passports back at that point.
“As it goes down in Cuba, they kept breaking promises,” he said.
The couple only got their passports back when they were got on the flight home. Even getting on the plane was difficult.
The owner of the yacht, retired Canadian businessman Luigi Boschin, had booked the couple tickets home. However, Cuba’s airport isn’t set up to print electronic tickets, so the Aitchisons had to find a travel agent to print their tickets.
On Saturday afternoon, there were almost no places open. After finding someone to print the tickets, the couple waited for about three hours inside the airport.
Finally, with boarding passes in hand, Cuban officials escorted them onto the plane ahead of all other passengers and returned their passports.
“And at that point I thought that we were pretty good, and we were,” Rob said.
“The plane took off and we got home.”
Kelly said she feared the couple would be taken off the plane.
“It wasn’t until the wheels were off the ground that I knew we were going home and tears came to my eyes,” she said.
The couple were in Toronto yesterday to thank a friend who worked behind the scenes to secure their release and planned to come home to Sydenham today.
Rob is also seeing his doctor today about a hip injury sustained during the boat’s demise. He said he can walk again, but fears there may be some nerve damage left behind.
Had someone given the crew pumps to rid the boat of water and a tow, “this whole thing would never have happened,” Rob said.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m pretty much done with the Cubans,” he said, adding the case is now in the hands of Lloyd’s of London, the insurance company.
He also said Boschin did everything possible to secure their release, at one point offering to come to Cuba to negotiate a deal. Rob said he told him not to, worried the Cuban authorities might try to get more money out of him once he landed.
Throughout the ordeal, they were able to get text messages and calls on their cell phone from family and friends lending their support. Kelly Aitchison said had it not been for that network of support working for them along with Canadian officials, they’d probably still be in Cuba fighting to come home.
Thank you for reading The Kingston Whig-Standard online.
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Thanks for posting this follow up article from the Kingston Whig-SubStandard.
This line kills me....
"When Rob Aitchison walked off an Air Canada flight into Pearson International Airport on Saturday night, he was wearing the same bathing suit he’s worn for more than two weeks."
Now give me a break. He's at a Havana hotel since the wreck and can't buy a pair of pants or shorts or something. What kind of crap is this? The Canadian Embassy helped him out, arranged funds etc., and you're telling me he sat around in a bathing suit for two weeks and FLEW HOME wearing nothing else. Bull PUCKY!!!!
This story is being milked for all the bleeding hearts and sensationalism they can. I really wonder when they will report some FACTS ! ! !
Steve
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Steve, I think they call it "journalistic integrity".... or lack thereof.
:duh: